Lot 3103. An Imperial kesi album of poems on the 'West Lake', Mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 37.8 by 25.7 cm., 14 7/8  by 10 1/8  in. Estimate 4,000,000 — 6,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 8,240,000 HKD (1,062,960 USD). © Sotheby's

exquisitely woven on silk and mounted on paper between hardwood covers, the front cover incised in kaishu with the title yubi mobao within a border enclosing dragons writhing sinuously above waves in mutual pursuit of the flaming pearl, all within a key-fret band bordering the edge, comprising twenty-four double-pages with fourteen dated poems, concluding with two seals reading guxi tianzi zhi bao ('Treasure of the Son of Heaven At Age Seventy') and you ri zi zi ('Still Diligent Every Day') respectively, the inscription in white against a black ground, all within a blue border.

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 1st November 2004, lot 913. 

Notes: The poems can be translated as follows: 

Below Family of Blossoms Mountain
                    flows Blossom Brook,
          Where as blossoms fall, touching fish,
                    the fish bite them.
          Here the best of springtime splendors
                    all meet in Mistress West,
          So why need wait for autumn waters
                    to know the Florescence of the South!

          It may be nonsense to say fish at Jade Spring
                    should be called brocade,
          Where bananas and rocks serve as neighbors
                    surrounding a brook named “Blossom,”
          But on this beautiful scene they’re allowed 
                    to add new needlework
          With their jumping and diving, and this after all
                    enhances its old elegant charm.

          The brocade shuttle depends not
                    on the Weaver maiden’s throw,
          There in silky water’s gleam in heaps of
                    clustered blossoms,
          Arrayed with narcissus blossoms they
                    form spring clothes,
          Infinite moon-and-breeze-like beauty
                    unyielding to any other enchanting view.

          Spread out flat the stream looks
                    like silk to me,
          But I should know the clusters
                    are fish going at the blossoms.
          Though they cannot tell the difference
                    between the relics of Qian and Chun,
          Natives of Hangzhou still talk about
                    the glories of the old capital.

          Masters Hui and Zhuang talked in vain
                    whether or not Zhuang knew about it,
          But where the joy of fish comes from
                    is found in the blossoms at this stream.
          The way things develop from simple to complex
                    start off just like this,
          So try to improve on Jade Spring—
                    what a ridiculous thing to do!

          Once the ditch was made water came
                    naturally forming this brook,
          Whose name the truth be told
                    was accordingly made ‘Blossom’.
          But I differ from the fish watcher
                    at Tang City
          Who at any time could enjoy the scenery
                    and help the seasons pass away.

          In their sound strings and then
                    again metal percussions,
          Sounds heard but impossible to distinguish
                    sensed there far in the depths.
          Waves of this holy lake join
                    waves of long soft branches—
          It’s warmer here than in the North where
                    such groves have long been locked away.

          Crossing south the Song royal house
                    forgot all about the northern Jin
          And became fondly attached to strings and woodwinds,
                    thoughts of love deep.
          But even one note of the newly arrived orioles
                    was not without meaning,
          For they came from north of the River
                    where their old groves were.

          So high they fear not wind,
                    these two with coiled hair astray,
          Their sky robes in numerous strands
                    fitting them perfectly.
          As if a painter created an entirely
                    new look for them,
          I think I see them at times when they
                    are both scarcely and heavily made up.

          While the South Peak seems to look up,
                    its mate seems to droop down,
          Breathing in and out toward each other,
                    wrapped in plain white silk.
          Their reflections pierce clear waves
                    and merge together,
          For out in lake’s centre atop the pavilion
                    it’s a time when their hearts meet.

          As several strands of spring clouds
                    entwine and then droop down,
          North and South Peaks alike
                    are clothed in the same cloth.
          Out on the lake I chant this poem
                    for the third time,
          But when I think of it, the snap of the fingers
                    does not last very long.

          A pair of long swords
                    hang down backed up by sky,
          Clouds forming enfolded sheaths
                    they’re covered in countless layers.
          In the world these two from the very beginning
                    have always existed,
          So why cite the time Ouzhi’s sword
                    spit Mount Qin in twain! 

