A SPINACH-GREEN JADE 'DRAGON' SEAL QING DYNASTY, JIAQING PERIOD

of square form, surmounted by a ferocious dragon powerfully worked in meticulous precision with bulging eyes and flaring nostrils above long curling whiskers, the scaly, tightly coiled body depicted crouching on its haunches with a 'flaming pearl' below its jaws and surrounded by dense cloud swirls, the scales and flowing mane finely incised with its long tail coiled at the rear, the seal face deeply and crisply worked with the characters reading Yunri xiang huiying ('clouds and the sun illuminate each other'), the stone of a deep olive-green colour flecked with characteristic black speckles

There are chips and bruises to the edges of the seal face as visible in the catalogue illustrations, especially to two sections of approx. 2.8 and 0.7 cm. The carving of the characters and the dragon finial, however, have been generally well preserved with only occasional nicks and bruises to the extremities, including one to the mustache.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The Jiaqing Emperor’s Spinach-Green Jade Yunri Xiang Huiying Seal
Guo Fuxiang

Recently consigned to Sotheby’s Hong Kong is an imperial seal that once belonged to the Jiaqing Emperor. Carved from spinach-green jade with a finial in the form of coiled dragons, the seal measures 7 cm in height and has a square face measuring 4.2 cm on each side. It is inscribed with five characters Yunri xiang huiying ('Clouds and the sun illuminate each other'). The carving of both seal and text is extremely refined, indicating superb craftsmanship. This seal is clearly documented in Jiaqing Baosou, the Emperor’s seal catalogue preserved in the Palace Museum in Beijing. The textual record completely matches the seal in material, dimension and text composition and confirms it as an authentic imperial seal used by Jiaqing. According to Jiaqing Baosou, the seal was one of a group of three seals, the other two reading respectively Qinghuige ('Pavilion of Pure Radiance') and Shuimu zhan qinghua ('Waterside trees clarified by pure radiance'), suggesting that the group was made to be stored at Qinghuige, Yuanmingyuan (fig. 1). The latter seal, sold at Bonhams Hong Kong in May 2015, is identical in the material, finial and dimension to the current lot. Here I shall only provide some historical background to the seal and its relationship to Jiaqing.

The Jiaqing Emperor, whose personal name was Yongyan, was the fifth emperor of the Qing dynasty to rule China. During his 25-year reign, which followed the Golden Age of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, the Qing Empire underwent an important transition from pinnacle to decline. For these reasons the period of his reign was marked by inexplicably complex conditions. Among the Qing emperors, Jiaqing owned a relatively large number of seals, which bear witness to the complexity of his period. As is well known, Jiaqing ascended the throne at the relatively advanced age of 36. Unlike most other emperors, he did not wield unconditional power, as his father Qianlong still had the highest authority as Emperor Emeritus. This unusual state of affairs forced Jiaqing to continue the habits and customs put in place by Qianlong. One example is Jiaqing’s seal ensembles. Qianlong created many ensembles of one head seal and two trailing seals. These ensembles in turn came in two types. The first type consisted of palace seals, with one head seal stating the official name of a palace and two trailing seals that explain the significance and reference of the official name. The second type consisted of proverb seals, with both head and trailing seals inscribed with proverbs or sayings that explain or annotate each other. The Jiaqing Emperor followed in his father’s footsteps in creating no fewer than 70 such seal ensembles.¹ The present seal belonged to just one of these ensembles.

If the use of seal ensembles described above suggests that Jiaqing consciously imitated his father and continued his practices, then the texts of Jiaqing’s seals and their meanings indicate more individuality and self-awareness. The Yunri xiang huiying seal belonged to an ensemble of three palace seals, which, as discussed above, typically included two trailing seals that explained the name of a palace. Therefore it is my belief that one must interpret the seals in these ensembles together as a coherent expression. To understand the Yunri xiang huiying seal, one must interpret it in the context of the Qinghui ge and Shuimu zhan qinghua seals, and as well in the larger context of Jiaqing’s experiences of the period. Let us now turn to his relationship with Qinghuige, the Hall of Pure Radiance.

