Chinese seal culture has a history of more than 3,000 years, from a seal can feel China's cultural aesthetic consciousness for thousands of years, as well as from the art of calligraphy to the art of gold and stone, the three-dimensional presentation of this text, called "between the square inches, the weather is thousands".
The development of the seal gradually divided into the jade seal used by the emperor and the idle seal privately hidden by the literati. The imperial seal is the special jade seal of the emperor under the feudal rule, which is the supreme symbol of power; and the literati idle chapter is not only the embodiment of his hobbies and moral cultivation, but also the entertainment and friendship between the literati.
Huayi International (Beijing) 2021 Spring Auction specially launched a group of imperial jade seals and literati idle seals, two Qianlong jade seals "Eight Treasures of Immortality" and "Xiang Yong Wufu" will appear in "Damei - Ancient Court Artifact Night Show", the largest group of Zhang Daqian and Zhang Shanxiao's self-use seals will appear in the "Travel in Art - Famous Old Collections and Ancient Important Works of Art" special session, and the other nineteen Wu family seals will be combined with Wu Zhizhen and Lü Liuliang's "Planting Vegetables, Singing and Poetry Album" series of works together in "Damei - Night of Ancient Calligraphy and Painting Treasures".
The eighty-year-old jade seals of the two sides witnessed the deeds of a generation of perfect old people
The imperial seal is the special jade seal of the emperor under feudal rule, and Qianlong, as the "ten perfect old men" of Wenzhi martial arts in ancient and modern times, is also quite obsessed with China's seal culture, and has ruled more than a thousand seals for more than 60 years. The life of the Qianlong Emperor experienced many historical moments of great significance, such as the 700,000 birthdays of The Forty-fifth Year of Qianlong, the 49th Year of Qianlong's Happy Birth of The Fifth Emperor, the 800,000Thory Of The Fifty-Fifth Year of Qianlong, the Return of Qianlong to the Government in the Sixty Years, and so on, and all these commemorative moments will be commemorated by the Qianlong Emperor.
The two treasure seals of "The Treasure of the Eight Signs of Immortality" and "Xiang Yong WuFu", which will be unveiled in the spring auction of Huayi International (Beijing), are specially made by Qianlong in the 54th year to celebrate his upcoming 800,000th birthday. The Erxi is clearly recorded in the Qianlong Baoxue, which is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing, and is a treasure of the imperial court with clear origin, as well as an extremely important and representative example of the Baoxue.
In the fifty-fifth year of Qianlong (1790), Qianlong not only reigned for fifty-five years, but also celebrated his eightieth birthday. According to the custom, every fifth year of the year, that is, the so-called "positive birthday", a grand celebration is held, and the fifty-fifth year coincides with the eightieth full birthday, which naturally meets with the number of heavens and earth, which is the result of Hao Cang's blessing and deserves special celebration. The habit of Qianlong making a treasure seal every 100,000 birthdays to commemorate it has been since the 70th year of the heart, and at the 70th of the holy birthday, du Fu sentences are used to engrave the "Treasure of the Ancient Rare Heavenly Son" and the "Juri Zizi" seal.
When Qianlong carved the seal of 800,000 years, he set his eyes on the "Book of Shang", in which the "Hongfan" chapter records: After king Wu Keshang, he asked Jizi for the righteousness of the Heavenly Dao, and Jizi told him with the nine domains of Hongfan. These nine domains are "the first five elements, the second two use the five things, the second three agricultural use eight politics, the second four days to use the five disciplines, the second five days to build the imperial pole, the second six days to use the three virtues, the second seven days to use the doubt, the second eight days to use the Shu zheng, the second nine days to use the five blessings, and the six poles to use the six poles", and this is in line with the Qianlong Emperor's ruling ideology, which is why the seals of "the treasure of the eight signs of oldness" and "the use of the five blessings" are derived from this, which is not only a commemoration of one's own eight hundred thousand years old, but also a precept for diligent government.
Among them, the "Treasure of the Eight Signs of Immortality" is the main treasure of one party, in addition, the Qianlong Emperor also carved the secondary treasure and the introduction respectively, which matched the main treasure and became a group. Among them, the secondary treasure is "self-improvement and unremitting", and the first is "five blessings to use". The reason why the Qianlong Emperor chose these two treasures to match the "treasures of the Eight Expeditions" was to show that he did not dare to slack off a little before returning to power, and he thought of the people of the world, diligently sought governance, and was diligent in government affairs.
