An Imperial white jade 'Xiumu Jiayin' seal, Qing Dynasty, Jiaqing Period (1796-1820)

Lot 3071. An Imperial white jade 'Xiumu Jiayin' seal, Qing Dynasty, Jiaqing Period (1796-1820); 6.6 by 6.9 by 6.9 cm., 2 5/8  by 2 3/4  by 2 3/4  in. Estimate 8,000,000 — 12,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 10,840,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

of square form with a slanted trapezoid top, surmounted by a large single-horn chilong carved in high relief, detailed with bushy eyebrows and flaring nostrils, its strong limbs with well-combed hair and powerful claws, the curling body accentuated by the raised spine terminating in a scrolling bifurcated tail, its head turned backward, facing a smaller chilong with a sinuous body clambering from the opposite side, the square seal face crisply carved in seal script with four characters reading xiumu jiayin (‘Beautiful Tree, Excellent Shade’), the stone of a celadon-tinged white tone with natural inclusions and veining.

Note: This imperial seal once owned by the Jiaqing emperor is carved from a white jade stone with cloudy inclusions which endow the piece with a sense of movement and archaism befitting of the two chilong that surmount it. Delicately modelled in the round, the detailed and sinuous forms of these mythical creatures contrast with the angularity of the top of the seal. The seal face is carefully inscribed with four characters in seal script which read xiumu jiayin, which can be translated as ‘Beautiful tree, excellent shade’.

The Xiumu jiayin is a pavilion in the Qinzheng qinxian (Hall of Diligent Government), which contained a small audience hall and many offices housing different government organisations. The Qinzheng qinxian was the emperor’s chief place for work, where he would read documents and meet with officials, and hold discussions with scholars on occasion. It is the second scene from The Forty Views of the Yuanmingyuan (Yuzhi yuanmingyuan sishijing shi), a series of forty poems composed by the Qianlong emperor that were paired with paintings. Completed in 1744, the paintings are the collaborative work of Tangdai (1673-c. 1752), a Manchu official of the imperial court, and Shen Yuan (active c. 1728-48), a Chinese painter attached to the Qing imperial Painting Academy. Tangdai’s landscapes are rendered in the style of the scholar-amateur Orthodox School while Shen Yuan’s depiction of the architecture displays the influence of European perspective and modelling, which was taught to Academy painters by European Jesuit missionary-artists.

Impression from ‘The Jiaqing Baosou’, Palace Museum, Beijing

Qianlong’s poem for the Qinzheng qianxian can be translated, ‘East of the Zhengdaguangming is the Qingzheng qinxian, in which [I] review the memo to the throne and receive officials at the morning. At noon, I retreat to the back of the screen to practice calligraphy. East of the Qingzheng qinxian is the Baohe, Taihe and Xiushi jiayin, amongst which are pavilions, halls and a luxuriant woods rendering a bright view’. Although Qianlong refers to the Xiushi jiayin, its location in relation to the other buildings shows that this and the Xiumu jiayin actually refer to the same building.