Provenance: John Sparks, Ltd., London.
The Gerard Arnhold (1918-2010) Collection, São Paolo.

Note: Sets of three seals, such as the present set, carved from the same material and in a similar style, with one bearing the name of a palace or a hall, and the other two carved with phrases taken from classical works or poems, were popular at the Qing imperial court. 

Yichuntang, which is carved on the face of the smallest seal in the present set, is the name of the hall where Prince Qing, Yikuang 奕劻(1838-1917) lived in his residential compound 慶王府 in Beijing. Yikuang’s grandfather, Yonglin 永璘, was the seventeenth son of Emperor Qianlong, and the frst in line in the Prince Qing peerage. Yikuang served many posts at the Court, including the frst Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet 內閣總理大臣, before the fall of Qing dynasty in the same year.

Prince Qing, Yi Kuang (1838-1917)