Dr Hajni Elias

Amongst the many rulers during China’s extensive history, the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) was arguably one of the greatest in respect to his connoisseurship and appreciation of the nation’s art. He was a fanatic collector of masterpieces and had amassed an art collection of enormous scope and size that included antiques as well as contemporary pieces. His passion saw no limit, with art collectors of his time hiding their pieces or making clever copies fearing that the emperor would demand them as gifts. He was a true connoisseur as well, spending long hours into the night studying his collection, writing long colophons on his finest paintings, or composing poems for certain pieces. According to the Palace Museum scholar and expert Guo Fuxiang, amongst the Emperor’s many treasures, ‘archaic jade formed an important part of his collection and his search for outstanding archaic jade saw no limit. The overwhelming majority of the archaic jade pieces were kept and used as decoration in the various halls of the palace after having been appreciated and examined by the emperor.’¹ The present Zhou dynasty (1100-256 BC) bi would have been amongst his cherished items, expertly mounted in a beautifully fashioned zitan table screen so it can be placed on a writing desk. The construction and the carving of the mounting itself represents workmanship of the highest quality only available from the Imperial Palace Workshop.

Qianlong’s thoughts on the jade bi’s are expressed in his poem titled ‘A Song for a Zhou Dynasty Pure White Jade Disc’ which is included in the Qing Gaozong yuzhi shiwen quanji [Anthology of imperial Qianlong poems and text], yuzhi shi si ji [Imperial poetry, vol. 4], vol. 38, p. 3 (the summer of the bingshen year, corresponding to 1776, fig. 1). The poem may be translated as follows:

Its material initially mutton fat white,
The colour now is chestnut flesh yellow,
No distinguishing any cattails or mulberries here,
For absolutely no patterns are left that can be seen.
Solemnly majestic, replete with primordial energy,
Radiantly glossy, suffused with muted light,
Originally made for a single lifetime’s enjoyment,
It laughs at how much collectors have paid for it ever since!

From the poem it is evident that Qianlong regarded this bi very highly. He praises it by saying that it is a work that was made for a single lifetime’s enjoyment. The emperor’s knowledge of the stone itself is also impressive and his reference to ‘cattails and mulberries’ reflects his familiarity with the shallow relief decoration frequently found on ancient jade discs. The discrepancy between the dating of the poem and the carving on the screen is interesting to note. The first couplet in the poem already appears on a much earlier imperial poem, one Qianlong wrote in 1736. Whether he ‘re-cycled’ some of his favourite phrases or lines, or the carver dated the poem erroneously remains a matter of debate.

While jade bi mounted on table screens were made to please the emperor and were beautiful objects, they also served as a reminder and keepsake of the glorious past. A court painting of the Qianlong Emperor seated in one of his studios surrounded by ancient treasures, One or Two?, depicts a mounted jade bi in a wooden frame on a table with a bronze vase and albums (China. The Three Emperors 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005-6, cat. no. 196). A number of closely related zitan screens holding ancient jade discs and carved with Qianlong’s poems are known, with most preserved today in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Two screens with plain jade bi, engraved with poems and seals of the emperor are illustrated in Teng Shu-p’ing, Neolothic Jades in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1992, pl. 100, the stands inscribed with poems dated to 1772 and 1784, respectively. Four further examples with grain-patterned bi are included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ancient Jade Artefacts in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1982, cat. nos 63, 68, 188 and 189, with two of them, pls 68 and 188, dated to 1773, and the other two dated to 1770 and 1778.

See also a screen with an exceptionally large bi with the inscription on the outer edge dated to 1770, first sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 10th October 1990, lot 1901, and again in these rooms, 8th April 2007, lot 603 (fig. 2); and another very similar example, with an imperial poem dated to 1774, from The Water, Pine and Stone Retreat Collection, also sold in these rooms, 8th October 2009, lot 1808 (fig. 3). Compare a further screen bearing a poem dated to 1778, included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935, cat. no. 2776; one sold in these rooms, 15th November 1989, lot 503; and one with an inscribed poem dated to 1764, also sold in these rooms, 4th November 1997, lot 1201.

The meaning of jade bi remains an enigma; however, by the early Han dynasty it became customary to include them in the jade suits worn by imperial princes when buried. Han ritual texts and commentaries describe bi as a symbol of Heaven, and confirm its role in ritual ceremonies at the time. For example, fourteen jade bi were placed around the body of the King of Nanyue with five more laid under his jade suit. Additional discs were placed on top of the outer coffin and in between the inner and outer coffins. For further information on the use of jade bi as ritual objects during the Han period see the notes to two discs excavated at Xianggangshan in 1983 and now in the Museum of the King of Nanyue, Guangdong province, included in the exhibition The Search for Immortality. Tomb Treasures of Han China, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 2012, pp. 279-282.

Under the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, jade bi continued to be associated with Heaven, and were seen as symbols of power. By commissioning the mounting of these precious objects in elaborate stands for display, the emperor was not only reminding those around him of the glorious past but also of his central power. The use of the qian trigram, one of the Eight Trigrams known as the Bagua, further re-enforces his message. The Bagua were the basis for the sixty-four hexagrams of the Zhou yi [Changes of the Zhou], the earliest form in the compilation known as the Yi Jing [Book of Changes] that was the main text providing guidance and assessment for state affairs during the Zhou dynasty. Amongst the trigrams, qian and kun, that represented yang and yin, heaven and earth, south and north, were considered the most important. These two trigrams were the ‘constants’ in the system known as the chengwu or the ‘completed procedures’. Qian was also part of the Emperor’s reign title, hence it was frequently employed as a decorative motif during his reign and may be found on many imperial artefacts in his collection.

