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the Imperial Household Department and then to the Inner Ancestral Temple in Beijing—the first instance of this practice completed, and in the tenth month of that year, the Qianlong In the early twentieth century, the forty seals in Beijing were
Clean Room (Neijieshi) in the Imperial Ancestral Temple in in the history of the Qing dynasty. In the second month of Emperor himself dedicated them at the Ancestral Temple lost and dispersed around the world, including the present
preparation for dedication. When changes were made to the ninth year of the Shunzhi reign (1652), the jade albums in Beijing. In the following year, before leaving for his fourth posthumous seal for Empress Xiaozhenxian. As a result, in
previous emperor’s and empress’s posthumous titles, their and jade seals of Sizu Kaohuangdi, Sizu Bihuanghou and Southern Inspection Tour, he ordered Yonglang, Prince Yi, and the second year of the Xuantong reign (1910), to replace the
posthumous seals would typically be modified accordingly. Xiaoduan Wenhuanghou were also moved to the Ancestral others to send the set of sixteen old jade albums and seals lost seals, the Qing court carved new ones, which are now
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They would be placed in the Inner Clean Room, and their Temple. From this point onwards, the jade albums and jade to the Ancestral Temple in Shengjing, thereby marking the mostly in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing. Due
texts would be erased and replaced with the updated ones by seals of every deceased emperor and empress would be beginning of the practice of maintaining two sets of imperial to the time constraints and financial difficulties faced by the
artisans of the Palace Workshops according to specifications dedicated at the Ancestral Temple in Beijing. By the forty-fifth jade albums and seals between the Ancestral Temples in court, these later creations were of considerably lower-quality
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from the Hanlin Academy and the Grand Secretariat. Once year of the Qianlong reign (1780), the Ancestral Temple in the former and current capitals. Furthermore, the Qianlong craftsmanship than the originals.
the posthumous seals were produced, or updated, the Beijing would be home to 16 posthumous imperial seals of Emperor decreed that going forward, his descendants should
The above gives a concrete picture of the posthumous seals
Astronomical Bureau would then select an auspicious date, five emperors and eleven empresses. follow the practice of producing two sets of imperial jade of the Qing emperors and empresses. The four rulers before
and the emperor would personally dedicate and place the seals and albums, one for each Ancestral Temple. From this
In the twenty-fourth year of the Qianlong reign (1759), the Nurhaci and their consorts each had two posthumous seals,
seals within the gold cabinets of the Imperial Ancestral Qing regime pacified the Hui areas and secured a steady point forward, from the reigns of the Jiaqing Emperor to the one made in the ninth year of the Shunzhi reign with a finial
Temple. Guangxu Emperor, two sets of posthumous seals were carved
supply of Khotan jade. Thus, in the forty-fifth year of his reign of crouching dragons, and the other made in the second
The practice of housing posthumous imperial seals at the (1780), the Qianlong Emperor decreed that a new set of and both with the standardized finial of intertwined dragons. year of the Xuantong reign with a finial of entwined dragons.
When a new emperor added to his predecessors’ posthumous
Imperial Ancestral Temple also evolved over time. In the first posthumous imperial jade albums and seals should be made The sixteen emperors and empresses from Nurhaci to
year of the Chongde reign (1636), the Ancestral Temple was and dedicated at the Ancestral Temple in Beijing, whereas the titles, officials and craftspeople would be tasked by the court Yongzheng each had three seals: one from the earliest set
to retrieve and re-carve the Shengjing set. The fourteenth
established in Shengjing, but at the time only spirit tablets of old set currently housed in Beijing would be transported to with a finial of crouching dragons, later moved to Shengjing;
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the deceased emperors’ and empresses’ were housed there. the Ancestral Temple in Shengjing and dedicated there. The year of the Guangxu reign (1888) marked the last time one made between the forty-fifth and forty-seventh years of
posthumous seals were sent to Shengjing and as of that year,
After the Manchus of the Qing dynasty occupied Beijing in old posthumous imperial seals had been made on an ad the Qianlong reign, with a finial of double dragons, housed
the first year of the Shunzhi reign (1644), another Ancestral hoc basis and thus were of different colors and qualities and the Ancestral Temple in Shengjing housed a total of thirty-two in Beijing; and one replacement made in the second year of
posthumous imperial seals, of emperors and empresses from
Temple was established in Beijing, but this temple likewise bore finials in the shape of crouched dragons. The new set the Xuantong reign and housed in Beijing. The emperors and
did not house any jade albums or jade seals. In the seventh would be standardized to be of the same size and form, with Nurhaci to the Tongzhi Emperor, and that in Beijing housed empresses from the Qianlong to Tongzhi reigns also each
a total of forty, including those of emperors and empresses
month of the second year of the Shunzhi reign (1645), the finials in the shape of intertwined dragons, crafted uniformly had three seals: two identical ones made to the Qianlong
jade albums and jade seals of Taizu Wuhuangdi, Xiaoci from Khotan jade. In the seventh month of the forty-seventh from Zhaozu Yuanhuangdi to the Tongzhi Emperor. Emperor’s standardized specifications, split between
Wuhuanghou and Taizong Wenhuangdi were placed at the year of the Qianlong reign (1782), the sixteen new seals were
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