Page 238 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

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PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 清乾隆丙申年（1776年）
AN INSCRIBED IMPERIAL OCTAGONAL 歙石八方御製詩「仿唐觀象硯」
INKSTONE, 《乾隆丙申新正御銘》款
MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG, DATED TO 「德充符」、「會心不遠」印
THE BINGSHEN YEAR (IN ACCORDANCE WITH
1776) 來源：
fitted wood box 繭山龍泉堂，東京，1987年10月
14.4 cm 日本私人收藏
平野古陶軒，東京
PROVENANCE 香港蘇富比2011年4月8日，編號2810
Mayuyama & Co. Ltd, Tokyo, October 1987.
A Japanese private collection. 刻御製文：
Hirano Kotoken, Tokyo. 古聖觀象，意在筆前。卦雖畫入，理具先天。
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8th April 2011, lot 2810. 伊誰製硯，義闡韋編。四維四隅，匪方匪圓。
弗設奇偶，全體備焉。玩辭是資，選石倣旃。
HK$ 550,000-800,000 滴露研朱，用佐窮年。
US$ 70,500-103,000

The five-character title at the top reads fang Tang Guanxiang
yan (‘Imitation of the ‘Heaven-Observing’ inkstone of the
Tang dynasty’), followed by a poem dated to the bingshen
year (in accordance with 1776) and two seals reading
De chong fu (‘Sign of virtue within’) and Huixin buyuan
(‘Enlightened mind not far’).
The poem can be translated as follows:
The ancient sage observed heaven,
And put his ideas to pen.
Although eight trigrams were drawn,
Their principles were primordial.
Who has made this inkstone
To expound on The Book of Change?
With four sides and four corners,
Neither a square nor a circle,
Further adding yin and yang,
Now all components are present.
Playful words to add on it,
Choosing a stone to imitate it.
Dripping dew to grind ink red,
It will aid me till the end of day.
Qianlong imperial inscription on the New Year’s Day of the
bingshen year The inscribed poem is recorded in Qing Gaozong
yuzhi shiwen quanji [Anthology of imperial Qianlong
The present inkstone takes its form from one of the ten old poems and text], yuzhi wen erji [imperial proses, vol.
inkstones from the Palace collection chosen by the Qianlong 2], juan 40.
Emperor in the 14th year of his reign (1749) to be bestowed 詩文收錄於《清高宗御製詩文全集．御製文二
with a name and dating. The first of these inkstones was an 集》，卷四十
octagonal Duan stone, named Guanxiang and attributed to
the Tang period by the Emperor. A closely related She stone
example was included in the exhibition The Imperial Studio,
Littleton and Hennessey Asian Art, London, 2009, cat. no.
15, which also includes a discussion of the context of this
type of inscribed octagonal inkstone. For a duan inkstone
inscribed with an imperial poem and carved in the form of a
Han tile see one sold in these rooms, 30th November 1980,
lot 580.

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