Page 200 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

266

A SET OF FIVE RARE IMPERIAL INSCRIBED Although one panel, which probably contained eight columns
JADE BOOK LEAVES of text, is missing along with the last panel, the entire
inscription is preserved in the Qing shilu (‘Veritable Records
DATED KANGXI 57TH YEAR, CORRESPONDING
of the Qing’), which was collated, edited and published in
TO 1718
a modern edition by the Beijing Zhonghua shuju in 1987.
These sources reveal that while she is usually identiÞ ed
each of ß at rectangular form, the front and cover leaves
by her short title, Empress Xiaohui Zhang (‘Filial and Kind
boldly incised and gilt with a pair of ascending and
Designated Empress’), her entire title is given at the very
descending dragons in pursuit of a ‘ß aming pearl’ among
end of the Chinese inscription: ‘Filial and Kind, Considerate
clouds, two leaves inscribed with commemorating texts in
and Exemplary, DigniÞ ed and Sincere, Compassionate and
Chinese, one leaf inscribed in Manchu script (5)
Gentle, Respectful and Content, Pure in Virtuous Conduct,
Length 11 in., 28 cm; Width 4¾ in., 12 cm
Submissive to the Will of Heaven, Worthy Assistant to the
PROVENANCE Son of Heaven Designated Empress’. It is notable that
zhang, the last character in the title just before ‘empress’
Sotheby’s Paris, 16th December 2010, lot 264.
(huanghou), translated as ‘designated’, indicates that she
Skilfully fashioned into uniform thin tablets and meticulously deserved to have her tablet placed in the Imperial Ancestral
inscribed, these jade panels are dated to the xinyou day of Hall.
the third month of the wuxu year of Kangxi (corresponding
to 12th April 1718) and commemorate the conferring of a Further examples of jade books with commemorative
inscriptions include two dated to 1648, documenting the
posthumous title on Empress Xiaohui Zhang (1641-1717)
posthumous title given by the Shunzhi emperor to his
who was Dowager Empress for almost the entire reign of
grandmother, one in the Qing Court Collection, and still in
the Kangxi emperor (1662-1722). Empress Xiaohui Zhang
was of the Mongol Borjigit clan. The inscription praises Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures
of the Palace Museum. Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995,
her diligent service and kindness to her great-aunt, the
pl. 3, and the other from the Hartman Collection, sold at
Superior Empress Dowager, her exemplary management
Christie’s London, 12th December 1988, lot 241, and again in
of the inner palace household, and her role in contributing
to the harmony that prevailed there all to her, before Þ nally these rooms, 15th September 2010, lot 210. See also a jade
book dated to 1736 with a eulogy dedicated to the Qianlong
concluding with praise for her great skill as a calligrapher.
emperor’s grandmother, in the collection of the Metropolitan
In 1653 the Shunzhi emperor demoted his Þ rst empress, her Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Treasures of the
aunt, and promoted Xiaohui Zhang as imperial consort, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979, pl. 27; and
one year later o< cially made her his second empress. When another dated to 1778 commemorating the death of the
he died in 1661, Xiaohui Zhang was made dowager empress, Qianlong emperor’s mother, Xiaosheng, sold at Christie’s
although she was not the Kangxi emperor’s biological New York, 3rd June 1993, lot 56.
mother, Empress Xiaokang (1640-1663). Additionally,
Empress Dowager Zhaosheng (1613-1688), mother of the $ 200,000-300,000
Shunzhi emperor as well as the great-aunt of Empress
Xiaohui Zhang, was then given the title Taihuang Taihou ⹟䅁Ḽ⋩ᶫ⸜炷1718⸜炸ġġġ⬅よ䪈䘯⎶䌱嫂Ⅎ
(‘Superior Empress Dowager’). ᶨ䳬Ḽ枩
Ⅎ椾㔯烉
䵕⹟䅁Ḽ⋩ᶫ⸜㬚㫉ㆲㆴᶱ㚰⹂ㆴ㚼崲⋩Ḵ㖍彃惱
Ը๕
⶜湶喯⭴㭼2010⸜12㚰16㖍炻䶐嘇264

198 SOTHEBY’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART