Important Jade obJects

From a prIvate collectIon

november 13, 2010Lots 109 through 112

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the QIanlong seal“Wu Fu, Wu daI tang; ba zheng mao nIan bao”

Fine and Rare Chinese White Jade Imperial “Wu fu, wu dai tang; ba zheng mao nian bao” Seal, Qianlong (1736-1795), the rectangular body topped by a knob

carved as the horned figure of a dragon with open mouth and clutching the “Pearl of Wisdom” with flowing mane and carved clouds. [100000/200000]

Lot 109

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The Qianlong Seal “Wu fu, wu dai tang; ba zheng mao nian bao”

We have before us a relic of history, a white-jade

seal to be sold at auction by New Orleans Auction

Galleries. This superb piece, topped with the head of

an imperial dragon, is made of finest-quality white

jade and measures 1.8 by 0.9 inches (4.6 by 2.2 cm)

at the base and 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) in height. Where

did it come from? What is its significance? Because

of the similarity of the inscription with many other

Qianlong seals, specialists working with Qing

dynasty seals can instantly recognize it as a seal

belonging to the Qianlong emperor. This is born

out by fact that an impression of the seal appears

in Qianlong xi yin pu (Catalog of Impressions of

Qianlong Imperial Seals, vol. 4, p. 42), and this

impression matches the seal in terms of the layout,

style, and variations of the seal characters.

The inscription is complex and replete with

literary allusions. The first two characters, “wu fu,”

refer to the five happinesses in the “Great Plan”

chapter of the Shangshu (Book of History). They

are long life, wealth, good health and tranquility,

consistent love of virtue, and living a purposeful

life.

The next three characters, “wu dai tang,”

mean having five generations under one roof. In

1784 the Qianlong emperor had a great-great-

grandson and thus saw his line extended for four

generations. To commemorate this happy state of

affairs, the emperor decided to name a hall “Wu Fu,

Wu Dai Tang”

(The Hall of Five Happinesses and Five Generations)

and to commission a seal so inscribed. Three years

later the emperor wrote, “At seventy-seven, I see

my great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchild

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running about my knees. This is worthy of the name

of a hall, in order to remember this fact” (quoted in

Ming Qing dihou bao xi [Imperial Seals of the Ming

and Qing Dynasties], p. 153). In fact, according to

the catalog mentioned above, the Qianlong emperor

had in his collection some fourteen seals with

inscriptions that read, at least in part, “wu fu, wu

dai tang,” which can mean either the Hall of Five

Happinesses and Five Generations (in the case of

hall seals) or five happinesses and five generations

under one roof (in the case of laudatory seals). It

all depends on the purpose to which the seal was

put. The present seal has a laudatory purpose. In

any case, one can see how important having a great-

great-grandson was to the Qianlong emperor.

But that is not all. The inscription continues,

“ba zheng mao nian,” which means concern over

phenomena at eighty. Here the emperor is cryptically

referring to Jizi’s council for good government in

the “Great Plan” chapter of the Book of History, as

the emperor himself explained in “Ba zheng mao

nian zhi bao ji” (Notes on the “Ba Zheng Mao

Nian” Imperial Seal): When I was seventy, I used Du Fu’s term and had carved the “Guxi tianzi zhi bao” (Seal of the seventy-year-old emperor). I then wrote, “Ever busy day after day, I dare not be lax in governing.” With Heaven’s help, I fortunately have not made any great mistakes, and now another full decade has passed. When I think of the purpose of having an eightieth birthday celebration, engraving a seal, and impressing it at the end of my writing, no phrase is more suited than the “phenomena” phrase, number 8, in the “Great Plan” chapter of the Book of History. Moreover, I have already indicated a desire to pass on the throne at eighty-five, the sixtieth year of my reign. Though I am now eighty, there are still six years till I retire from the throne. I have not rested my weary shoulders for one day and have always cherished the people. How can I not be concerned about number 8, the common phenomena? Being concerned about the common meteorological phenomena is being concerned about the people. The Book of Rites says, “Eighty is called mao,” referring to the fact that the mind becomes feeble with advanced age. I am now

