Page 158 - Bonhams Cornette Saint Cyr, Property from the estate of Jean-Pierre Rousset (1936-2021)

Resonance of the Void:
A Lacquered Guqin Table with the Rhythm of ‘Clouds

and Dragons’ from the Rousset Family Collection

Zhang Zhihui

Alas, the vicissitudes of the Central Plains, in which the iconic Bronze Bird Terrace has long decayed.
Only tiles have remained from the grand mausoleums, and Master Guo’s brick may be one of them.
While beautiful words could sometimes mean nothing and only appear pretty in form,
the hollowness of Master Guo’s brick resonates a long rhyme.
I hope to have one of those bricks in my humble garden [as a sound box on the guqin table],
and be enchanted by music among the flowers.
— Wang Ke, Sending Master Guo’s Brick to Mr Li Zimi

On the sixth day of the fourth month of 1459, a summer day during the speaking, guqin tables also include other long and narrow tables that
third year of the Ming dynasty Tianshun reign, 29 ministers including are not necessarily made for playing the qin 琴 (fretless Chinese zither)
Han Yong, then the right Assistant Censor-in-chief, were invited to instrument. The word ‘qin’ here refers only to the long and narrow
a tour of the Imperial Western Garden located to the west of the shape. Similarly, there are also kangqin 炕琴 (long and narrow cabinets
Forbidden City. Such an invitation was, for the ministers of the time, used on heated kang beds) and qindeng 琴凳 (narrow stools), which
a supreme honour. After the morning assembly, the invited ministers have nothing to do with the instrument. Strictly speaking, a guqin table
were first summoned by the Tianshun Emperor at the Wenhuadian refers to a specific furniture which is built to hold a qin for playing. It
文華殿 (The Hall of Literary Glory), and given an Imperial meal in the usually comes with a built-in drawer which functions as a resonance
western chamber of the Hall, before they were led by eunuchs to the chamber, or is inlaid with a guogong zhuan resonance block, and a
Western Garden from the Xihuamen 西華門 (West Glorious Gate). height below 75cm. Such features are critical in determining whether
The sky was just clearing up after a shower, as the ministers strolled or not a piece of furniture is a guqin table.
around the garden and enjoyed the views. This memorable tour was
recorded by Han Yong in his essay Ciyou Xiyuan Ji賜遊西苑記 (The The qin has a long history in China and is often played on a
Western Garden: A Tour Granted by His Majesty), in which he detailed player’s lap, or on a table. The former way started with the birth the
what he saw on the Wansuishan 萬歲山 (Hill of Ten Thousand Years): instrument and continues to be used, while the latter was related to
the development of Chinese furniture. In short, Chinese furniture has
…the small pavilion on the hill is surrounded by curious garden rocks, become higher as people’s sitting positions have shifted from sitting
as well as exotic and rare plants. The furnishings nearby include also on the floor to sitting on raised furniture such as a chair, with their legs
guqin tables, chess boards, stone beds and screens…The most dangling down. High furniture started to exist extensively during the
extraordinary rock is named Cui Yun (green clouds) and inscribed with Tang dynasty and, eventually, became the norm in the Song dynasty.
Imperial poems. On the guqin tables are the guogong zhuan (Master Although it cannot be ruled out that qin was already played on low
Guo’s brick), whose sound resonates beautifully when struck. tables when sitting on the floor was still the norm, the widespread use
of guqin tables seems to have appeared even slightly later than the rise
The so-called guogong zhuan is a generic term for sound boxes used of raised furniture. Among the earliest known images of guqin tables
on guqin tables. Han Yong’s account has shown how guqin tables and is the one in the painting Tingqintu 聽琴圖 (Listening to qin) by the
resonance blocks were used in Ming gardens and their surroundings Emperor Huizong of Song, which, judging from its size and shape, was
were designed. To this day, a Ming dynasty resonance block is still on apparently made specifically for Court use.
display in the Imperial garden of the Forbidden City. Offered from the
Rousset Collection in this sale is also a rare Imperial lacquered guqin It is not yet established when the so-called guogong zhuan started
table with a resonance block. to be used on guqin tables. The current available evidence seems to,
however, indicate that it was no earlier than the Yuan dynasty. In the
Commonly known as qinzhuo 琴桌 (guqin tables), the furniture Dongtian Qingluji 洞天清錄集 (Pure Records of the Cave Heaven), a
can be further categorised according to their shapes as qin’an 琴 book on antiques written by the late Southern Song period scholar
案 (bench-liked guqin table), qinzhuo 琴桌 (guqin table), qinji 琴几 Zhao Xihu 趙希鵠, there is a detailed account of the recommended
(lower guqin table), and qintai 琴台 (plinth-liked guqin table). Broadly materials and shapes for guqin tables:

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