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Lot Essay
The Ming dynasty witnessed a surge in the number of qin commissioned by the imperial clan members. The finest qin from this group were those commissioned by the Prince of Ning (1378-1448), Prince of Heng (1479-1538), Prince of Yi (1537-1603), and Prince of Lu (1607-1646), with Prince of Lu having commissioned the greatest quantity, followed by Prince of Yi, and then the other two Princes.
The current qin was commissioned by the Prince of Yi, Zhu Yiyin, whose style-name was Huang Nan. Qin commissioned by Prince of Yi are mostly in the Confucius-style, with most of them preserved in museum collections, including the Tianjin Museum, the Palace Museum, Beijing, and the Three Gorges Museum. A similar qin with almost identical inscriptions, except for the name of the qin being inscribed in cursive script, is illustrated in Van Gulik, Lore of the Chinese Lute, Tokyo, 1940, pl. XVI.
The current qin was reputedly in the collection of Yang Shibo (1863-1932), the pre-eminent qin scholar of the late Qing and Republic period, who is often regarded as the ‘foremost qin master of the Republic Era’. Yang published his magna opus Qinxue congshu [Series on the Study of Qin] between 1911 and 1931, which includes thirty-two qin scores, and his music theory. In the chapter Qinhua, Yang mentions his acquisition of a Prince of Yi qin with the inscription of ‘bells on a frosty day’, which may be the current qin. Yang Shibo had the habit of reassembling the qin in his personal collection so that he could modify their sound to suit his personal preference. The current qin has been relacquered in several areas, including the areas along the sides where the surface board and the bottom board join, which may suggest that the qin had been reassembled at one stage.
The current qin was commissioned by the Prince of Yi, Zhu Yiyin, whose style-name was Huang Nan. Qin commissioned by Prince of Yi are mostly in the Confucius-style, with most of them preserved in museum collections, including the Tianjin Museum, the Palace Museum, Beijing, and the Three Gorges Museum. A similar qin with almost identical inscriptions, except for the name of the qin being inscribed in cursive script, is illustrated in Van Gulik, Lore of the Chinese Lute, Tokyo, 1940, pl. XVI.
The current qin was reputedly in the collection of Yang Shibo (1863-1932), the pre-eminent qin scholar of the late Qing and Republic period, who is often regarded as the ‘foremost qin master of the Republic Era’. Yang published his magna opus Qinxue congshu [Series on the Study of Qin] between 1911 and 1931, which includes thirty-two qin scores, and his music theory. In the chapter Qinhua, Yang mentions his acquisition of a Prince of Yi qin with the inscription of ‘bells on a frosty day’, which may be the current qin. Yang Shibo had the habit of reassembling the qin in his personal collection so that he could modify their sound to suit his personal preference. The current qin has been relacquered in several areas, including the areas along the sides where the surface board and the bottom board join, which may suggest that the qin had been reassembled at one stage.