Teacher Guo Fuxiang commented on this, "This 'Treasure of the Eight Signs of Immortality' and 'Xiang Yong Wu Fu' two treasure seals were specially made by Qianlong in the fifty-fourth year to celebrate his upcoming 800,000 birthdays. The Second Seal is clearly recorded in the Qianlong Baoxue, which is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Comparing the treasure with the "Bao xue", whether it is the texture and size of the printing material, or the seal method and layout of the seal, it is consistent with the bibliography in the book, and it can be determined that the Second Seal is the authenticity of the Qianlong period. ”
The largest group of 29 so far, Zhang Daqian and Zhang Shanxiao, used their own seals, showing brotherhood in every inch
Zhang Daqian and Zhang Shanxiao are both famous Chinese painters of the twentieth century, and the brothers have a deep brotherhood, and the 29 private seals unveiled this time are the best testimonies of their friendship.
Zhang Shanxiao is a famous Chinese painter of the twentieth century, good at painting animal landscapes, especially good at painting tigers, and his brother Daqian abandoned politics to specialize in calligraphy and painting, making a living with pen and ink, and taking the three characters of "Dafengtang" as the name of Brother Zhang's studio. Because of his death in the late period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, his calligraphy and paintings were less printed, and this batch of seals included half of the seals used during his lifetime. As one of the most influential Chinese painters in the world in the twentieth century, Zhang Daqian has traveled all over the world in his life, and his painting subjects are wide, rare in ancient and modern times. The number of large thousand seals is the first in ancient and modern times, claiming that there are three thousand prints, but the market has not seen much, it is a batch of 29 prints, of which there are very rare Wang Da iron engraving "Zhang Ye" and "Great Thousand Poetry Paintings" printed on the print, which is extremely important information for the study of the great thousand seals and travel.
In addition, the world only knows that Fang Jie can engrave the "Begging food in the world" seal, and the appearance of this seal can be known to be adjusted on the basis of this seal, and it can be known that this "begging food in the world" seal is deeply rooted in the heart of the great qian. More importantly, the "Zi Yue Ancient Emperor" and "Zhang Ji Ye Yin" are printed, although there are old models, according to Fang to edit the "Great Thousand Seals", it can be known that it is a self-engraving of Da Qian. This pair of prints is self-engraved and self-use, and it is not generally precious to describe. It is a batch of 29 pieces, for example, it is difficult to summarize its preciousness, plus it comes from Zhang Daqian's beloved disciple Gu Yi, which is a rare treasure in the world.
19 Wu Zhizhen family seals, 200 years of books xiang cultivation reading heirlooms
In the series of works of Wu Zhizhen and Lü Liuliang's "Planting Vegetables, Singing and Poetry" series of works, there are a group of 19 Wu family seals, which are the testimony of Wu's calligraphy and cultivation and family heritage and righteous deeds. The "Poetry Book of Planting Vegetables" brings together the inkblots of 29 famous sages from the early Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, spanning more than 200 years, and it is also a rare inkblot of famous Ming relics such as Huang Zongxi, Huang Zongyan, and Lü Liuliang, which is incomparably precious. Wu Botao and Wu Zhiqiu were famous painters in the late Qing Dynasty, and Wu Botao had close contacts with Wu Changshuo. Wu Waitqiu was personally instructed by his father Wu Botao, and after his father's death, Wu Changshuona was his subordinate, and the "Descendants of Wu Gong of Hanting", "Treasures of the Wu Clan of Zhou Qian" and "Late Yixuan" in these seals were all from his hands. As the first president of xiling printing society, Wu Changshuo melted gold stone calligraphy and painting in one furnace, and its seal carving took Ding Yi, the lower Qin han, the vast and majestic, the meteorological Zhengrong, for the Ming and Qing dynasties of the collection of seals, its strength can be seen from it.
In addition, in this batch of printing, there are also Wu Zhizhen's eighth and ninth grandsons Wu Bingyuan and Wu Zhifang's father and son who use the Ten Fangs, which are made by Pei Jingfu, Xie Yong, Shen Juechu, Zhu Zihe and other modern seal engravers, and in terms of materials, the "Zhou Qian Millennium Wu Treasures", "Lu Ren" and "Wu Zhifang" are Shoushan Tian Huangshi, which is also rare. This proves that the literati seal carving is endless, and it can also be seen that their family's changing origins and cultural inheritance.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Wang Yan
Editor/Bow Lifang