Page 94 - Sotheby's Qianlong Calligraphy Oct. 3, 2018

BAO QINWANG BAO ZUXI

A GROUP OF TREASURES OF
THE PRINCE OF THE FIRST DEGREE

GUO FUXIANG

These three seals are made from material equal to the best in the future and protected for generations according to the
quality brilliant and translucent dong stones. Their inscriptions regulations. Unfortunately, China has experienced numerous
include one with raised characters reading Suianshi, another misfortunes in its modern history, and the life of Imperial
with recessed characters reading Bao Qinwang bao and treasures inside the palaces was also susceptible to these
another one with raised characters reading Changchun Jushi. unpredictable disasters. Of the thirteen sets of the Qianlong
Emperor’s princely seals, aside from one box of sixteen seals
This group of seals was used and produced before the
Qianlong Emperor ascended the throne, while he was still in the collection of the Beijing Palace Museum (fig. 3), most
Crown Prince (fig. 1). In the Record of Qianlong Imperial Seals, others appear to have been lost through time. Thus this set of
Qianlong baosou, which is kept in the collection of the Palace Bao Qinwang bao seals that is offered in this sale is the only
Museum, Beijing, it is recorded that “before he ascended the set of the Qianlong Emperor’s Princely seals known to be in
throne, seventy seals were ordered to be made, and they were a private collection. Furthermore, the fact that a set that has
divided and kept in thirteen special boxes. After each was been privately owned for a long period of time, resurfaces, is
carefully recorded and the various seals used, the phrases in itself a fortunate occurrence.
on the seals were recorded on a list which together formed It was in the 11th year of the Yongzheng reign that the
a meaning.” From this passage, we know that Qianlong as Qianlong Emperor was conferred as the Heshi Bao Qinwang
a Prince had seventy seals made for himself and they were (Prince of the Blood of the First Degree, Bao) and was given
divided and fitted into thirteen seal boxes, of which the the designation Changchun Jushi (Scholar of Everlasting
present set of seals is one. The box is made from zitan, carved Spring, fig. 2). The Shiqu baoji records that this group of
with the seal inscriptions in regular script on the outside, and seals was already used during the 12th year of the Yongzheng
the interior of the box, into which the seals are fitted, is lined reign, thus we can conclude that these seals must have been
with brocade. The workmanship is of the highest calibre and made no later than the 11th year of the Yongzheng reign
its abundance of luxury testifies to the dignified air of the (1732), making them some of the earliest works of art made
imperial family. to the order of the Qianlong Emperor. What is also worth
mentioning, is that the Qianlong Emperor often used seals in
In the Qianlong Emperor’s imperial essay Jia yan ji it is
stated “In the winter of the 46th year of the Qianlong period, groups, and more often in groups of three which were kept
I respectfully gathered all the imperial seals used by my in a box together. These sets of seals often comprised one
grandfather and generations of ancestors as well as those of rectangular or oval section, which was inscribed with the
used in the ten or so years between taking residence in name of a palace hall, and two of square section inscribed with
the Green Palace (residence of the Heir Apparent) and the a by-name or a phrase taken from a poem (see for example,
ascendency to imperial power, had boxes made for them and fig. 4). The Bao Qinwang bao seals offered in this set are in
had them stored in the Shouhuangdian.” From this we know fact the original set of this type. The concept of grouping seals
that these thirteen boxes of seals from the time when the into sets of three is out of convenience, and these seals have
Qianlong Emperor was Crown Prince were originally kept in been impressed on a great number of works of art and are
the Shouhuang Hall of Jingshan (an ancestral hall behind Coal perhaps the most often used seals of the Qianlong Emperor’s
Hill), and that they were properly registered to be cherished early life (fig. 5).

92 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比