          The upside down reflections of the paired peaks
                    hang down with utmost respect,
          As one sliver of floating cloud
                    covers both their heads.
          It’s as if Mount Wuyi, the distance shrunk,
                    were brought here by some divine magic,
          And this no different from a poem for
                    banqueted guests at Rainbow Bridge.

          Twisting, rising vertically, the paired peaks
                    hang down at sky’s edge,
          The skill of the thunder god giving them
                    brocaded clothes to wear.
          But for a time I only think
                    of crowds of the poor,
          Who now might without enough clothes
                    be with bare arms.

The frontispiece of the album is meticulously decorated using the kesi technique with nine dragons in pursuit of flaming pearls against a beige ground, as well as an imperial seal reading Kangxi yubi zhi bao (‘Treasure In the Imperial Hand of Kangxi’) to the right and four characters Yubi mobao (‘Calligraphic Treasure from the Hand of His Majesty’) in clerical script to the left. This exceptional album contains a total of fourteen qilü poems in cursive script against an azurite ground - all delicately executed using the kesi technique. Among the poems are six Huagang guanyu (‘Watching fish at Blossom Brook’), two Liulang wenying (‘At Willow Waves listening to Warblers’), and six Shuangfeng chayun (‘Twin peaks pierce the clouds’). 

All these poems were written during the Qianlong emperor’s six “Southern Tours of Inspection”, specifically dated to the year of 1751, 1757, 1762, 1765, 1780, and 1784. They were included in Qinding nanxun shengdian [Grand Occasion of the Southern Inspection], vol. 2, Ti xihu shijing (‘Poem on the Ten Sceneries of the West Lake’); vol. 5, Ti xihu shijing die jiuzuo yun (‘Poem on the Ten Sceneries of the West Lake after the Old Rhyme’); vol. 9, Ti xihu shijing zaidie jiuzuoyun (‘Poem on the Ten Sceneries of the West Lake after the Old Rhyme Again’); vol. 13, Ti xihu shijing sandie jiuzuoyun (‘Poem on the Ten Sceneries of the West Lake after the Old Rhyme for the Third Time’); vol. 17, Ti xihu shijing sidie jiuzuoyun (‘Poem on the Ten Sceneries of the West Lake after the Old Rhyme for the Fourth Time’); vol. 22, Ti xihu shijing wudie jiuzuoyun (‘Poem on the Ten Sceneries of the West Lake after the Old Rhyme for the Fifth Time’).

Over the course of his reign, the Qianlong Emperor had conducted six inspection tours to the south, and he was particularly drawn to the beauty and elegance of the natural landscapes in southern China. As he travelled to the different places, the emperor passionately expressed his inner fondness and subsequently transformed them into innumerable poetries. Upon revisiting the places again, he would write poems using the same rhyme scheme as his previous ones. After the emperor came back to the Forbidden City, he would give a particular order to compile imperial albums that included all the landscapes he had visited and all the poems he had written during the outing. These albums were later treasured and housed in his imperial collection. For example, in the fiftieth year of the Qianlong reign (1785), the emperor had decreed that his wulü and qilü poems be organised, which were written by him during the recent "Southern Inspection", into an imperial album and to place them into zitan containers in chronological order, see Qinggong neiwufu zaobanchu dangan zonghui [Zaobanchu archives of the Qing Imperial Household Department], vol. 48, Beijing, 2007, p. 533. See also two imperial kesi albums of the “Ten Sceneries of the West Lake” from the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing and published in Jinglun wujin – Gugong cang zhixiu shuhua, the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2006, no. 15. The landscapes in the album were finely depicted in great details - as if it was inviting one to enjoy the charming lake view from the top of a hill. Each leaf of the album was accompanied by an imperial poem in small regular script composed by the emperor during his "Southern Inspection". Compare another similar imperial kesi album depicting the sceneries of the West Lake sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th May 2005, lot 1229.

Sotheby's. Imperial Porcelain and Works of Art from a Hong Kong Private Collection, Hong Kong, 07 april 2015, 10:15 AM