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11 février 2018

An extremely rare crystal inkstone, Incised seal mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735)

An extremely rare crystal inkstone, Incised seal mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735)

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Lot 104. An extremely rare crystal inkstone, Incised seal mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 11.9 cm., 4 5/8  in. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 HKD). Lot sold 1,375,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2015.

the transparent quartz with characteristic flaws and inclusions, intricately carved in relief with an oval section centred on a frosted circular patch, below a slightly sloped recessed inkwell near the top, all within a border carved in the form of a bat with outstretched wings stylistically enveloping the inkstone, the underside incised with a vertical four-character seal.

Note: Yongzheng reign-marked inkstones carved from Songhua stone from the Qing court collection are preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and a number has appeared at auction, but examples in rock-crystal are extremely rare. The conception of this outstanding inkstone, in which the stylised form of the bat stretches around the edge of the inkwell, and where the lobes of the well comprise the natural folds of the mammal’s outstretched wings, is designed to depict the bat as if drinking from the well of the inkstone. Similar stylistic treatment can be seen on a Yongzheng reign-marked Songhua inkstone  of double-gourd form in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in A Special Exhibition of Sunghua Inkstone Comparable to the Best Tuan and She Inkstones, Taipei, 1993, pl. 33. The definition and positioning of the bat on the Songhua inkstone closely matches that on the current inkstone, though the overall form is different and the seal mark is enclosed within a square.

Another Songhua inkstone in the National Palace Museum, of double-gourd form but carved with melon and vine at the top, shares the same treatment of the mark as on the current crystal inkstone, a four-character seal mark intricately incised on the underside, illustrated ibid, pl. 34. Compare also the mark on a Yongzheng inkstone, preserved in a lacquer box incised and dated to the second year of the Yongzheng reign, illustrated in 2000 Years of Chinese LacquerOriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Art Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 104, and sold in these rooms, 8th April 2014, lot 49.  

Before the annexation of Xinjiang in 1759, dramatically increasing the supply of high quality flawless crystal, the material was especially prized at the Imperial court. An envoy of the Pope is recorded as having been given a gift of a rare rock-crystal snuff bottle by the Kangxi emperor. As outlined in Tributes from Guangdong to the Emperor, Hong Kong, 1987, p. 58, Qu Dajun in Guangdong Xinyu, Vol. 15, Commodities, Crystal, 39th year of Kangxi, 1700, eulogises the limited supply of crystal from Wuzhishan in Qiongzhou as ‘brilliant, lustrous and white as snow’.

Crystal scholar’s objects produced for the Imperial court are extremely rare, with only a small number recorded from the Qing Court Collection and preserved in the holdings of the Palace Museum, Beijing. An exceptional example is an intricate crystal water dropper carved in the form of a duck, illustrated in Small Refined Articles of the Study. The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Shanghai, 2011, pl. 181. The quality of the material appears similar to that on the current piece, transparent and lustrous in colour, but with characteristic veins and bubble-like flaws. The bold archaistic carving and scrollwork on the duck’s wings and plumage closely matches that of the scrollwork on the bat’s stylised wings here. Other examples of crystal in the Palace Museum include two miniature mountain-shaped seals, illustrated ibid, p. 269, pl. 266. Clearly, the material itself was highly valued and only utilised for the highest quality works of art.

Sotheby's. Yongzheng – The Age of Harmony and Integrity, Hong Kong, 07 avr. 2015

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