Lot 551 A rare Imperial rock crystal 'Jiankong hengping' seal, Qing Dynasty, seal of the Empress Dowager Cixi. Height 2 3/8  in., 6.1 cm; Width 2 7/8  in., 7.3 cm; Depth 2 7/8  in., 7.3 cm. Estimate $40,000 — 60,000. Sold for $250,000. Courtesy Sotheby’s.

of square section, the translucent stone surmounted by a well-carved mythical beast crouching on its powerful claws, the horned creature rendered with protruding eyes above a slightly upturned snout, its mouth agape revealing sharp fangs, flanked by a pair of long curling whiskers, the top of its scaly body detailed with a well-pronounced spine, terminating in a bushy tail swept against its left haunch, the seal face crisply incised in zhuwen style with four characters reading Jiankong hengping (to maintain fairness and balance).

Provenance: Collection of Gustav Detring (1842-1913) or Constantin von Hanneken (1854-1925), and thence by descent.

Note: This rare rock crystal seal is well carved in relief with four characters reading Jiankong hengping, which can be translated as 'to maintain fairness and balance'. A seal of a smaller size but with the same four characters, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is recorded in the imperial seal catalogue of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and its impression is published in Gugong bowuyuan cang qingdai dihou xiyin pu Cixi juan [catalogue of imperial seals of the Qing dynasty. Cixi section], vol. 12, Beijing, 2005, p. 33 (fig. 1). During the Qing dynasty, it was common practice for emperors to order multiple imperial seals to be made with the same face characters. Guo Fuxiang has noted that sometimes as many as ten seals with the same characters were made for Cixi, see Guo Fuxiang, 'Fengzailongshang - Cixi taihou de baoxi [Phoenix above the dragon - imperial seals of the Empress Dowager Cixi]', Forbidden City, 2011.10, p. 69. This established practice makes it likely that the present seal belongs to the same group as the example cited in the Palace Museum, Beijing (op. cit.). This conclusion can further be supported through matching the seal impression of the present lot with the same impressions found on existing Cixi paintings.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 March 2018