AN IMPERIAL ALBUM BY QIANLONG EMPEROR AFTER MI FU QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD, DATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH 1771

ink on paper, comprising twelve double pages between hard wood covers of a deep brown tone, the front cover incised with the title yulin Mi Fu chidu ('Imperial copy of Mi Fu’s letters') and filled in with gilt, the letters copied in cursive script after Mi Fu’s style, followed by the signature reading Mi Fu chidu ba tie xinmao jiaping shanghuan yulin (‘eight letters of Mi Fu copied by the imperial hand in the beginning of the twelve month in the xinmao year’, corresponding to 1771), impressed with seven seals of the Qianlong Emperor, together with an album of colophons by officials and scholars from the late Qing dynasty, appreciating the four imperial albums by the very brush of the Qianlong Emperor, dated to the fourth year of the Republican period, corresponding to 1917, wood box

Collection of Yu Zhaofan (1862-1920).

Hosokawa Morisada Collection ten I – Kougana bunjinno sekai – Minshinno kaiga to shoseki, bunbougu [Morisada Hosokawa Collection exhibition I – The World of a refined writer – Paintings, calligraphy and stationery in Ming and Qing Dynasty], Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art, Kumamoto, 1992, cat. nos. 57 (imperial album) and 65 (colophons).

‘Chunhua Xuan cang er [Collection of Purification Studio, part 2]’, Qinding Shiqu baoji xubian [Sequel to the Precious Collection of the Stone Canal Pavilion], vol. 63, n.p. (imperial album).

Imperial album: There are worm holes to four of the leaves, including on two of the seal impressions, as visible in the catalogue photo, There is water / humidity staining, especially at the folds and margins. The leaves are slightly loose from the mounting in places. Album of colophons: worm holes to several of the leaves
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Four Imperial Treasures by the Qianlong Emperor
Amethyst Chau

The four albums of painting and calligraphy by the Qianlong Emperor in the Hosokawa family collection are extremely precious. Two of them were written after Mi Fu’s literary work, and one was made after a painting manual by Ni Zan, demonstrating Qianlong’s reverence towards the master artists of the past.

The Northern Song master calligrapher Mi Fu (1051-1107) served at court for over 37 years and was closely acquainted with members of the imperial family, officialdom, and literati elite. His calligraphy was known for its decisive and forceful brushwork, which Su Shi (1037-1101) praised as “like masts in the wind, like warhorses in formation, solemn and unimpeded.” Not limited to any particular style, Mi Fu ranged freely in his calligraphy and became a timeless master. He also exerted an immense historical influence as the foremost collector and connoisseur of the late Northern Song period.

An ardent admirer of Mi Fu’s calligraphy, Qianlong referred to his Shu su tie as a “divine work” and, in his poetry, reaffirmed the praise that it had received through the generations. See Painting and Calligraphy of the Northern Sung, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2006, no. 63. According to Shiqu baoji, Qianlong often copied Mi Fu’s calligraphy, including his letters. The album of eight letters on offer (lot 3114) includes Qianlong’s copy of Mi Fu’s Zhifu tie, Chenlan tie, Shengzhi tie, Zhi Bochong chidu, Zhi Yanhe Guoshi chidu, Zhensu tie, Tongpan tie, and Huigan tie. Recorded in Qinding Shiqu baoji xubian, which was compiled in 1793, the album was originally stored in Chunhuaxuan ('Purification Studio'). Qianlong’s calligraphy is known for its evenness, balance, and legibility—qualities quite different from Mi Fu’s fierceness. Inspired by Mi Fu’s example, however, Qianlong adds more flair and variety to his brushwork in this album. Mi Fu’s Shengzhi tie is now preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing; his Tongpan tie, existing as a Qing rubbing, together with the other six original pieces by Mi Fu in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, which also holds an album of Qianlong’s copies of Mi Fu’s other letters, that form a useful comparison with the current lot. The Taipei album (accession number Gu shu 01131) is smaller, measuring only 6.4 cm by 6.4 cm. Its wood cover is incised in clerical script and filled-in with gilt with the four characters Yulin Mi tie ('His Majesty’s Copies of Mi Fu’s Calligraphic Models').  

During the Northern Song, Mi Fu, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian (1045-1105), and about a dozen other literati gathered in Imperial Son-in-Law Wang Shen’s (1037-c. 1093) garden to listen to the zither, compose poetry, and express themselves in writing and calligraphy. The painter Li Gonglin (1049-1106) is said to have commemorated the occasion in the painting Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden, and Mi Fu in the essay entitled Record of the Painting 'Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden'. Historians are sceptical about whether this particular gathering indeed took place, and Li Gonglin’s extant paintings of literati gatherings do not match the text attributed to Mi Fu. Nonetheless, the text’s narration of this meeting of the most talented literati of the time was admired and beloved throughout the ages.

