Page 84 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art NYC September 2023

THE WHITE JADE QIANLONG

‘SHIQUAN LAOREN’ SEAL

GUO FUXIANG

ver twenty years ago, I published Ming Qing Di was originally encased together with the Taishang Huangdi
Hou Bao Xi / Imperial seals of the Ming and Qing (The Emperor Emeritus) seal and the Wanguo Chuntai
Odynasties, a book dedicated to the subject of Yuanmeiquan (The Realm Embracing the Spring and
imperial seals used by emperors and empresses. In the book, Accomplishing My Visions) seal, and that the three seals were
I mentioned that the seals commissioned by the Qianlong used as a group for inscribing.
Emperor had a clear tendency to record life events and Such group of seals must be explored in their entirety. In
successes. I further stated that seals had been carved to other words, in order to appreciate the Shiquan Laoren seal, it
commemorate significant state affairs and family rituals is necessary to not only understand the historical background
throughout the Qianlong period, and that those seals had and origin of the inscription Shiquan Laoren but to also
been reproduced in such great numbers that, if lined up investigate the three inscriptions in conjunction with each
according to the years they were produced, a chronology other, and their association with the Emperor’s life events.
of the major happenings in his reign would be established .
1
This special characteristic of Qianlong seals means that On the twenty-second day, eighth month and fifty-seventh year
the great historical episodes of the Qianlong period are of Qianlong (1792), the Emperor, then in his Chengde Mountain
culturally significant to Qianlong seals, and hence are the key Resort preparing for the imperial hunt, received a memorial
to our understanding of them. The present Shiquan Laoren from Fuk’anggan who had been appointed as general-in-chief
seal being offered by Sotheby’s New York is an example of to the campaign of Gurkha, reporting the capitulation of King
this kind of seals that documented the Qianlong Emperor’s Rana Bahadur. The eighty-two-year-old Emperor exulted
lifetime achievements. in the triumphant news. He immediately consented to the
submission of Gurkha and commanded Fuk’anggan to lead
This jewel of white jade is carved with a crouching dragon, his troops back to the capital. On the same day, the Emperor
measuring 6.3 cm in overall height and 3.8 cm on each wrote the poem Kuoerka Latena Baduer qianshi huizui qixiang,
side of the seal face. The seal inscription is composed of yin xu qi qing, ming kaixuan banshi zhishi (The Gurkha Rana
the four characters Shiquan Laoren (The Elder with Ten Bahadur Sent for an Envoy, Repented His Disloyalty and Pledge
Accomplishments) in sigillary script, with shi and ren in relief Fealty; I Hence Permitted His Supplication and Commanded
and quan and lao in intaglio; the combination of relief and the Victorious Army to Return and the Event Be Recorded),
intaglio on one seal is very special for Qianlong seals. The of which the last verse praises shiquan dawu yang (we even
present seal is recorded in the Qianlong Baosou (Register succeeded in the ten complete military achievements) .
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of the Qianlong Imperial Seals) kept in the Beijing Palace This seems like a summary of the many military actions the
Museum. Comparing its impression against that found in Emperor had launched against foreign powers and in the
the imperial records, it matches precisely in size, calligraphy borderlands. The next day, still in high spirits, he wrote Shiquan
and carved strokes, thus attesting to the authenticity of Ji (Note on the Ten Accomplishments) to recount the wars he
the seal having been used by the Qianlong Emperor. It is operated during his reign that had fortified the borders and
further documented in the Qianlong Baosou that this seal

164 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11275 165