Leaving a Mark on History
Nicolas Chow
The face of this imperial seal is the single most recognisable seal face in the entire history of Chinese art. Countless masterpieces bear its mark forever etched in red cinnabar paste. Fan Kuan’s Travelers among Mountains and Streams, Guo Xi’s Early Spring, Wang Ximeng’s A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains, many of the finest works by painters throughout the centuries, from Emperor Huizong to Castiglione, are connected through this single object. This seal is the most iconic among all seals destined for art connoisseurship, its base carved with the six characters Qianlong yulan zhi bao (Treasure admired by his majesty the Qianlong Emperor).
The characters on the soapstone surface have been worn over time, through the act of impressing masterwork, after masterwork, after masterwork. It is those hundreds and hundreds of embraces, emblematic of the mad devotion of an emperor to his art collection, that is captured on the beautiful, rich wear of the characters.
The seal itself was carved by a master craftsman working for the Qianlong Emperor’s father Yongzheng or grandfather Kangxi and after ascending the throne in 1735 Qianlong deliberately selected it for the all-important purpose of recording the finest works in his art collection. It was extensively used from the early years of the Emperor’s reign to the completion of the first catalogue of the imperial collection, the Shiqu baoji, in 1745.
The characters on the soapstone surface have been worn over time, through the act of impressing masterwork, after masterwork, after masterwork. It is those hundreds and hundreds of embraces, emblematic of the mad devotion of an emperor to his art collection, that is captured on the beautiful, rich wear of the characters.
The project of cataloguing and archiving all the extraordinary paintings passed down over the centuries, and having them impressed with his seal, not only showed the Qianlong Emperor’s passion for his collection, it was a way to leave his mark on the paintings that most profoundly symbolised China’s glorious heritage, thus further establishing his political legitimacy.
After the Emperor’s death in 1799, the seal was transferred to the Shouhuangdian, the temple of Imperial ancestors which overlooked the Forbidden City. During the years of turmoil towards the end of the Qing dynasty, the seal made its way to Europe to resurface in 1965 at an auction in Sotheby’s London. It was there that Wou Kiuan acquired it and it was since kept in the family. Rediscovering this seal and turning it over to reveal its face for the first time ten years ago was a most powerful experience, as I had only ever seen the ghost of it over the years.