Qianlong wrote his rendition of the Record of the Painting 'Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden' (lot 3115) in 1752 in Bishu Shanzhuang ('Summer Palace'). This work is recorded in Qinding Shiqu baoji xubian like the lot above, and was stored in Qingyiyuan, which would later become the Summer Palace Yiheyuan. According to Shiqu baoji, Qianlong wrote Mi Fu’s Record many times in various formats, including scrolls and album leaves, and had them housed in Qianqinggong ('Palace of Heavenly Purity'), Ruyuan ('According to Wishes Garden'), and other places.

Prince Hongli, as Qianlong was known before he ascended the throne, was a diligent and passionate student of antiquity. Immersing himself in art, literature, and connoisseurship, he came to embody the Chinese literati’s ideals of cultural refinement. In the album of Landscapes (lot 3117) on offer, Qianlong’s casual painting in light ink and impromptu brief inscription reflect his elegant sensibilities. A number of paintings by the Qianlong Emperor have been preserved, particularly in the two Palace Museums. Most of them belong to the genres of landscapes and birds-and-flowers and feature simple compositions and impressionistic xieyi brushwork. Of these, Gazebo Amidst Autumn Mountains (lot 3104) is an excellent and noteworthy example. 

Qianlong’s paintings were mostly made after older works, as in the case of his copies after Ni Zan’s paintings (lot 3116). Ni Zan (1301-74), zi Yuanzhen, hao Yuanlin and Yuweng, was a native of Wuxi. Considered one of the Four Master Painters of the Yuan Dynasty, Ni Zan was a proficient landscape painter and especially renowned for his tranquil and elegant scenes of nature, which he rendered in dry, minimalist, and subtle brushwork. When he turned 50 (in 1351), Ni Zan was asked by his nephew Hua Ziwen for instruction on methods of painting, and he created a manual in response. A painting manual attributed to Ni Zan, formerly in the Qing imperial collection, is preserved in the National Palace Museum. It contains ten leaves depicting boulders and trees, as well as succinct articulations on method. For more information on this manual, see The All-Complete Qianlong: A Special Exhibition on the Aesthetic Tastes of the Qing Emperor Gaozong, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2013, nos. III-2.32. Writing in this catalogue, Qiu Shihua notes that the Ni Zan-attributed paintings in question have stilted and excessively uniform brushwork, and thus may have been copies after lost originals. Regardless, Qianlong deemed the manual a “transcendent work” and wrote the frontispiece pingdan tianzhen ('Plain and natural') on it personally. As Qianlong describes in his colophon, from 1750 onwards he often viewed and inscribed the Ni Zan manual, carrying it with him on his outings, recording his reflections on the empty spaces, and making copies after its contents (see ibid., p. 170). In 1782, Qianlong wrote in praise of this manual that “having copied and imitated [the paintings] many times, I ultimately failed to capture their mystery and exhaust their limits.” Reflecting his loving care for the paintings, Qianlong lamented, “Having wantonly inscribed on it page after page, have I not sullied a pure treasure?” The album of Qianlong’s copies after the Ni Zan manual comprises six leaves, with four depicting trees, and two others depicting boulders. The Emperor wished to replicate the Yuan master’s style but regretted his inability to go beyond a rough resemblance and to capture its true essence.

These small albums of paintings and calligraphy were probably housed in curio boxes and other specially made containers for the emperor’s enjoyment, alongside other miniature artifacts and craft objects. See The All-Complete Qianlong, nos. III-2.39 and III-2.40, p. 390-1.

According to the colophons (lot 3114), these four albums by Qianlong once belonged to the late Qing official Yu Zhaofan (1862-1920), zi Shusan, Genlu. A native of Jiangxi, he attained the jinshi degree in 1889 and served as Governor of Hangzhou Prefecture and in the Ningshaotai Military Defense Circuit. During the Xuantong reign, he became a member of the State Council. According to his inscription, Yu Zhaofan treated these four albums as incomparable treasures after acquiring them and rarely showed them to anyone. Although not by Qianlong himself, the other colophons to the albums are of immense value to the study of modern history, as they include those written in 1917 by such prominent individuals as Li Ruiqing (1867-1920), Zheng Xiaoyu (1860-1938), Tao Baolian (1862-1938), Zhang Qin (1861-1949), Zhang Meiyi (1856-1924), Yang Zhongyi (1865-1940), Wang Naizheng (1861-1933), Shen Zengzhi (1850-1922; author of a colophon), Wang Guowei (1875-1927; insriber of a colophon), and Hu Sijing (1869-1922).