AN EXTRAORIDINARY AND RARE 'DAOIST IMMORTALS' HARDSTONE-INLAID PANEL, QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

Auction Closed

September 23, 08:35 PM GMT

Estimate

150,000 - 250,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

AN EXTRAORIDINARY AND RARE 'DAOIST IMMORTALS' HARDSTONE-INLAID PANEL

QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

清乾隆銅鎏金鑲百寶瀛洲仙人圖屏

lavishly and colorfully inlaid with a variety of hardstones including, jade, jadeite, lapis lazuli, rose quartz, agate, malachite and amethyst, artfully arranged depicting a paradisiacal gathering of Daoist immortals, several standing atop a jagged mountain peak bearing silk-wrapped wire, jade and hardstone bouquets, another figure trekking up the hillside, and one navigating a gnarled wood raft through rolling waves towards the others, amidst rockwork studded with pine trees, numerous sprigs of lingzhi, darting and perching crane, and a grazing deer, all against a gilt-metal ground chased with densely scrolling clouds and enclosed within a narrow keyfret border of blue cloisonné enamel

Width 55 in., 139 cm

Collection of Lee Van Ching (circa 1869-1931).

American Art Association, New York, 14th February 1917, lot 217.

Collection of William Boyce Thompson (1869-1930), and thence by descent.

來源

李文卿 (約1869-1931) 收藏

美國藝術聯盟，1917年2月14日，編號217

William Boyce Thompson (1869-1930) 收藏，此後家族傳承

The lavish use of semi-precious stones on this panel exemplifies the opulence of the Qianlong Emperor's taste and the remarkable lapidary skills and materials available during his reign. While hardwood panels inlaid intermittently with hardstones are known, the density of the materials built up on this panel is particularly rare and striking. Layer upon layer of hardstones including lapis lazuli, jade, malachite and tourmaline and the construction of such a piece would have required the collaboration of a number of departments within the Imperial Palace Workshops. Each piece is carefully fashioned and perfectly fitted together to create a harmonious and otherworldly scene. An added sense of luxurious ethereality is created by the gilded background incised with scrolling clouds, which enhances the multiple hues of the hardstones.

Often made in pairs, wall panels adorned the numerous private halls built under the direction of the Qianlong Emperor. The pair to the present panel was sold alongside the present, amongst numerous other imperial items, from the collection of Lee Van Ching (Li Wenqing) at American Art Galleries, 14th February 1917, lot 216 (fig. 1). The present scene depicts the Eight Daoist Immortals on the Kunlun Mountains, the dwelling place of Xiwangmu and her orchard of 3,600 peach trees of immortality. Holding branches of flowers and lingzhi, the Immortals appear to be waiting with gifts to bestow upon Xiwangmu in celebration of her birthday. No other closely related panel appears to have been published which attests to the importance and distinction of the present.

Similarly sumptuously inlaid panels are known from the Qianlong period; however, these differ in style in that they generally attempt to recreate paintings or images in a naturalistic manner, as opposed to the abstracted style of the present. Perhaps the closest thematic and stylistic example is the pair of gilt-bronze inlaid luohan panels, from the collection of A.W. Bahr, which sold at American Art Association, 17th-19th January 1916, lot 500, and then remained in the collection of William Cobbett Skinner's family until being sold in these rooms, 11th September 2019, lot 667. Further lavish inlaid panels in the Palace Museum, Beijing, include one in the shape of a ruyi, depicting birds perched on flowering branches and a rectangular example illustrating a blossoming prunus tree, included in the exhibition The Emperor’s Private Paradise. Treasures from the Forbidden City, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, 2010, cat. nos 25 and 22 respectively.