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Lot Essay
This finely crafted album is a collection of poems composed by the Qianlong Emperor during his southern inspection tours, compiled in the dingchou year (1757). Bound in accordion-fold format, the volume features a zitan wood cover with a silver-inlaid title, and displays meticulously rendered calligraphy in ink. The script is elegant and fluid, framed by decorative scrolling borders that reflect the grandeur of imperial court literature. At the end of the album is the inscription, “Respectfully written by your servant Xie Yong,” accompanied by two red seals: “Servant Yong” and “Respectfully Written.”
Another manuscript copy of the same poetry collection was exhibited at the Summer Palace in Beijing during the 2018 exhibition Imperial Treasures – Qing Dynasty Books from the Summer Palace Collection. That example shares identical binding, content, and calligraphic style with the present lot, suggesting that the two were once part of the same original set.
Xie Yong (1719–1795), courtesy name Kuncheng and art name Dongshu, was a prominent Qing court official and accomplished calligrapher. A native of Jiashan in Zhejiang, he earned his jinshi degree during the Qianlong reign and rose to the position of Vice Minister of Rites. Xie was especially esteemed for his refined regular script, which won the admiration of the Qianlong Emperor and led to frequent commissions to transcribe the emperor’s poems and writings.
The present volume includes verses composed by the emperor in Jiangnan, celebrating famed scenic locales. The opening poem, Revisiting Hanshan Villa, vividly portrays the snowy landscape of Zhixing Mountain, evoking the striking image of “a thousand feet of snow on Cold Mountain.” Other works, such as Composed at Listening to Snow Pavilion and Echoing an Old Poem at Listening to Snow Pavilion, skillfully integrate sound into the visual imagery, revealing the emperor’s cultivated literary sensibilities. Poems like Visiting Lion Grove Garden offer rich descriptions of Suzhou’s classical gardens. As a whole, the album reflects Qianlong’s deep engagement with Jiangnan’s cultural heritage, and bears both artistic and historical significance.
Another manuscript copy of the same poetry collection was exhibited at the Summer Palace in Beijing during the 2018 exhibition Imperial Treasures – Qing Dynasty Books from the Summer Palace Collection. That example shares identical binding, content, and calligraphic style with the present lot, suggesting that the two were once part of the same original set.
Xie Yong (1719–1795), courtesy name Kuncheng and art name Dongshu, was a prominent Qing court official and accomplished calligrapher. A native of Jiashan in Zhejiang, he earned his jinshi degree during the Qianlong reign and rose to the position of Vice Minister of Rites. Xie was especially esteemed for his refined regular script, which won the admiration of the Qianlong Emperor and led to frequent commissions to transcribe the emperor’s poems and writings.
The present volume includes verses composed by the emperor in Jiangnan, celebrating famed scenic locales. The opening poem, Revisiting Hanshan Villa, vividly portrays the snowy landscape of Zhixing Mountain, evoking the striking image of “a thousand feet of snow on Cold Mountain.” Other works, such as Composed at Listening to Snow Pavilion and Echoing an Old Poem at Listening to Snow Pavilion, skillfully integrate sound into the visual imagery, revealing the emperor’s cultivated literary sensibilities. Poems like Visiting Lion Grove Garden offer rich descriptions of Suzhou’s classical gardens. As a whole, the album reflects Qianlong’s deep engagement with Jiangnan’s cultural heritage, and bears both artistic and historical significance.