Page 85 - Sotheby's Fine Chinese Art NYC September 2023

solidified his rule, and he set down ten monumental victories imperial duties [guan]? It is none other than the duties [zhi]
as shiquan wugong (The Ten Military Accomplishments). As of a ruler. Now that one cannot even list all the duties of a
specified by the Emperor, ‘these accomplishments were: ruler, how could one say that the ruler fulfils all his duties?
twice pacifying the Dzungars, settling the Muslim tribes of the Since the ruler can never completely fulfil all his duties, is
Northwest, twice conquering the Jinchuan region, suppressing not Shiquan Laoren Zhi Bao self-deception and boasting, and
Taiwan, subduing Burma and Vietnam with one conquest each, does it not increase the shame? I, as the elder, aspire to the
and now twice accepting the submission of the Gurkhas, a total ultimate fulfilment beyond the ten accomplishments, but I
3
of ten’ . This is the origin of shiquan wugong, the statement dare not rely on Heaven’s aid. The ten accomplished military
that the Qianlong Emperor jubilantly referred to and repeatedly campaigns have indeed benefited from Heaven’s aid. Do the
proclaimed in his later years. In the Emperor’s view, those ten campaigns completely fulfil my duties as a ruler, and can
wars were not acts of aggression, but rather were inevitable I count on Heaven’s aid here too? For a man who proceeds a
military deployments; the ten victories won peace for the hundred miles, ninety miles is deemed halfway; for me who
borderlands and therefore presented outstanding significance has three more years before I can retire from the throne, it is
to the Emperor. ‘Now, having accomplished the ten campaigns, deemed not even halfway but far from complete, as if there
all vouchsafed by Heaven, we have ten military achievements were three more decades to advance. For this reason, when
to glorify. Going forward, with the country secure and foreign I reached seventy, I linked the milestone with You Ri Zizi (Still
lands pacified, I only wish to share the blessings of peace with Diligent Every Day) as a motto, and when I reached eighty, I
the people of the empire.’ 4 linked the new milestone with Ziqiang Buxi (Self-improvement
Never Ceases), as an encouragement, but the next level may
Though shiquan may at first have been the Qianlong
Emperor’s recount of his historical achievements or may not occur. In the next three years, I dare not be lax
in expanding the empire, soon thereafter he began in propelling myself to work diligently and to revere Heaven
calling himself shiquan laoren, which was more than to and serve my people; awaiting Heaven’s favor reverently,
commemorate his military accomplishments. When the I may attain the condition of ultimate fulfilment, but in
Emperor commissioned the Shiquan Laoren Zhi Bao (Seal of the meantime, three years really seem as distant as three
the Elder with Ten Accomplishments) to be made, he wrote decades. How I feel blessed! How I long for the fulfilment!
5
an essay titled Shiquan Laoren Zhi Bao Shuo (An Explanation How I desire to keep my guard up!’ We can thus see that the
of the Seal of the Elder with Ten Accomplishments) where he Qianlong Emperor, after the ten military accomplishments,
bestowed additional meaning on the term shiquan: ‘Having sought to establish his recognition as the completely
written Shiquan Ji, I selected a piece of Khotan jade and fulfilled elder, which was not just an attempt to extol his past
had it carved with the characters shiquan laoren zhi bao; completion of the ten military accomplishments but rather
I hereby explain that while shiquan was originally phrased a pursuit to the next phase of his life, namely to deliver all
to commemorate military accomplishments, shiquan the duties of a ruler so that he might ‘attain the condition of
laoren zhi bao meant beyond that. What do I mean? Military ultimate fulfilment’ and to realize his long-cherished desire
accomplishments are only one of the duties [zhi] of a ruler, to be a consummate character of all time. In other words, the
favored by the heavenly might and fulfilled by his scrupulous Emperor used the term shiquan to note his accomplishments
endeavors. I did not increase the land tax but instead the tax and to set up expectations for himself. Therefore, when the
relief augmented fourfold; nor did I exact corvée labor from Qianlong Emperor called himself Shiquan Laoren, he was
the people but instead people harvested a great bounty. I using the term shiquan to express the excellence of life that
have, perhaps, merely avoided the criticism of engaging in he aspired to.
senseless wars; as for an elder, the ten accomplishments What is this excellence, the ultimate fulfilment, that the
are not yet complete. The job of a ruler is not limited to Qianlong Emperor was aspiring to? From his own words, we
military accomplishments, is it? Zhu Xi said, “a day on the can infer that the Emperor, at this point of life, thought he had
throne is a day of carrying out imperial duties [guan], and a realized all his ideals except for bequeathing the throne on to
day of being unable to carry out imperial duties is a day of his successor after sixty years of rulership and becoming the
being unworthy of the throne.” What does Zhu Xi mean by Emperor Emeritus. Only at that juncture would the Emperor

166 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11275 167