- 79
AN INSCRIBED IMPERIAL ‘SHE’ INKSTONE QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
Estimate
120,000 - 150,000 HKD
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Description
- inkstone and lacquer
the she inkstone of a greenish-grey colour in the form of a feng character, the flat reverse incised with an imperial prose followed by an inscription reading Qianlong yuming ('Imperial inscription by the Qianlong Emperor) and terminating with three seals, reading Han Hui, Huixin buyuan ('What suits the mind is not far away') and De chongfu ('Tally of Virtue Complete') respectively, the upper edge of the inkstone engraved in kaishu, lacquered wood box and cover
Catalogue Note
The inscription may be translated as:
When the Great Clod sighs, it is called ‘wind,’ so an image was taken from nature to make this pottery pond. Here it is on my silk covered desk where edicts of censure or approval are made. With the virtue of a noble man keeping watch over his innermost heart, I dare say that nowhere in the realm am I not obeyed.
Following this passage in the emperor’s prose collection there appears:
You fang Song tiancheng fengzi yan (The above [is inscribed on an] ‘Imitation Song dynasty naturally shaped feng [character] ink stone.) Source: Yuzhi wenji (Siku quanshu ed.), Second Collection, 39:4b.
The first line of the inscription is a quote from Zhuangzi, 2.4.1, while in the second line the Taohong is a ‘Pottery pond’ or pottery inkstone. The first of the second two seals paraphrases Liu Yiqing, Shishuo xinyu (A New Account of Tales of the World), Yanyu (Speech and Conversation), 61, and appears in Contag and Wang, p. 593, no. 73 and p. 595, no. 106. The second is the title of Zhuangzi Chapter 5, and appears in Contag and Wang, p. 593, no. 74, and p. 599, no. 190.
When the Great Clod sighs, it is called ‘wind,’ so an image was taken from nature to make this pottery pond. Here it is on my silk covered desk where edicts of censure or approval are made. With the virtue of a noble man keeping watch over his innermost heart, I dare say that nowhere in the realm am I not obeyed.
Following this passage in the emperor’s prose collection there appears:
You fang Song tiancheng fengzi yan (The above [is inscribed on an] ‘Imitation Song dynasty naturally shaped feng [character] ink stone.) Source: Yuzhi wenji (Siku quanshu ed.), Second Collection, 39:4b.
The first line of the inscription is a quote from Zhuangzi, 2.4.1, while in the second line the Taohong is a ‘Pottery pond’ or pottery inkstone. The first of the second two seals paraphrases Liu Yiqing, Shishuo xinyu (A New Account of Tales of the World), Yanyu (Speech and Conversation), 61, and appears in Contag and Wang, p. 593, no. 73 and p. 595, no. 106. The second is the title of Zhuangzi Chapter 5, and appears in Contag and Wang, p. 593, no. 74, and p. 599, no. 190.