Page 20 - Sotheby's Qianlong Calligraphy Oct. 3, 2018

3201

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE ASIAN COLLECTION

A SUPERB AND EXCEPTIONAL

IMPERIAL TIANHUANG
‘CHILONG’ SEAL AND A PAIR

OF CALLIGRAPHIC HANGING
SCROLLS

QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG
PERIOD

Seal face
the seal powerfully carved in high relief with a mother chilong 印面
playfully nipping at the haunches of her two wrestling cubs
atop an oval seal, each horned mythical beast meticulously
rendered with a finely incised mane above piercing eyes
and a pronounced snout, the seal face carved with a three-
character inscription reading de re xin (‘Virtue renewed every
day’) framed by a pair of sinuous chilong, the lustrous stone
of a rich caramel colour with grey inclusions skilfully utilised
to portray the darker fur and mane of the mother chilong;
each of the pair of imperial hanging scrolls with semi-cursive
calligraphy in ink on gold-flecked silk, mounted on green
diaper brocade, one impressed with the de ri xin seal, the
other with two further Qianlong seals and a collector’s seal
seal h. 7 cm, 2¾ in.; 212 gr.
each scroll 137.2 by 28 cm, 54 by 11 in.

PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 26th October 2003, lot 28.

HK$ 25,000,000-30,000,000
US$ 3,190,000-3,830,000
Seal Impression
清乾隆 御製田黃三螭鈕寶璽 印文

印文：德日新
連清乾隆御筆行書對聯

水墨冷金絹本立軸

來源：
香港蘇富比2003年10月26日，編號28
對聯：慶協桐圭緜永算，恩聯花萼茂初陽。
鈐印：德日新、存誠主敬、乾隆御筆

Impression from the Qianlong baosou
《乾隆寶藪》內之印文

18 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比