Lot Essay
(US$19,400-28,400)
Note:
The original Tang stele of Li Yong's calligraphy, the Yunhui Lixiu Bei was lost a long time ago. Only two stone foundations still exist. There are only two rubbings of this stele with the full original text. One was in Li Zhonghan's collection and now in the Museum of History, Beijing. The other is now in the Guangzhou Museum, previously belonging to Kong Guangtao. This album is a Song (11th-12th century) rubbing of a Tang stone, containing five hundred and eight-three characters. From the Ming dynasty onwards until the Tongzhi era in the Qing dynasty, this album was kept together with the album subsequently in Kong Guangtao's collection. The two albums have identical collectors' seals and colophons. It was Kong Guangtao who separated these two albums. Writing of this in the other album, Kong comments that knowing the two albums were kept together from the mid-Ming until his time, his splitting the two up would cause sneers from later generations. However, he maintains that he is unable to keep both, "having one is more than enough."
Note:
The original Tang stele of Li Yong's calligraphy, the Yunhui Lixiu Bei was lost a long time ago. Only two stone foundations still exist. There are only two rubbings of this stele with the full original text. One was in Li Zhonghan's collection and now in the Museum of History, Beijing. The other is now in the Guangzhou Museum, previously belonging to Kong Guangtao. This album is a Song (11th-12th century) rubbing of a Tang stone, containing five hundred and eight-three characters. From the Ming dynasty onwards until the Tongzhi era in the Qing dynasty, this album was kept together with the album subsequently in Kong Guangtao's collection. The two albums have identical collectors' seals and colophons. It was Kong Guangtao who separated these two albums. Writing of this in the other album, Kong comments that knowing the two albums were kept together from the mid-Ming until his time, his splitting the two up would cause sneers from later generations. However, he maintains that he is unable to keep both, "having one is more than enough."