Lot Essay
Huagetang was the hall name used by the twenty-first son of the Kangxi emperor, Yun Xi, Prince Shen (1711-1758). The date renshen year in the inscription would, therefore, correspond to 1752. Shaoling was the style name of the famous Tang dynasty poet Du Fu, and the seal on the base is a couplet from his poem Jiang ting shi, 'The River Pavilion Poem', which recalls his pensive brooding by the waterside.
A soapstone seal also carved on top with similar entwined horned chilong, dated to the Qing dynasty, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in 50 Selected Gems of Cultural Relics, Beijing, 1999, no. 141. Another small (8.6 cm. long) shoushan rectangular seal in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, which also has dragons carved in a manner similar to those on the present seal, once belonged to the Yongzheng emperor, and was included in the exhibition, Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2009, p. 77, I-39.
A soapstone seal also carved on top with similar entwined horned chilong, dated to the Qing dynasty, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in 50 Selected Gems of Cultural Relics, Beijing, 1999, no. 141. Another small (8.6 cm. long) shoushan rectangular seal in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, which also has dragons carved in a manner similar to those on the present seal, once belonged to the Yongzheng emperor, and was included in the exhibition, Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2009, p. 77, I-39.