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Lot Essay
The inscription on the back of the screen is a well-known essay entitled Treaty on the Love of Lotus, written by Song Dynasty Confucian scholar Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073). He was considered the "founding ancestor" of the Cheng-Zhu school, which dominated Chinese philosophy for over 700 years. In the essay Zhou contemplates the characters of lotus, and likens it to a Confucian ideal gentleman, junzi: 'though growing from dirt and soil, it is not corrupted; though awash with waves and ripples, it does not go with the flow.' These observations have since become maxims of a scholar-gentleman of the ensuing generations, and Zhou Dunyi's name synonymous with lotus.
The Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors were all great promoters of the Confucian ideology, and one of the primary scenic spots of the Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan, was named after Zhou Dunyi's sobriquet, Lianxi. It was built around 1727 specifically for viewing lotuses, and was Qianlong emperor's favourite spot for composing poems. In 1744 he composed a poem in praise of this spot, in which he wrote, 'I often read Lianxi's work, and in it I discovered the pleasure of self-assessment'. The Qianlong Emperor was certainly familiar with the Treaty and would have studied in great length the body of Zhou's philosophical work. The calligraphy on the panel was undoubtly by the emperor himself, in tribute to the great philosopher of ages bygone. The ending of the inscription is signed yubi, 'Imperially inscribed', with the familiar hand of the emperor. The two seals jixia yuqing (delight one's spirit at brief leisure) and fujiaqu (repeated fine pleasure), are the emperor's personal seals.
The depiction of Zhou Dunyi appreciating lotus is a popular subject for ceramic pieces, and appeared as early as the Chenghua period on doucai cups, such as the example in the Palace Museum, illustrated in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 192, no. 174. However, the composition and the use of stone on the current plaque, where dark grey striations appear against a creamy white ground, suggest a closer affliation with ink paintings. It very probably took inspiration from paintings like Zhou Wenjing's Zhou Maoshu's Love of Lotus (fig. 1), painted in 1463 and now in a Japanese collection.
The Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors were all great promoters of the Confucian ideology, and one of the primary scenic spots of the Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan, was named after Zhou Dunyi's sobriquet, Lianxi. It was built around 1727 specifically for viewing lotuses, and was Qianlong emperor's favourite spot for composing poems. In 1744 he composed a poem in praise of this spot, in which he wrote, 'I often read Lianxi's work, and in it I discovered the pleasure of self-assessment'. The Qianlong Emperor was certainly familiar with the Treaty and would have studied in great length the body of Zhou's philosophical work. The calligraphy on the panel was undoubtly by the emperor himself, in tribute to the great philosopher of ages bygone. The ending of the inscription is signed yubi, 'Imperially inscribed', with the familiar hand of the emperor. The two seals jixia yuqing (delight one's spirit at brief leisure) and fujiaqu (repeated fine pleasure), are the emperor's personal seals.
The depiction of Zhou Dunyi appreciating lotus is a popular subject for ceramic pieces, and appeared as early as the Chenghua period on doucai cups, such as the example in the Palace Museum, illustrated in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 192, no. 174. However, the composition and the use of stone on the current plaque, where dark grey striations appear against a creamy white ground, suggest a closer affliation with ink paintings. It very probably took inspiration from paintings like Zhou Wenjing's Zhou Maoshu's Love of Lotus (fig. 1), painted in 1463 and now in a Japanese collection.