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eighty, and, relying on Heaven’s protection, I am still in good health. Though in one day there are a thousand affairs of state, my mind is still up to the task, but I must still strive to do better. If it comes to the point where I can no longer strive to do my best, then I cannot idle in office to fill my term of six years. For how then would I attend to the rites of state, or follow the weather, or daily attend to the domestic and foreign affairs of state, or keep in mind raising crops and providing for the people? If I am remiss in even one of these matters, the empire will disintegrate into a thousand small pieces. Hence, how can I be remiss? This is the reason that though I am eighty, I carefully concern myself with the common phenomena, just as I was diligent every day at seventy. Also, the five happinesses and five generations under one roof are what emperors should seek to administer to the people. I recently read the various theses of the “Great Plan” chapter. Among the six extremes discussed there, the third [worry] cannot be avoided. This is the significance of my worry. Now, from the Tang dynasty, there were only six emperors who made it to seventy, and of these six, only three made it to eighty. Of these three, only Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty can be called worthy; the other two I despise. Of all the emperors since the three kingdoms, only six made it to seventy. I have already discussed seventy previously. Of these six emperors, only Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty, Emperor Gaozong of the Song dynasty, and Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty made it to eighty. Emperor Wu left behind an empire on the verge of collapse, and Emperor Gaozong sought peace at the price of humility. Both are plainly despicable. Only Kublai Khan was a capable ruler who accomplished great things. But he succeeded to the throne at a point not early in his career, his reign lasted only thirty-five years, and his posterity extended only to grandsons when he died. Though in the History of the Yuan Dynasty there are no genealogy tables for princes that one can check, yet in view of the fact that the imperial succession was not determined beyond the fourth generation, it is apparent that Kublai Khan did not enjoy our blessing of five generations under one roof. Hence, I am deeply indebted to Heaven’s bounty. Not only have I been blessed with rare good fortune; in all of Chinese history there has never been such a previous case. Thus, when it comes to caring and providing for the populace, how can I restrain and set limits to what I will bear? Since even Kublai Khan was not blessed with

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five generations under one roof, as I was, how should I reverently receive Heaven’s munificent bounty? The answer is to carry out Heaven’s will of caring for the people, to sincerely and industriously govern, to mete out the five happinesses to the people (as in no. 5 of the “Great Plan”), to be concerned about meteorological phenomena (as in no. 8), and to worry (as in no. 9). That is, I must apprehensively apply myself more and more every day. If any of my descendents can assume my mindset, govern as I govern, fret as I fret, worry as I worry, and perhaps cultivate Heaven’s favor and live to seventy or eighty, may he continue to use this seal. We the great Qing empire do fervently wish and encourage this, yet do not dare force the matter, for all time. Personally written by Qianlong in the lunar first month of 1790. [Stamped with the following three seals:] To encouragingly use the five happinesses (“Xiang yong wu fu”). Seal of concern over phenomena at eighty (“Ba zheng mao nian zhi bao”). To continuously strengthen oneself (“Zi qiang bu xi”).

So all told, the inscription of the seal translates, “Seal

of five happinesses, of five generations under one

roof, and of concern over phenomena at eighty.” The

phenomena that Jizi had in mind were meteorological

phenomena that affected crops. From the above text,

the phenomena that the Qianlong emperor seems to

have had in mind were Heaven’s responses to his

governing.

One detail that I should note is that throughout

this passage, Qianlong uses the Chinese way of

reckoning age: the number of calendar years in which

one has lived, not the number of years one has lived.

By the Chinese way of reckoning, the emperor turned

eighty in the lunar first month of 1790. So we can

surmise that the present seal was made around that

time.

The phrase “Concern over phenomena at

eighty” figures even more prominently in Qianlong’s

collection, with around fifty seals of his featuring this

phrase. The emperor definitely had some imperial seals

carved with this phrase. Then quite possibly word got

around court that this was a favorite phrase of his, and

members of court gave him such a seal as a present for

his eightieth birthday.

The Qianlong emperor was an avid

collector and commissioner of imperial seals.

The catalog Qianlong xi yin pu contains

impressions of over 1,100 seals. This seal more

than most has roots in the literature, is intimately

connected with the emperor’s personal life, and

at a deep level reflects his thinking.

References

Qianlong. “Ba zheng mao nian zhi bao ji” (Notes

on the “Ba zheng mao nian” Imperial Seal).

Available from Gugong shuhua (Calligraphy

and Painting from the Forbidden City). Available

from http://painting.npm.gov.tw/npm_public/

System/View.jsp?type=1&ObjectID=4987.

Ming Qing dihou bao xi (Imperial Seals of the

Ming and Qing Dynasties). Beijing: Zijincheng

Chubanshe, 1996.

Qianlong xi yin pu (Catalog of Impressions of

Qianlong Imperial Seals). Beijing: Xianzhuang

shuju, 2004.

alan thWaIts

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provenance: prIvate neW orleans collector

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Cover of Qianlong xi yin pu (Catalogue of Impressions of

Qianlong Imperial Seals).

Impression of the “Wu fu, wu dai tang; ba zheng mao nian bao” imperial seal

in the Qianlong xi yin pu(Catalogue of Impressions of

Qianlong Imperial Seals).

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the seal

“Xuyandao WeI”

Rare, Large Chinese Green Jade Dragon Seal Inscribed “Xuyando wei” by Wang Quishi (1728-1799), the squared body carved in mottled green jade, the knob

carved as a crouching horned dragon, the base inscribed “Xuyando wei” meaning Commandant of the Xuyan Circuit. [5000/8000]

Lot 110

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The Seal “Xuyandao wei”

The present seal is a massive imperial-like seal

measuring 3.6 by 3.6 inches (9.0 by 9.0 cm) at the

base and 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) in height. The handle

is a squat dragon. The inscription, “Xuyandao wei,”

means commandant of the Xuyan Circuit (more on

this later).

An impression of this seal is given in

Zhongguo zhuanke da cidian (A Large Dictionary of

Chinese Seal Carving, p. 696), and the creator is listed

as Wang Qishu. In particular, note that the corners

are more rounded in the impressions in the reference

works, the top right character (xu) bleeds off the edge,

and the top left character (dao) has a connection

between 山 and 目 missing in the impression surface

of your seal. Wang Qishu, it seems, cleaned up the

defects of primitive carving in the Han period seal.

It seems that the image presented in Zhongguo

zhuanke da cidian is from the Han period seal even

though the attribution is to Wang Qishu. Wang Qishu

(1728–1799) had the courtesy name Shenyi, and as

sobriquets he used the names Xiufeng and Ren’an.

The highest office he held was director of the Bureau

of Operations in the Ministry of War. A bibliophile,

he had several thousand books in his library, and he

contributed over 500 rare books for the compilation

of the imperial Siku quanshu (Complete Library in

the Four Branches of Literature). He also amassed

a collection of seals ranging from the Zhou to Ming

dynasties and amounting to several tens of thousands

of seals. He even called himself “the gentleman with

an addiction for seals” (yin pi xiansheng). His most

notable contribution to the tradition of seal carving

was the compilation of over twenty catalogs of seal

impressions, the largest being Ren’an ji guyin cun

(The Ren’an Collection of Extant Old Seals) and

Feihongtang yinpu (Catalog of Impressions of Seals

from the Flying Geese Hall; the Flying Geese Hall

being the name of the building where he housed his

collection). His writings include Xu yinren zhuan

(Biographies of Seal Carvers, Second Series). And

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he himself was skilled at carving seals. In carving, he

followed the Zhejiang school, blending in touches of the

Anhui school, while also taking Qin and Han seals as

models.

As mentioned above, the inscription, “Xuyandao

wei,” means commandant of the Xuyan Circuit.

According to the Qindai zhengqu dili (Geography of

Qin Administrative Regions), Xuyan was established

as a circuit (dao) by the Qin dynasty (221–206 bce),

and according to the Zhongguo lishi da cidian (Large

Dictionary of Chinese History, s.v.), Xuyan was

established as a district (xian) by the Western Han

dynasty (206 bce–8 ce) and abolished by the Eastern

Hay dynasty (25–220 ce). The district was located in

southeast of the present Yanchi County in Ningxia

Provence. And in fact, in Zhuanzi yin hui (A Collection

of Seal Impressions with Seal Characters, p. 1323),

there is an impression just like that of the present seal,

and it is attributed to the Han period. Moreover, the

seal website Zhenwei Yin Wang (http://www.sealbank.

net) also displays a seal impression just like that of

the present seal and attributes it to the Western Han

period. However, the website gives the dimensions of

the base as 2.1 by 2.1 centimeters. And Qin, Han, Wei,

Jin, Nanbeichao guanyin zhengcun (Studies of Extant

Official Seals of the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, and Northern

and Southern Dynasties, p. 61, no. 342) tells us that the

handle of this Western Han seal is a semicircular knob

with a hole through it for a chord. These two differences

tell us that the seal by Wang Qishu is a study of the older

Western Han seal, at least as regards the impression

surface. The massive size and dragon handle of the

Wang Qishu seal show the influence of Qing imperial

seals. With the present seal, Wang Qishu thus gave us his

impression of an official seal of the Western Han period.

References

Fu Jiayi, ed. Zhuanzi yin hui (A Collection of Seal

Impressions with Seal Characters). Shanghai: Shanghai

Shudian Chubanshe, 1999.

Han Tianheng, editor in chief. Zhuanke xiao cidian (A

Small Dictionary of Seal Carving). Shanghai: Shanghai

Cishu Chubanshe, 2005. See p. 140 for a biography of

Wang Qishu.

Li Yifeng, editor in chief. Zhongguo zhuanke da

cidian (A Large Dictionary of Chinese Seal Carving).

Zhengzhou: Henan Meishu Chubanshe, 1997. See p.

109 for a biography of Wang Qishu.

Luo Fuyi, editor in chief. Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Nanbeichao

guanyin zhengcun (Studies of Extant Official Seals

of the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern

Dynasties). Beijing: Wenwu Chubanshe, 1987.

Wang Qishu. Xu yinren zhuan (Biographies of Seal

Carvers, Second Series). In Ming-Qing yinren zhuan

jicheng (Biographies of Seal Carvers in the Ming and

Qing Periods), by Zhou Liyuan et al. Taipei: Wenshizhe

Chubanshe, 1997. See p. 88 for a biography of Wang

Qishu.

Zhenwei Yin Wang (Zhenwei Seal Web). http://www.

sealbank.net. See the catalog of Western Han seals,

p. 19. The full address is http://www.sealbank.net/

m3MainFind.asp?LM=3&L1=2&L2=01&L3=133&LS

=&SRCHTXT=SSREV&SK=MN201133&PN=19&P

NRN=0]

A drawing

of Wang

Qishu by

Ma Chong

of Qiantang,

drawn in the

lunar second

month of

1749.

alan thWaIts

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provenance: prIvate neW orleans collector

The impression of the

“Xuyandao wei” seal in

Zhongguo zhuanke da

cidian (A Large Dictionary

of Chinese Seal Carving,

p. 696). Here the seal is

attributed to Wang Qishu.

The impression of the

“Xuyandao wei” seal in

Zhuanzi yin hui (A Collection

of Seal Impressions with Seal

Characters, p. 1323). Given

here are the reading of the seal

characters and the Han period

attribution.

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Fine Chinese Carved White Jade Scholar’s Mountain, 18th/19th century, the white jade boulder carved in relief as a mountainous landscape, the face depicts two schol-ars standing on a rocky outcrop among scattered pavilions with pine trees and shrubs

growing out of the rockwork, the servant in the lower section fanning a stove and brewing tea for his masters, the reverse depicting a seated scholar on a rocky outcrop beneath a pine tree and above a bridge, the upper portion depicting pavilions among

the mountainous landscape, the jade seated in a carved giltwood base of flowers, trees and rockwork, h. 9”, 13-91/2” with stand. [70000/100000]

Ex-Collection: Edward I. Farmer

Lot 111

provenance: prIvate collector

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Rare Chinese Celadon and Spinach Jade Calligraphy Brush, 19th century, the celadon shaft carved in the round with two dragons among clouds and flames pursuing the Flaming Pearl, all in crisp detail, the ends of the shaft with spinach jade terminals, the tip with yellow wolf tail bristles, l. 11-3/8”. [3000/5000]

Customers, Please Note: Lots 109-112 require advance registration to bid, which must be received at least three days

prior to the auction. Please contact New Orleans Auction Galleries, Inc. to register and qualify to bid on these lots. Also please note that we will not be able to accept bids placed on these lots

through either of our live online bidding services, The Saleroom or Live Auctioneers. All bids must placed directly through New Orleans Auction Galleries, Inc.

Lot 112

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