Sale
16868 - Fine Chinese Art, 5 Nov 2009
New Bond Street
Lot No: 283
An Imperial white jade 'double-dragon' seal
Guangxu
The rectangular seal surmounted with a pair of addorsed dragons, each recumbent with bulging eyes and a scaly conjoined body arching over swirling clouds pierced with an aperture for attachment, the base carved with four characters reading 'Airen Ruzi' within a border of scrolling tendrils, the stone of a pale white tone with small areas of opaque inclusions.
11.2cm (4¼in) long.
Sold for £322,400 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Email: Mrs Chris Mitchell
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Footnote:
Provenance: a European private collection, purchased before 1966, and thence by descent.
The current seal has been identified as being in the personal use of the Guangxu Emperor. The four-character 'Ai Min Ru Zi' inscription can be translated as 'Love your people as you would your own children'. These four characters have been identified by Guo Fuxiang, Researcher at the Department of the Palace History, The Palace Museum, Beijing, as one of the personal impressions used by the Guangxu Emperor. See his article 'Qingdao Huanghou Xiyin de Zhizuo' (The Manufacture of Imperial seals for the Empresses of the Qing Dynasty), p.26, where this impression is listed among the twenty-eight Guangxu Imperial seals held in the Imperial collection in the Forbidden City. The use of such a benevolent message also seems appropriate for the young ruler of a country determined to introduce reform presented by Imperial initiative. It is interesting to compare a wood Guangxu Imperial seal illustrated in the article (fig.1) which bears relation to the present seal in its long rectangular form surmounted by double-dragons.
Imperial seals belonging to the Guangxu Emperor are rare, with the majority of published examples being of relatively lesser material, reflecting the financial constraints of the period. Two Imperial green jade 'double-dragon' seals in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge have been identified as having belonged to the Emperor Guangxu and the Dowager Cixi, and are believed to have been looted in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, see J.P.Palmer, Jade, London, 1967, Catalogue no.36, and illustrated again by J.C.S.Lin, The Immortal Stone. Chinese Jades from the Neolithic period to the twentieth century, London, 2009, Catalogue no. 82 and 84, as well as no. 83. A gold single-headed dragon seal in the Palace Museum, Beijing is identified as having been given to the Guangxu Emperor on his 13th birthday in 1889, illustrated in Gugong Zhenbao, Beijing, 2006, p.26. The limited availability of good-quality jade stone during the period is demonstrated by the use of serpentine and wood in the production of Imperial seals. Several 'double-dragon' seals belonging to the Dowager Cixi in serpentine are known, see an example sold at Christie's Paris, 14 June 2006, lot 139. Apart from the published example in the Palace Museum, another wood 'double-dragon' seal belonging to the Guangxu Emperor was sold at Sotheby's Paris, 11 June 2009, lot 223.
The short reign of the Guangxu Emperor was witness to one of the most disruptive periods in the dynasty. Increased and intensified imperialist expansion led to the growth of the nationalist group, Boxers United in Righteousness, who by 1900 were openly attacking, and sometimes killing, Chinese converts and those who possessed foreign objects, as well as foreigners themselves. In retaliation, on August 4 1900, 20,000 foreign troops marched on Beijing, leading the Guangxu Emperor and the Dowager Cixi to flee to Xi'an, where they would stay until 1902. The era of disruption continuted onto the short reign period of the Xuantong Emperor, more commonly known as Pu Yi, a time in which Imperial treasures were sold to finance the expenses of the Court or stolen by Eunuchs working in the Forbidden City.
The current jade seal illustrates the mastery of late Imperial jade craftsmanship during the decline of the Qing Dynasty and appears to be one of the best preserved examples of Imperial lapidary work of the period.
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