Page 145 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Chinese Art

fig. 1
Mi Fu, Calligraphy in Running Script. Poetry on the Occasion of Visiting Zhongyue Temple, detail, scroll, Northern Song dynasty
© Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing
fig. 2
Calligraphy in Regular Script. A Record of Past and Present Translated Scriptures , detail, Tang dynasty
© Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing
Having attained a full eighty years of age, I had
a seal engraved with the inscription ‘Concern
over phenomenon at eighty.’ It was finished in
the middle of winter, and I used it during the
festival marking the beginning of spring.4 Last
year in the month of the summer solstice, since
I attained my eighth decade, I thought of making
a seal. For an inscription, the most suitable was
‘Concern over various phenomenon,’ number 8,
in the ‘Great Plan’ chapter. I commanded that the
artisans use green jade from Hetian and engrave
‘concern over phenomenon at eighty’ Since I
look to Heaven for protection, am as healthy as
in the past, am diligent in government, and love
the people, I dare not pass a single day without
exhorting myself to do better.5
From these quotes we can thus determine that
this seal was carved as early as the winter of
1789, that it was made from Khotan jade, and that
it came to use by the beginning of spring in 1790. his appreciation. For example, the head border
After the Qianlong Emperor settled on this
inscription in 1789, he began to make a
considerable number of such seals. According
to records of the archive of the workshop of the
Imperial Household Department, the Emperor
continued to make Concern over phenomenon
at eighty seals from 1789 to 1795. According to
the Qianlong Bao sou, the number of imperial
seals with the inscription of Treasure of concern
over phenomenon at eighty or Concern over
phenomenon at eighty reached sixty-three, one of
which is the present seal.
The finial of this seal is quite finely worked.
Though not large, the finial of intertwined
dragons, worked in exacting detail, expresses
the demeanor and charm sought by the Qianlong
Emperor in jade carvings. In particular, the
horns of the heads and crests of the backs of
the dragons are set in the jade’s natural red
layer to form a strong contrast with the rest
of the dragons’ bodies. The carving displays a
true stroke of genius. After this seal was made,
the Qianlong Emperor often imprinted it on old
palace works of calligraphy and painting to show
strip of Bai Zhongyue ming zuo (Poetry on the
Occasion of Visiting Zhongyue Temple, cursive
calligraphy), by Mi Fu (1051–1107), housed in
the Beijing Palace Museum, bears imprints of
the seals Wufu wudai tang (Five happinesses
and five generations under one roof, the palace
seal of the Wufuwudai Hall), Bazheng maonian
zhi bao (Treasure of concern over phenomenon
at eighty), and Taishang huangdi (The Emperor
Emeritus) (fig. 1). Also, the end border strip of
the anonymous Tang calligraphy Gujin yijing
tuji (Illustrated Record of Old and Recently
Translated Scriptures, regular script) has
imprints of the seals Wufu wudai tang, Bazheng
maonian zhi bao, and Taishang huangdi zhi bao
(Seal of the Emperor Emeritus) (fig. 2). In both
cases, the Bazheng maonian zhi bao imprint is
that of the present seal.
Notes
1 Midian zhulin [Palace Treasures], Qing Inner Court
manuscript, vol. 1.
2 Qing Gaozong yuzhi wen sanji [Text of the Qianlong Emperor,
Collection 3], vol. 14.
3 Ibid., vol. 8.
4 Qing Gaozong yuzhi shi wuji [Poetry of the Qianlong Emperor,
Collection 5], vol. 50.
5 Ibid., vol. 51.
IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 143