Page 105 - Important Chinese Art Sothebys March 2019

at least one other copy of this sutra written by the Qianlong of longevity wishes in the brocade, the present volumes
emperor is recorded, which also has two volumes, dated by are likely also to have been produced by the emperor for
inscription to 1756, catalogued in Midian zhulin xubian [pearl a similar, or the same, occasion, but nearly two decades
forest in the secret hall: series two], published in Midian earlier.
zhulin Shiqu baoji hebian [pearl forest in the secret hall the present sutra has a long collecting history in the West,
and precious collection of the stone Canal pavilion], vol. 3, that can be traced to Bernard alfred Quaritch (1819-1899),
shanghai, 2011, p. 29 (bottom).
a German bookseller, who in 1847 opened a bookshop in
at least two other sutras copied by the Qianlong emperor London, where he specialized in old and rare books and soon
are published, which were bound in the same imperial became the leading antiquarian bookseller worldwide. the
brocade and fitted with the same kind of title slips: a copy company exists in London to this day.
of the Lotus Sutra preserved in the palace museum, Beijing, henry Yates thompson (1838-1928) was a British newspaper
copied in 1765, and a copy of the Heart Sutra, copied in proprietor and collector of illuminated manuscripts. part of
1768, with very similar illustrations and equally bearing his collection was sold at sotheby’s, beginning in 1919, when
the emperor’s seals, preserved in the national palace his eyesight began to fail, and part was donated after his
museum, taipei; for the former see the exhibition catalogue death to the British museum and is today kept in the British
The Imperial Packing Art of the Qing Dynasty, the palace Library. the inside of the sutra cover contains his well-
museum, Beijing, 2000, no. 80, or The Imperial Packing known bookplate ex musaeo henrici Yates thompson (‘From
Art of Qing Dynasty. Classics of Forbidden City, Beijing, the museum of henry Yates thompson’).
2007, pp. 134-5; the latter was included in the exhibition
The All Complete Qianlong: The Aesthetic Tastes of the Qing James r. herbert Boone (1899-1983) was a Baltimore art
Emperor Gaozong, national palace museum, taipei, 2013, collector who left his entire home, the oak hill house, and
cat. no. I-2.5 (figs 2 & 3). his collection of Western paintings, sculpture, decorative art,
and Chinese and Japanese works of art to Johns hopkins
the above Lotus Sutra is known to have been copied by the University in Baltimore, for whose benefit it was sold at
Qianlong emperor to celebrate the birthday of his mother, sotheby’s in 1988. his elaborate bookplate is equally pasted
the empress Dowager Chongqing, and with its inclusion
inside the sutra cover.

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