A black-lacquered Confucius-style guqin, Southern Song - early Ming dynasty | 南宋至明早期 黑漆仲尼式琴

Collection of Yanqin Zhai, Hong Kong.

來源：

硯琴齋收藏，香港

Constructed in the classic Zhongni (Confucius) style, the present guqin features a qingtong (Chinese parasol wood) soundboard of exceptional thickness and weight. Measuring 130 cm in length, its proportions far exceed standard dimensions, yielding a robust and evenly resonant tone.

The instrument’s form exhibits numerous characteristics typical of the Song and Yuan dynasties. It is distinguished by a broad, elongated forehead, prominent shoulders beginning at the third hui (harmonic marker), and a waist that narrows at the 8.3 hui position before terminating in a wide, flat jiaowei (banana-leaf tail). The underside features a substantial longchi (dragon pool sound-hole) measuring 25 cm.

The materials used are particularly luxurious and unusual. The deer-horn ash base layer is notably mixed with gold flakes, over which black lacquer has been applied atop a red lacquer ground. The surface is now richly textured with liushui (flowing water) and niumao (ox-hair) crackle patterns. It is elegantly fitted with zitan mounts, thirteen white jade hui, and pale green jade tuning pegs and feet.

The closest comparable example to the present lot is the Song dynasty 'Wanhesong' (Pines in Ten Thousand Valleys) guqin in the Palace Museum, Beijing. The latter has an overall length of 128.6 cm, and its effective string length, waist width, and longchi length are almost identical to the present lot. Both share shoulders at the third hui and waists narrowing around the 8.3 hui mark; see Gugong guqin tudian [Illustrated Compendium of Guqin in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2010, no. 5.

Compare also a Yuan dynasty Confucius-style guqin crafted by Zhu Zhiyuan, also in the Palace Museum collection. It exhibits a similar overall style, sharing the exact same hui positions for the shoulders and waist as the present lot; see ibid., no. 7.

琴仲尼式，青桐面板，琴額寬大，肩當三徽，聳肩，腰收八徽三，蕉尾坦闊，紫檀冠角，白玉十三徽，青玉軫足，鹿角霜灰胎內摻金屑，朱漆罩黑髹，漫發流水段及牛毛斷。

此琴面板極厚重，長達130公分，遠超尋常尺寸，音色堅實均勻。其形制多有宋元時期特征，如琴額寬長，肩當三徽，尾部坦闊，龍池長達25公分等等。漆灰摻金屑及白玉徽亦頗少見。與本琴最似者當為北京故宮藏之宋代「萬壑松」琴，後者通長128.6公分，隱間距離、腰寬、及龍池長度與本琴幾乎一致，二者皆肩當三徽，腰收在八徽三左右， 參見《故宮古琴圖典》，北京，2010年編號5。亦可比較北京故宮收藏之元代朱志遠作仲尼式琴，整體風格類似，起肩收腰的徽位與本件類同，見前書編號7。