Lot Essay
From the inscription, the text is written by Yong Xuan (1711-1799), the eighth son of Emperor Qianlong; it records that by Imperial command two court officials, Pang Yuanrui and Cao Wentian, were given the task to research and record any individuals in history who were fortunate enough to see five generations of off-springs in their life time. From the Tang dynasty to Ming dynasty, only five individuals were found to have achieved this: Qian Lang (Tang); Chang Shou (Song); Wu zong Yuan (Yuan); Luo Huigui (Ming); and Wen Zhengmin (Ming). The sixth person with a life span long enough to see so many generations was the Emperor Qianlong.
The present book is probably a commemorative token for a birthday celebration, similar to the jade book produced for the eighteenth birthday of Qianlong's mother, illustrated in Qingdai Gongting Shenghuo, Daily Life in the Forbidden City, no. 19. This present lot was made for presentation on one of Qianlong's birthdays, between a period his abdication in 1795 and his death in 1799.
A similarly mounted jade book of the Qianlong period is illustrated in Ming Qing Di Huo Bao Xi, Emperor and Consort Seals of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Forbidden City Press, no. 172, dedicated to the Jien Tang (The Hall of Remembering Kindness), in the Yuanmingyuan. Cf. other related examples, an Imperial spinach-green jade book, sold in these Rooms, 5 November 1997, lot 1075; and a set within a zitan fitted box, inscribed with an excerpt from the Lo Shen Fu, sold in these Rooms, 26 April 1998, lot 530. For a discussion on a group of fifteen jade books of various dates, see W. Watson, Chinese Jade Book in the Chester Beatty Library, with an illustration of a Qianlong jade book dated to A.D. 1745, illustrated pl. 1.
(US$23,000-28,000)
The present book is probably a commemorative token for a birthday celebration, similar to the jade book produced for the eighteenth birthday of Qianlong's mother, illustrated in Qingdai Gongting Shenghuo, Daily Life in the Forbidden City, no. 19. This present lot was made for presentation on one of Qianlong's birthdays, between a period his abdication in 1795 and his death in 1799.
A similarly mounted jade book of the Qianlong period is illustrated in Ming Qing Di Huo Bao Xi, Emperor and Consort Seals of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Forbidden City Press, no. 172, dedicated to the Jien Tang (The Hall of Remembering Kindness), in the Yuanmingyuan. Cf. other related examples, an Imperial spinach-green jade book, sold in these Rooms, 5 November 1997, lot 1075; and a set within a zitan fitted box, inscribed with an excerpt from the Lo Shen Fu, sold in these Rooms, 26 April 1998, lot 530. For a discussion on a group of fifteen jade books of various dates, see W. Watson, Chinese Jade Book in the Chester Beatty Library, with an illustration of a Qianlong jade book dated to A.D. 1745, illustrated pl. 1.
(US$23,000-28,000)