JIAQING PERIOD (1796-1820)

Details

A GROUP OF EIGHT IMPERIAL INK CAKES
JIAQING PERIOD (1796-1820)
Of various shapes, each ink cake is moulded in shallow relief on one side with a scene depicting a hall, garden, or other location in one of the imperial complexes, with the other side moulded with an inscription identifying the scene. The inscription and areas of the decoration are highlighted in gilt with occasional green details. Each bears a Jiaqing nianzhi mark on the side. The set is accompanied by a two-tiered wooden box, the front of the cover is incised with an inscription Mingyuantu wanmo, 'ink cakes with garden scenes' with an inscription in ink reading Cuiyuzhuang, 'Villa of verdant green' to the left, and another ink inscription on the silk cushion on the reverse citing the quantity in the set.
Box: 3 7/8 in. (10 cm.) high x 9 1/8 in. (23.2 cm.) wide x 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) deep, Japanese wood box

Provenance

Mary and George Bloch Collection; sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23 October 2005, lot 66

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Ruben Lien

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Lot Essay

The current set comes from a group of sixty-four, with each one depicting a different scene from the imperial complexes. The rubbings of the moulds for this set are illustrated in Ink Mould Engraving of Huizhou, Hefei, 1985, pp. 39-102. Compare to lot 3305 in this catalogue for another set belonging to this same group, and a complete set sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2379.

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