.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The inscriptions on the reverse side are derived from a group of four poems from the series Yujing Bashou, 'Eight Poems on Scenes of Rain', by the Qianlong Emperor, recorded in Yuzhi shiji, Compilation of Imperial Poems, vol. 4, juan 28, dated 1775.
The inscriptions may be translated as:
Tianpan* is always splendid thanks to its pines;
but the colour these take on in rain is hard to meet.
This morning a light dizzle gives them a lush green look;
by chance a dragon from the sky comes to sport with the dragon in the ravine.
Yusong, 'Pine in the Rain'
Yesterday what a surprise, blossoms opened on several boughs;
but look now, the entire tree has burst open, every branch and twig.
The rain exquisitely provides a combing and washing;
attaching as if ornamental pearl hairpins weighing down in drooping tresses.
Yuxing, 'Apricot in the Rain'
By the villas of the Summer Resort and Jingji Resort;
there are forests where the deer inhabit.
In the spring rain, I was not as good at hunting as Yuhou;
at a different time and place, after hearing the sound of deer I immediately returned.
Yulu, 'Deer in the Rain'
Though it's not the fine white feathers that gives them mottled shape;
the deep green mountain actually turns their light green into dark.
It's none other than Immortal forms enjoying a new wash;
their cries fall from high peaks, as they preen their feathers.
Yuhe, 'Cranes in the Rain'
*Tianpan (Twisting out of Fields) or Panshan (Twisty Mountain) is 90 kilometers (56 miles) east of Beijing and 110 kilometers (60 miles) north of Tianjin; during one of the Qianlong emperor's tours to the region he composed many poems about the area.
The present bookcase is most probably one of a set of four. The only other known example is illustrated in Precious Treasures of My Humble House, Taipei, 1989, p. 158, and again in Zitan: the Most Noble Hardwood, Taipei, 1996, pp. 155-157.
The inscriptions may be translated as:
Tianpan* is always splendid thanks to its pines;
but the colour these take on in rain is hard to meet.
This morning a light dizzle gives them a lush green look;
by chance a dragon from the sky comes to sport with the dragon in the ravine.
Yusong, 'Pine in the Rain'
Yesterday what a surprise, blossoms opened on several boughs;
but look now, the entire tree has burst open, every branch and twig.
The rain exquisitely provides a combing and washing;
attaching as if ornamental pearl hairpins weighing down in drooping tresses.
Yuxing, 'Apricot in the Rain'
By the villas of the Summer Resort and Jingji Resort;
there are forests where the deer inhabit.
In the spring rain, I was not as good at hunting as Yuhou;
at a different time and place, after hearing the sound of deer I immediately returned.
Yulu, 'Deer in the Rain'
Though it's not the fine white feathers that gives them mottled shape;
the deep green mountain actually turns their light green into dark.
It's none other than Immortal forms enjoying a new wash;
their cries fall from high peaks, as they preen their feathers.
Yuhe, 'Cranes in the Rain'
*Tianpan (Twisting out of Fields) or Panshan (Twisty Mountain) is 90 kilometers (56 miles) east of Beijing and 110 kilometers (60 miles) north of Tianjin; during one of the Qianlong emperor's tours to the region he composed many poems about the area.
The present bookcase is most probably one of a set of four. The only other known example is illustrated in Precious Treasures of My Humble House, Taipei, 1989, p. 158, and again in Zitan: the Most Noble Hardwood, Taipei, 1996, pp. 155-157.