Qinghuige is located in the Jiuzhou Qingyan area of Yuanmingyuan. Jiuzhou Qingyan is located on the north shore of the Front Lake of Yuanmingyuan, along the same central axis as the Yuanmingyuan Hall and the Fengshan Wusi Hall. East of the axis is Tiandi Yijia Chun, where the Daoguang Emperor was born. West of the axis is Le’anhe, a palace where Qianlong stayed, and further west is Qinghuige, built atop a stone base. Jiuzhou Qingyan is the earliest building cluster in Yuanmingyuan, its first buildings constructed during the Kangxi reign. From the Yongzheng period onwards it was where the emperor would sleep while in the imperial garden. Located close to the palace and in an elevated area secluded by vegetation, Qinghuige naturally became an important place for leisure for the emperor. Records show that on the north wall of Qinghuige there was hung a monumental image of the complete vista of Yuanmingyuan,² possibly for the emperor’s viewing pleasure. According to extant documents, we know that when Qianlong stayed in Yuanmingyuan, he spent much time at Qinghuige and especially enjoyed listing to pines in wind, drinking tea, and playing the zither in front of the nine pine trees there.

After ascending the throne, Jiaqing went to Qinghuige for the first time in 1801 and wrote a poem commemorating the occasion.³ In it Jiaqing praises the scenery, expresses his appreciation for Qianlong’s benevolence, and articulates his resolve to follow Qianlong’s example and maintain the health of the people. Every year afterwards, Jiaqing would come to Qinghuige in mid-summer to escape the heat and compose poems, which give us insight to his thoughts and feelings. Jiaqing praised Qinghuige as an excellent place to escape summer heat in various different poetic expressions, which clearly convey both his pleasure and the attractiveness and elegance of the scenery around him. We can imagine the Emperor enjoying his leisure, playing the qin and drinking a cup of tea after a day of handling the affairs of government. However, Jiaqing often expressed also his concern for his subjects. No doubt Qinghuige was a place for the Emperor both to relax and to contemplate quietly important questions.

We are not better positioned to understand the relationships between the three seals in the Qinghuige ensemble. The trailing seal Shuimu zhan qinghua offers a clear and direct explanation of the name of the palace, Qinghuige. The fourth characters in Shuimu zhan qinghua and Yunri xiang huiying happen to form the name Qinghui—this is unusual for Jiaqing’s imperial seals. The texts of both trailing seals are excerpts from classical poetry, but both describe exactly what Jiaqing would see at Qinghuige and thus become perfect literary expressions of the scenery. Yunri xiang huiying is taken from a poem by the important writer Xie Lingyun of the Six Dynasties period. In it Xie describes the miraculous scene he saw during a tour of a solitary island in the middle of a river: white clouds and a brilliant sun, illuminating each other, are reflected in the river, creating an infinite expanse of light that nonetheless has the feeling of a void. Shuimu zhan qinghua is drawn from the Eastern Jin poet Xie Hun’s poem describing the scenery that he saw with a friend while traveling around Xichi. The particular couplet in question describes a dusk scene, with birds gathering happily in their nests and the last rays of the sun caressing the lake area. Under this illumination the water appears especially pure, and the trees especially alluring. Both couplets referenced by Jiaqing’s seals are perfect descriptions of the scenery in Yuanmingyuan and around Qinghuige. The reasons for their selection by Jiaqing are easy to understand.

From the above, we know that the Yunri xiang huiying seal was one of the imperial seal ensembles that the Jiaqing Emperor had made specifically for Qinghuige and used in the same place. Such seals were typically stored in their corresponding palaces. Although they were used relatively infrequently, they were important symbols of their corresponding palaces and remain artefacts of tremendous historical, artistic and cultural value.

¹ Guo Fuxiang, Ming Qing dihou xiyin [Ming and Qing imperial seals], Beijing, 2003, p. 169.
² Yu Minzhong [Qing dynasty] et al., eds, Qinding rixia jiuwen kao [Imperially authorised edition of historical studies of Beijing], juan 80.
³ Yongyan [Qing dynasty], Yuzhi shi chuji [Imperial poems, vol. 1], juan 31.