Page 163 - Christie's Leisurely Life May 29, 2019 Hong Kong

PROPERTY FROM THE WATER, PINE AND STONE RETREAT
COLLECTION
3019

AN EXTREMELY RARE IMPERIALLY INSCRIBED The rectangular panel is exquisitely carved in high rounded
NANMU ‘PINE AND CRANES’ WALL PANEL relief with a landscape scene depicting a pair of cranes, one
perched at the base of a pine tree with head raised, and the
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
other standing on one leg with neck turned looking up at its
The rectangular panel is exquisitely carved in deep relief depicting
mate. The gnarled pine tree is entwined with vines and extends
a pair of cranes, one perched on the base of a pine tree with above the cranes, before rocks with bamboo and a flowing
uplifted head, and the other standing on one leg gazing up at the stream. An imperial twenty-eight characters poem is inscribed
first. The gnarled pine tree is entwined with vines and extending in the middle right, followed by a signature ‘youhe’ and two
above the cranes, amidst rocks with bamboo and a flowing stream. square seal marks ‘qian’ and ‘long’ in scroll borders. The panel is
An imperial poem is inscribed next to the cranes, followed by a enclosed in a plain zitan frame.
signature ‘youhe’ and two square seal marks ‘qian’ and ‘long’ in scroll The inscribed poem, originally titled ‘A Song for a Carved
border. The panel is enclosed in a plain zitan frame.
Wood Screen’ was composed by the Qianlong Emperor, in the
77 ¿ x 39 in. (196 cm x 99.2 cm.), including the zitan frame fifth calendar month of 1782, and is recorded in Yuzhi Shiji,
HK$2,500,000-3,500,000 US$330,000-450,000 Compilation of Imperial Poems (fig. 1), and published in Qing
Gaozong Yuzhi Shiwen Quanji (7), vol. 4, juan 91:11, The National
Palace Museum, Taipei, 1976, p.671. The signature youhe
PROVENANCE
P. C. Lu, Hong Kong, September 1988 means ‘to the right of the cranes’.
Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 15-16 November 1989, lot 509 The inscription may be translated as:
Cranes aplenty in the mountain villa, their wings unclipped,
At will, they fly away or they stay.
᪺̗㡳 ᜠᕲ㢰ᖳ㴥ངໞ྽㧎だ૰ኸ൞㔍♟᠂ᙌ
The ‘taixian’ (immortals in embryo) cherish this place, now
preserved in carving;
ϝᬝ
The ‘muyan’ (wooden bird) somehow bears its resemblance.
1 $ -V 卿㲞ᳰ卿 ჺ ᝲ
㲞ᳰ⼖༛ᬘ卿 ჺ ᝲ ᚚ卿ᐽ৅⤔⽚ Taixian, ’immortals in embryo’, on the third line, is a metaphor
for cranes, which is referring to immortals that are womb-born
᭢៏⒢ྒྷᏑⅧ⻦
instead of egg-born in the Daoist lore. Muyan, ‘wooden bird’,
in the last phrase alludes to a parable about longevity by the
Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi (476-221BC). On his way to a
friend’s house for dinner, he saw some trees that were being
cut down. One tree was spared from felling and he asked
for the reason. He was told that the tree trunk was unusable
as timber. Zhuangzi then arrived at his friend’s house as
dinner was being prepared. One goose among two had been
chosen to be butchered for the feast, his friend chose the one
which was dumb. Zhuangzi was inspired by both situations
to think about the essence to long life, the tree survived
because of redundancy, while the goose was sacrificed due to
incompetence. The phrase is an analogy for longevity, in which
Zhuangzi had concluded that it lies between being useful and
useless in life.
The present panel is almost certainly made to a specific
Imperial commission. The cranes and pine tree in a mountain
landscape depicted on the present panel portrays an image
of longevity and the blessing songhe yannian, 'may you
enjoy a life as long as that of the pine and crane'. Adored
and commissioned by the Qianlong emperor, the motif and
composition of a pair of cranes beneath a pine tree on the
present panel was also seen on various other imperial works
of art. A painting by the famous Italian Jesuit who served
the Qing imperial court, Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1768),
shows the same composition as the present panel with slightly
different motions of the cranes (fig. 2), is in the collection of
Shenyang Palace Museum, illustrated in Langshining Quanji
1688-1766, Complete Works of Giuseppe Castiglione 1688-
1766, Tianjin, 2015. Vol.2, pp.91-93. Another hanging scroll on
silk by the renowned Qing court painter Shen Quan (1682-
1760) dated to 1759, also depicts the same motif with plums, in
fig. 1 ‘A song for a carved wood screen’,
Qing Gaozong yuzhi shiwen quanji: yuzhishi, vol. 4, juan 91 the collection of Beijing Palace Museum, was included in the
எӬ ǸঘណߴེǹǶ᳖㵶໵ᇙㅳ㉼୨㫀Ƿ卿࣍ exhibition China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795, London, 2005,

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