Page 94 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong Sotheby's April 2017

A CELADON JADE SEAL OF EMPRESS ZHI
GUO FUXIANG
Among the various types of Qing imperial seals, one type was
very unusual. It was not impressed on documents, books,
or works of painting or calligraphy, nor even owned by the
emperors and empresses in question within their lifetimes.
Rather these seals were venerated in the Imperial Ancestral
Temple as symbols of past emperors or empresses by their
successors. They are known as yibao or posthumous seals.
Currently on offer at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, the jade seal of
Empress Zhi was a posthumous seal that the Shunzhi Emperor
installed in 1652 at the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Carved from
celadon jade with a finial in the shape of a crouching dragon,
the seal measures 13.6 cm in height and has a seal face that
measures 13.8 cm on each side. The seal text is in Manchu
regular script and Chinese seal script, with two lines in each
language, both reading ‘seal of Empress Zhi’. Understanding
this seal requires knowledge of the rituals performed at the
Imperial Ancestral Temple and the system of posthumous
titles at the Qing court, which are discussed below.
A reigning emperor would create a posthumous seal for
a deceased emperor or empress when giving the latter
a posthumous title. Posthumous seals were thus direct
results of the system of ancestral worship in pre-modern
China. Emperors, kings, high officials, and scholars alike
constructed temples for ancestral worship, in which they
worshipped the spirit tablets and symbolic clothing of
the deceased ancestors. The venerated ancestors all had
honorary posthumous titles that generally celebrated their
deeds and ethics in life. Systematic ancestral worship had
a very long and continuous history in China, having been
comprehensively developed already during the Zhou Dynasty.
Prior to this, only the ancestors of the founder of a state
were entitled to posthumous titles, and everyone else was
known by the same name in life and in death. During the Zhou
Dynasty, posthumous titles became widespread. As state
rituals became increasingly sophisticated, the system of
posthumous titles was revised. Ultimately it became a means
for people of all strata of society to venerate their deceased
rulers and fathers as if they were alive. In Chinese history,
the posthumous titles of emperors and empresses were an
important part of court rituals, which were highly and explicitly Hanlin Academy wrote the Manchu seal text, and the Grand
regulated. These included the sacrifices performed at the
Imperial Ancestral Temple and rituals for the dedication of
posthumous titles.
The Qing emperors’ practice of giving posthumous titles to
their ancestors began during the time of Hong Taiji, Emperor
Taizong. In 1636, when Hong Taiji accepted the honorary title
of Taizong, he gave the posthumous title of Emperor Taizuwu
to his father Nurhaci, who founded the Qing Dynasty, that
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of Empress Xiaociwu to his mother, and those of Zewang,
Qingwang, Changwang, and Fuwang to his patriarchal
ancestors of the successive past generations. From that time
onwards, each Qing emperor upon ascending the throne had
to officiate the ritual of giving posthumous titles to the former
emperors and empresses. These posthumous titles followed a
fixed format during the Qing. An emperor’s official posthumous
title usually consisted of his temple name, a laudatory
phrase, and finally a posthumous sobriquet. The length of
the laudatory phrase, which consisted of a series of binomes,
determined the length of a posthumous title. An emperor’s
posthumous title tended to begin at twenty characters.
An empress’s posthumous title tended to begin with the
character xiao (‘filial piety’) and at twelve characters. The
posthumous titles of Nurhaci, the rulers of the preceding four
generations and their wives were unusual. The rulers had been
posthumously elevated to the status of king (wang) in 1636
by Hong Taiji, and in 1648, after the Qing conquest of China,
they were further given the honorary titles of Zhaozuyuan,
Xingzuzhi, Jingzuyi and Xianzuxuan, and their wives
correspondingly the honorary titles of Empress Yuan, Empress
Zhi, Empress Yi and Empress Xuan. These earlier posthumous
titles are relatively simple, lacking laudatory phrases.
As mentioned above, posthumous seals were created when an
emperor dedicated posthumous titles to a deceased emperor
or empress. In practice, each deceased emperor or empress
would receive three posthumous seals, made respectively
in silk, sandalwood and jade. After being ceremonially read,
the silk seal was burnt at the altar of the diseased. The
sandalwood seal was interred in the mausoleum, whereas
the jade seal was dedicated at the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
Silk and sandalwood seals, not meant for posterity, were
relatively simply made, whereas jade seals were made to last
and thus finely designed and crafted from carefully chosen
materials, taking tremendous amounts of labour and time.
First, the Office of Manufacture (Zaobanchu) under the
Imperial Household Department (Neiwufu) produced the seal
block from jade according to specifications, and submitted
its dimensions and condition to the Grand Secretariat. The
Secretariat the Chinese seal text. The Astronomical Bureau
(Qintianjian) selected an auspicious date for their inscription,
after which the Hanlin Academy sent its officials to the
Grand Secretariat to verify the Chinese text, and the Grand
Secretariat verified the Manchu text. When the completed text
was found to be correct, the seal was passed to the Imperial
Household Department and then to the Inner Clean Room
(Neijieshi) Imperial Ancestral Temple for submission for use.
When an emperor dedicated a posthumous title or modified an