【編號513069 】

清雍正-乾隆 紫檀黃楊木 御制詩硯屏

【著錄】  安思遠《洪氏所藏木器百圖》 78

【收藏】

1991 0430 蘇富比（香港） lot 139

1998 0426 佳士得（香港） lot 571

2014 0408 蘇富比（香港）春季拍賣會 洪氏家具  67

A Carved and Inscribed Zitan and Boxwood Table Screen with an Imperial Poem

Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng / Qianlong Period

A Carved and Inscribed Zitan and Boxwood Table Screen with an Imperial Poem

Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng / Qianlong Period

the front of the rectangular panel carved in high relief with a rocky landscape containing pine trees, the reverse inscribed in clerical script with a long imperial poem entitled Yuzhi Wufu Song ('An Imperial Composition: The Ode of Five Happiness'), signed by the calligrapher Yu Minzhong and two of his seals, the characters filled in with gold, all secured in a separate stand with upright posts set with lotus bud finials, the dark zitan wood contrasted with the golden yellow boxwood scroll spandels and a central panel containing stylised chilong with interlinked bodies, above an openwork apron carved with archaistic key-fret between the arched feet

overall 59 by 46 by 20.5 cm.

23 1/4  by 18 1/8  by 8 1/8  in.

READ CONDITION REPORT

SALEROOM NOTICE

PROVENANCE

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 30th April 1991, lot 139.

Christie’s Hong Kong, 26th April 1998, lot 571.

LITERATURE

Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture: One Hundred and Three Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, pp. 152-153, no. 78.

CATALOGUE NOTE

Table screens come in a variety of materials and designs and this example is unusual for the depth of the landscape carving and the stand which incorporates boxwood with zitan. The upright rectangular posts, inspired partially by western architectural design, with leaf-tip finials, relate to similar posts forming the legs and other decorative elements on an imperial workshop chair from the Lin Muhe collection illustrated in Splendor of Style: Classical Furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1999, p. 97.

The reverse of the screen includes a long inscription translated as: 'An Imperial Composition: The Ode to Five Happiness' (Yuzhi Wufu Song). The beginning of the text refers to the 'Hong Fan' chapter in the 'Venerated Documents' (Shangshu), one of the 'Five Classics' (Wujing).  It was said to be written by the late Shang Dynasty royal official Ji Zi who recorded the vision of the world.  He mentions that the number 'five' is the ultimate and all encompassing number.  In the present ode,  'The Five Happiness,' are listed as: longevity, wealth, good health and peace, generosity and virtue, and a natural death without pain.  A lengthy analysis of this inscription is included in Ellsworth, op cit. no.78. The inscription calligrapher was Yu Minzhong and references within it indicate it was likely composed by the Kangxi emperor.

For a similar example of this type of panoramic landscape carving, executed in an equally vigorous style, see the side and back panels of an imperial throne in the Capital Museum in Beijing, illustrated by Tian Jiaqing in Classic Chinese Furniture of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 54 and other screens of varying size in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Two Hundred Pieces You Should Know. Red Sandalwood Furniture, Beijing, 2008, pls. 180-197.

For a similar carved zitan panel set in a differing zitan stand, see a piece sold at Christie’s London, 18th May 2012, lot 1194.