QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)

Details

AN IMPERIAL MANUSCRIPT OF THE INSPECTION OF SOUTHERN CHINA, YU ZHI NAN XUN JI
QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The manuscript is bound with two zitan panels, which are finely inlaid in silver wire with blossoming lotus and scrolling foliage. The record comprises fifteen pages and describes the significant importance of Emperor Qianlong's visit to Zhejiang province during his reign. The first seven pages are inscribed in seal script and the last four pages in kaishu script. Each page is decorated with gilt floral borders. Signed Xie Yong, with two seals from the scholar.
5¼ in. x 8¼ in. (13 cm. x 21 cm.)

Provenance

In a private English collection since 1947.

Sale room notice

Please note that this lot will be sold with an original letter dating to 1947 in which the current lot is mentioned.

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Lot Essay

Compare the present lot with a fine and rare imperial album, dated to the Qianlong period, also with a zitan cover and similarily gilt-decorated pages, sold in Christie's HongKong, 26 April, 2004, lot 1013.
Xie Yong (1719-1795), style name 'Kun Cheng', also known as 'Jin Fu' and 'Dong Shu', was an official in Qianlong's court, a scholar and an artist. Xie Yong was recommended to the Emperor Qianlong on his first inspection to Southern China in 1751 as a provincial graduate. This manuscript may have been written during this period. He was a grand secretary of the Grand Secretariat by the forty-third year of the Qianlong period (1778) before his retirement.

The Qianlong Emperor undertook six southern tours of inspection during his reign.

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