Page 218 - Christie's Important Chinese Works of Art, May 31 to June 1, 2023 Hong Kong

fig. 1A
圖一A

the imitation of the green rust colour. However, there were still records Workshop, stating that “the hufu yan need not be made in the future.”
of newly-made chengni ink stones that retained their original colour In the late spring of the following year (1790), the chengni ink stone
without the need for the green patina treatment. materials from Jiangxian that remained in Suzhou were exhausted, and
the Emperor decreed the Suzhou Workshop to stop its decade-long
Apart from the green rust colour, which was mostly completed by task of producing chengni ink stones.
Suzhou craftsmen, the inscriptions on the ink stones were drafted,
sometimes also carved, by the Maoqindian court officials before sending In summary, starting from the early fortieth years of Qianlong’s reign,
over to Suzhou craftsmen for engraving. Later, the chengni ink stones sent he commanded officials and craftsmen to research and produce chengni
by Suzhou were usually completed with text inscriptions first. Over the ink stones. Besides the focus on suitable materials, attention was also
course of more than 10 years, Suzhou Workshop would occasionally paid to the details of firing the ink stones. The accompanying ink
send various newly-made chengni ink stones—some imitating ancient stone boxes were made of expensive red sandalwood, and the shapes,
tiles, some in the style of shiqu ink stones, some with rabbit gazing at patterns, and inscriptions were all meticulously designed. The texts for
the moon decorations, or directly in the form of crouching tigers—to the inscriptions were written by Maoqindian court officials and were
the imperial court. The latter was recorded as “Chengni Tiger Tally either engraved in the Forbidden City or by Suzhou craftsmen. The
Ink stone” and not as “Crouching Tiger Ink stone”, a term originally storage locations of each ink stone were also carefully chosen. The
intended to refer to newly made chengni tiger ink stones, likely due to officials overseeing the ink stone productions in Shanxi and Suzhou
a long-standing error that was in time accepted as correct. On January did not dare to slack off, diligently sourcing the clay from submerged
27 of 1789, the imperial officials presented various items from Suzhou silk bags each year and firing the ink stones on schedule to meet the
Workshop for the Emperor’s viewing. Among them were two chengni Emperor’s expectations. These chengni ink stones were not only stored
yutuchaoyuan yan and two chengni hufu yan. By imperial decree, the two in the Forbidden City and nearby suburban palaces but they were
hufu yan were taken out of the Forbidden City, one to be displayed also sent to summer resorts or Jiangnan Palace for storage. Some had
at the Panshan Palace on the outskirts of Beijing, and the other to decorations imitating the green-rust colour of ancient bronze wares,
the Rehe Palace for storage. Another decree was issued to the Suzhou while others retained the original colour of chengni from Jiangxian.

時送到各式新做澄泥硯，或仿古瓦，或作石渠硯式，或作玉 二方，奉旨：將兩方虎伏硯帶出紫禁城，一方帶往京郊盤山行
兔朝元紋飾，或逕作臥虎形，而且原將新做的澄泥虎硯稱作 宮陳設，一方遠送熱河行宮貯存，並且傳旨給蘇州織造「『虎
「澄泥虎伏硯」的情形似乎也在積非成是的原因下，檔案總 符硯』嗣後不必成做」。第二年(乾隆五十五年，1790)春末，
記為「澄泥虎符硯」，不見稱作「虎伏硯」。到了乾隆五十四 留存在蘇州的絳州澄泥硯材用罄，皇帝遂傳旨停止蘇州織造
年(1789)新春正月二十七日內廷執事人員將蘇州織造送到的 十餘年來成做澄泥硯的任務。
各式物件恭呈御覽，其中有澄泥玉兔朝元硯和澄泥虎伏硯各

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