Page 57 - Sotheby's Qianlong Calligraphy Oct. 3, 2018

the same subject. In the 46th year of Qianlong’s reign (1781), 1 Entry Chen 641, dated to the 11th month of the 7th year of the Jiaqing reign, in the
records of the objects on display in Xinuange, Yangxin Palace.
four sketches were made from the original painting, and then 2 Yuti Sanxitang Shiqu baoji fatie, vol. 2, engraved in 1750, rubbing dated to 1914.
transferred to the raw jade by Jia Quanzhao. A wax model was 3 Qin Gong, ‘Shougou guobao Shisan hang [Purchasing the national treasure Thirteen
made in the same year. The Lianghuai Salt Administration Lines]’, Zhongguo shufa, 2000, no. 6.
created a wood model based on this and, after receiving 4 Gems of Beijing Cultural Relics Series. Jades, Beijing, 2002, pl. 91.
5 Ye Du, a researcher at the Capital Museum, has done much research on the Jade Plaque
approval, embarked on carving the jade. Six years later, the of the Thirteen Lines. Here I draw abundantly from his work.
finished jade carving was sent back to Beijing and housed in 6 Gugong wupin diancha baogao [Palace Museum Inventory], 3rd ed., vol. 3, section on
Leshoutang. In the 53rd year of the Qianlong reign (1788), Soufangzhai, no. 05879, reprint 1929. The First Historical Archives of China, the Chinese
University of Hong Kong, eds, Qinggong neiwufu zaobanchu dang’an zonghui [General
the Emperor ordered Zhu Yongtai to engrave on it a long text collection of archival records from the Qing imperial household department workshop],
composed by himself on the jade carving. Here Qianlong Beijing, 2005, vol. 16, Ruyiguan, p. 592, muzuo.
7 Ibid., vol. 18, Ruyiguan, pp. 343-344.
expresses explicitly his view that “paintings may disappear as
time passes; heavy vessels [i.e. jades] are difficult to destroy
even after a thousand years”. This was also the reason for his
many orders to transform paintings into jade carvings.
Another example is the Jade Mountain with Travels Amidst
Autumn Mountains, a jade carving based on court painter
Jin Tingbiao’s painting, which was itself based on the
Five Dynasties-period landscape painting Travels Amidst
Mountains. The work began in the 31st year of the Qianlong
reign (1766) in the imperial workshops and ended in
Yangzhou, taking four years in total. Qianlong was extremely
fond of this jade carving, writing poems in praise of it twice,
including the lines “a painting has only one dimension, and
this has eight; viewing the scene from multiple perspectives
is pleasing and transports the spirit”. To transform a two-
dimensional painting into a three-dimensional scenery was
another important reason behind Qianlong’s jade mountains.
Qianlong’s jade mountains represent paintings in
three-dimensional form, and transported the actual
mountains and rivers of nature into interior spaces. They
were consonant in thought and aesthetic orientation with
Qianlong’s calligraphic engravings on jade. Both embody
Qianlong’s majestic vision for the inheritance and perpetuation
of the Chinese calligraphic and fine arts.

QIANLONG — SCHOLAR AND CALLIGRAPHER 55