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Lot Essay
The current lot is exceptional for its size and fine quality decoration. It is inscribed with an Imperial poem written by the famous calligrapher and painter Huang Yi (1744-1802). The poem is recorded in the Yuzhi shiji (Imperial Poetry Collection) compiled in the Siku quanshi (Complete Library of the Four Treasures), third collection (Ji), 67:13 which may be translated as:
On a sunny day along the River Wei,
the repeating sound of the wind leads up to the rain fall.
Shadows hover on the freshly dampened leaves,
the wind sprays water on the swishing branches.
Sandalwood trees sway like an elegant dancing phoenix,
a sudden loud and clear sound resemble the music of a flute.
The best is where the mild breeze sways the trees,
and the dew drops hang off the trees like small pearls.
Mid-Spring of the cyclical year of jiachen during the Qianlong reign (corresponding to AD 1784).
Huang Yi is most widely known for his distinctive calligraphy in li shu script. In efforts to pay homage to and revive 'antique style' calligraphic writing, Huang Yi favoured li shu (official script) which was originally used for bronze inscriptions on Shang and Zhou dynasty vessels and those on steles from the Qin and Northern dynasties. As a keen collector of archaic bronzes himself, he would have had ample material to draw inspiration from. It is also recorded that he was an extensive traveller and archaeologist, in search of bronzes, undiscovered steles and rubbings made from ancient steles. He conducted the famous archaeological excavation of the Han dynasty ancestral shrine of the Wu family (Wuliangci) in Jiaxiang, Shandong province in 1786.
Compare with a pair of vases of similar form and size, decorated with grazing deer in a rocky landscape from the collection of His Excellency Ilhamy Hussein Pasha, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 April 1996, lot 556. See also a vase decorated with two panels bearing Qianlong poems, also in li shu style calligraphy, on a similar gilt ground to the current vase, from the Alfred Morrison Collection and the Fonthill Heirlooms sold at Christie's London, 9 November 2004, lot 52.
A comparable style of landscape decoration can be seen on a large cloisonné enamel box from the Pierre Uldry collection, illustrated in Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, Chinesisches Cloisonné, Zurich, 1985, pl. 315. Refer also to two pairs of Qianlong period cloisonné enamel panels also with inscriptions and landscape scenes, from the Qing Court collection in Beijing, published in Zhongguo jinyin boli falang qi quanji, vol. 6 (2), Beijing, 2002, pls. 104-107.
On a sunny day along the River Wei,
the repeating sound of the wind leads up to the rain fall.
Shadows hover on the freshly dampened leaves,
the wind sprays water on the swishing branches.
Sandalwood trees sway like an elegant dancing phoenix,
a sudden loud and clear sound resemble the music of a flute.
The best is where the mild breeze sways the trees,
and the dew drops hang off the trees like small pearls.
Mid-Spring of the cyclical year of jiachen during the Qianlong reign (corresponding to AD 1784).
Huang Yi is most widely known for his distinctive calligraphy in li shu script. In efforts to pay homage to and revive 'antique style' calligraphic writing, Huang Yi favoured li shu (official script) which was originally used for bronze inscriptions on Shang and Zhou dynasty vessels and those on steles from the Qin and Northern dynasties. As a keen collector of archaic bronzes himself, he would have had ample material to draw inspiration from. It is also recorded that he was an extensive traveller and archaeologist, in search of bronzes, undiscovered steles and rubbings made from ancient steles. He conducted the famous archaeological excavation of the Han dynasty ancestral shrine of the Wu family (Wuliangci) in Jiaxiang, Shandong province in 1786.
Compare with a pair of vases of similar form and size, decorated with grazing deer in a rocky landscape from the collection of His Excellency Ilhamy Hussein Pasha, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 April 1996, lot 556. See also a vase decorated with two panels bearing Qianlong poems, also in li shu style calligraphy, on a similar gilt ground to the current vase, from the Alfred Morrison Collection and the Fonthill Heirlooms sold at Christie's London, 9 November 2004, lot 52.
A comparable style of landscape decoration can be seen on a large cloisonné enamel box from the Pierre Uldry collection, illustrated in Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, Chinesisches Cloisonné, Zurich, 1985, pl. 315. Refer also to two pairs of Qianlong period cloisonné enamel panels also with inscriptions and landscape scenes, from the Qing Court collection in Beijing, published in Zhongguo jinyin boli falang qi quanji, vol. 6 (2), Beijing, 2002, pls. 104-107.