¹ See Guo Fuxiang, ‘Qianlong’s Appreciation of the Zitan Mounted "Dragon and Phoenix" Bi’, By Heavenly Mandate, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 2007, p. 48.

薛好佩博士

中國歷代無數帝王中，乾隆帝可說是首屈一指之藝術鑑賞家。其藝術收藏之深度及廣度，令人歎為觀止，涵蓋古今，對藝術之熱情無窮，使得當代其他收藏家人人自危，紛紛深藏其愛，恐為乾隆帝所奪。乾隆愛慕藝術之心真摯，常挑燈夜賞，仔細研究收藏珍品，為其珍愛之字畫器物，題詩落款。據故宮學者郭福祥考證，乾隆帝重古玉，竭盡心力尋收佳例，屆時，宮中所藏古玉數多，常用作裝飾各宮。¹ 此品之周代玉璧，乃其珍賞之物，巧妙嵌於紫檀座上，以作文房供玩之用。其嵌造、木雕之巧工，乃出自清宮造辦處之頂級工藝。

乾隆帝賞此玉璧之心得，盡現於其御製詩〈詠周玉素璧〉，錄於《清高宗御製詩文全集．御製詩四集》，卷38，頁3，收錄入冊時約丙申年夏（圖一）。詩云：「質本羊脂白，色今栗子黃。難因辨蒲谷，全不藉文章。穆穆含元氣，英英孕葆光。原為人世玩，笑古費收藏。」

從詩中可見，乾隆帝珍視此璧，讚其應受世人玩賞。詩文提及蒲穀，顯示其對於古玉紋飾之精通。記詩之時，與屏上所刻之年份差異，雖令人不解，然根據記載，此詩前二句，早已出現於乾隆帝元年（1736年）所作另一詩中，至於乾隆帝是否重用舊句，或者匠人刻造時紀年出錯，已無從而知。

插屏玉璧不僅悅帝王之目，亦是彰顯輝煌歷史之器。北京故宮博物院藏清宮廷繪畫《弘曆是一是二圖》軸，畫中高宗閑坐書室，其左側桌上置嵌玉璧木雕鏤空插屏，並見青銅觚、卷冊等物，圖刊於《盛世華章》，英國皇家藝術學院，倫敦，2005-6年，編號196。傳世相類古玉題乾隆御製詩紫檀插屏，主要收藏於台北國立故宮博物院，如兩件嵌有素璧之品，上題紀年乾隆三十七（1772年）及四十九年（1784年）之御製詩，且有御印，刊於鄧淑蘋，《院藏新石器時代玉器圖錄》，台北，1992年，圖版100。博物院另外四穀紋玉璧作例，則載於《故宮古玉圖錄》，台北，1982年，編號63、68、188、189，其中圖版68、188，記為三十八年（1773年），另二例則分別為三十五（1770年）及四十三年（1778年）。 亦可參見另一作例，其玉璧碩大，紀年乾隆三十五，1990年10月10日售於香港佳士得，編號1901，2007年4月8日再售於香港蘇富比，編號603（圖二）。水松石山房舊藏類同作例，御製詩作於乾隆三十九年（1774年），由香港蘇富比售出，2009年10月8日，編號1808（圖三）。可相較之例還有一屏，御製詩紀年乾隆四十三，見《參加倫敦中國藝術國際展覽會出品圖說》，英國皇家藝術學院，倫敦，1935年，編號2776。另一例1989年11月15日香港蘇富比售出，編號503。香港蘇富比還售一例，御製詩作於約二十九年（1764年），1997年11月4日拍出，編號1201。

製玉璧之原意為何，現難以稽考，然時至漢代，玉璧已成為宗室親王入歛所著玉衣上，不可或缺之物。漢代祭文記載，玉璧乃天之意，乃祭祀要物。南越王墓中，玉衣上安放五玉璧，遺體身旁置十四玉璧，身下另有五。其外槨之上、及與內棺之間的隙縫，也發現數枚。漢代玉璧之祭祀用途，可參見1983年象崗山出土二璧之相關研究資料，器現藏廣東省南越王博物館，曾展於《The Search for Immortality. Tomb Treasures of Han China》，費茲威廉博物館，劍橋，2012年，頁279-282。

古時玉璧喻「天」之意，傳承不絕，至清一朝，玉璧且乃權力的象徵。乾隆帝命匠人造屏以展示玉璧古樸素雅，此舉不僅為緬懷千古，亦為強調其皇權。插屏上飾八卦中之「乾」卦，更加印證此意。八卦出自《周易》，為《易經》前身，是周代國政要典。八卦之「乾」、「坤」二爻，代表陰陽、天地、南北，所謂「乾始物，坤成物」，是以尤為重要。乾亦為高宗年號首字，因而常用作該朝特有之飾樣，見於許多不少宮廷藏品。

¹ 詳見郭福祥，〈乾隆御賞嵌「延年」龍鳳紋璧紫檀插屏〉，《玉承天令：乾隆宮廷藝術品專拍》，香港蘇富比，2007年，頁48。

Past Auction

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