Page 194 - CHRISTIE'S Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art 09/14 - 15 / 17

Fig. 2. Soapstone seal of Mrs. Eleanor Gibbs and its seal Jade books were highly sumptuous items made only for the most important
impression showing Mrs. Gibbs’ name in Chinese.
Fig. 3. Letter from Gump’s to Mr. and Mrs. William D. Gibbs
congratulating them on their purchase of the present jade book set, dated material following the pacifcation of the Xinjiang area in 1759. This group of
18 June 1955.
186
rituals or investitures of emperors. During the Qianlong period, however, jade
books were also made for the pleasure of the Qianlong Emperor, in part due
to his fascination with jade, and in part due to the increase in supply of the
Qianlong jade books bear inscriptions of primarily three diferent categories.
The frst is the conferment of special titles to imperial members, such as
a celadon jade book documenting the conferment of the title Empress
Dowager Chongqing to the Qianlong Emperor’s mother in 1771, in the Beijing
Palace Museum Collection and illustrated in Life in the Forbidden City of
Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2007, no. 19. The second type of jade book is inscribed
with Buddhist sutras and texts, such as a jade sutra book with aloeswood
covers, mounted in yellow brocade frames and ftted in a folding hard-board
brocade box, incised and gilt with the Foshuo shi jixiang jing sutra. This
example, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Imperial Packing
Art of Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2007, pp. 132-33. The third type, like the current
book, records essays or poems by the Qianlong Emperor himself, sometimes
to express his views on certain subjects or to commemorate his
glorious achievements.
The present book, which records the Qianlong Emperor’s essay Shiquan
laoren zhibao shuo (Disquisition on the Seal of An Old Man of Perfect
Completion), is particularly important among all jade books. In the 57th
year of the Qianlong reign (1792), the Qing army led by general Fu Kangan
repelled the Gurkhas’ second invasion of Tibet. This great victory concluded
Qianlong’s glorious military career, which he counted as shiquan wugong (ten
complete military accomplishments) and which included two campaigns
against the Dzungars; the pacifcation of the revolt of the Muslim tribes; two
battles against tribal people in Jinchuan; pacifcation of Taiwan; a campaign
in Burma; a campaign in Vietnam; and twice accepting surrender of the
Gurkhas (See Qing Gaozong yuzhi shiwen quanji [An Anthology of Imperial
Poetry and Prose Composed by Gaozong of the Qing Period], the third
collection, vol. 8, p. 7). Soon thereafter he began calling himself shiquan
laoren (The Old Man with Ten Accomplishments). In the same year, Qianlong
ordered the imperial workshops to carve the shiquan laoren zhibao seal (Fig.
1) and composed the Shiquan laoren zhibao shuo (Disquisition on the Seal
of the Old Man of Perfect Completion). In this essay, the Qianlong Emperor
elaborated on the profound meaning of the phrase shiquan. He stated at
the beginning that “the term shiquan originally refers to the ten military
accomplishments but the words contain a far deeper signifcance...... The
military exploit is but one aspect of the duty of the sovereign.” The character
shi, besides its literal meaning of ‘ten’, also means ‘perfect’, and the character
quan means ‘all completion’. By calling himself shiquan laoren, Qianlong not
only celebrated his ten military accomplishments but also expressed his
ambition of becoming an emperor of perfect completion. Thereafter, the
imperial workshops recorded this essay in various medium such as kesi and
jade books. In the frst year of Jiaqing (1796), after abdicating the throne to
his son Yongyan (Jiaqing Emperor), Qianlong announced in an edict that
“the Shiquan laoren zhibao shuo jade books will become the precious book
conferring him the title of Emperor emeritus.
According to Guo Fuxiang of the Palace Museum, Beijing, there are more
than twenty Shiquan laoren zhibao shuo (Disquisition on the Seal of the Old
Man of Perfect Completion) jade books in various materials and sizes made
during the late Qianlong period. One set made of greyish-white jade and
mounted in folding hardwood frames is in the National Palace Museum,
Taipei, are illustrated in The All Complete Qianlong: the Aesthetic Tastes of the
Qing Emperor Gaozong, Taipei, 2013, pp. 34-45, no. I-1.2.
This present jade book entered the collection of Mr. and Mrs. William D.
Gibbs in 1955. Eleanor Gibbs and her husband William developed a deep
interest in Chinese culture and art in the 1930s and 1940s. Their profound
understanding of Chinese culture made their collection, which had an
emphasis on inscription-related works of art such as seals and this jade
book, distinct among their fellow collectors. Mrs. Gibbs even had her name
carved in Chinese on a soap stone seal. (Fig. 2) Their passion and dedication
infuenced their acquisition of this highly important jade book from Gump’s
in San Francisco in 1955. (Fig. 3) Established during California’s Gold Rush
era, Gump’s was a major source of fne Chinese works of art in the early
twentieth century.