11th Apr, 2024 11:00

TWO-DAY AUCTION: Fine Asian Art, Buddhism and Hinduism

 
  Lot 98
 

98

A SMOKY CRYSTAL SCHOLAR’S ROCK, PREVIOUSLY THE PROPERTY OF THE FIFTH PRINCE DING, ZAI QUAN (CHINA, 1794-1854)

Sold for €9,100

including Buyer's Premium


Lot details

The hallmark on the present scholar’s rock, Xingyouheng Tang (‘Hall of Constancy’), identifies it as having been the property of the fifth Prince Ding, Zai Quan (1794-1854), one of the Qianlong Emperor’s great-grandsons. Xingyouheng Tang was the prince's main residence in Beijing. Zai Quan was a leading collector and patron of craftsmen, especially those from the North. His family's prestigious collection of works of art and calligraphy was famous during the Daoguang and Xianfeng periods, and the hallmark is inscribed on numerous artifacts once owned by him, including vessels made of crystal, gourd, and glass, as well as Yixing teapots, snuff bottles, and wood stands for jade vases.

Superbly carved and pierced in imitation of a scholar’s rock of vertical orientation with jagged outcrops and protrusions, one of which is meticulously incised with the four-character hallmark Xingyouheng tang. The smoky quartz with inclusions masterfully incorporated and enhanced by the lapidary. Fine polish overall, rendering a unique, lustrous shine.

Provenance: The fifth Prince Ding, Zai Quan (1794-1854), and thence by descent. A private estate in southwestern England. English trade, acquired from the above.
Condition: Very good condition with minor old wear, natural imperfections including small fissures and inclusions, few tiny nicks, the base with a smoothened minute chip. Slightly leaning.

Weight: 2,021 g
Dimensions: Height 23.6 cm

“Like a landscape painting, the rock represented a microcosm of the universe on which the scholar could meditate within the confines of his studio or garden,” writes Robert D. Mowry. “Although most scholar’s rocks suggest mountain landscapes, these abstract forms may recall a variety of images to the viewer, such as dragons, phoenixes, blossoming plants and even human figures.” A few of the mountainscapes may recall specific peaks but most represent imaginary mountains such as the isles of the immortals believed to rise in the eastern sea. However, more than anything it was the abstract qualities that appealed to the Chinese literati, an idea that resonates with the modern collector who will see parallels with the avant-garde forms of Brancusi, Giacometti, and Henry Moore.

Zai Quan inherited the title of Prince Ding only in 1836, but his ownership of the Xingyouheng tang has nothing to do with that elevation. According to Zheng Hong, a researcher at the Palace Museum, Beijing, the earliest objects with the Xingyouheng tang mark date from the year 1801, and the latest from 1854, with most having at one point belonged to Zai Quan (see Liu Guoliang, China Archive, 31 August 2021). We have no way of knowing at what exact point Zai Quan started to use this name to inscribe his works of art, but we do know that he was using the title in 1848, since he published a collection of verses under the title Xingyouheng Tang chuji in that year (see Hugh Moss for Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 1 June 2015, lot 100).

Expert’s note:
For an example of a work from Zai Quan’s collection, see an imperial yellow jade jarlet, dated 1810-1854, at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, in The Water, Pine and Stone Retreat Collection, Scholarly Art, 8 October 2010, lot 2232.

Auction result comparison:
During the Qing dynasty, models of scholar’s rocks were carved from a variety of precious materials. Compare a related white jade ‘scholar’s rock’ carving, dated to the 18th century, 17.5 cm high, at Christie’s London, 6 November 2018, lot 109 (sold for GBP 47,500). Compare a related aloeswood carving of a scholar’s rock, dated to the Qing dynasty, 17.5 cm high, at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 December 2015, lot 3265 (sold for HKD 325,000). Compare a related carved wumu scholar’s rock, with a four-character mark, dated circa 18th-19th century, at Dallas Auction Gallery, 25 September 2019, lot 217 (sold for USD 22,000). Compare a turquoise matrix miniature carving of a scholar’s rock, illustrated by Eskenazi on their website (price on request).

#byimperialcommand

 

The hallmark on the present scholar’s rock, Xingyouheng Tang (‘Hall of Constancy’), identifies it as having been the property of the fifth Prince Ding, Zai Quan (1794-1854), one of the Qianlong Emperor’s great-grandsons. Xingyouheng Tang was the prince's main residence in Beijing. Zai Quan was a leading collector and patron of craftsmen, especially those from the North. His family's prestigious collection of works of art and calligraphy was famous during the Daoguang and Xianfeng periods, and the hallmark is inscribed on numerous artifacts once owned by him, including vessels made of crystal, gourd, and glass, as well as Yixing teapots, snuff bottles, and wood stands for jade vases.

Superbly carved and pierced in imitation of a scholar’s rock of vertical orientation with jagged outcrops and protrusions, one of which is meticulously incised with the four-character hallmark Xingyouheng tang. The smoky quartz with inclusions masterfully incorporated and enhanced by the lapidary. Fine polish overall, rendering a unique, lustrous shine.

Provenance: The fifth Prince Ding, Zai Quan (1794-1854), and thence by descent. A private estate in southwestern England. English trade, acquired from the above.
Condition: Very good condition with minor old wear, natural imperfections including small fissures and inclusions, few tiny nicks, the base with a smoothened minute chip. Slightly leaning.

Weight: 2,021 g
Dimensions: Height 23.6 cm

“Like a landscape painting, the rock represented a microcosm of the universe on which the scholar could meditate within the confines of his studio or garden,” writes Robert D. Mowry. “Although most scholar’s rocks suggest mountain landscapes, these abstract forms may recall a variety of images to the viewer, such as dragons, phoenixes, blossoming plants and even human figures.” A few of the mountainscapes may recall specific peaks but most represent imaginary mountains such as the isles of the immortals believed to rise in the eastern sea. However, more than anything it was the abstract qualities that appealed to the Chinese literati, an idea that resonates with the modern collector who will see parallels with the avant-garde forms of Brancusi, Giacometti, and Henry Moore.

Zai Quan inherited the title of Prince Ding only in 1836, but his ownership of the Xingyouheng tang has nothing to do with that elevation. According to Zheng Hong, a researcher at the Palace Museum, Beijing, the earliest objects with the Xingyouheng tang mark date from the year 1801, and the latest from 1854, with most having at one point belonged to Zai Quan (see Liu Guoliang, China Archive, 31 August 2021). We have no way of knowing at what exact point Zai Quan started to use this name to inscribe his works of art, but we do know that he was using the title in 1848, since he published a collection of verses under the title Xingyouheng Tang chuji in that year (see Hugh Moss for Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 1 June 2015, lot 100).

Expert’s note:
For an example of a work from Zai Quan’s collection, see an imperial yellow jade jarlet, dated 1810-1854, at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, in The Water, Pine and Stone Retreat Collection, Scholarly Art, 8 October 2010, lot 2232.

Auction result comparison:
During the Qing dynasty, models of scholar’s rocks were carved from a variety of precious materials. Compare a related white jade ‘scholar’s rock’ carving, dated to the 18th century, 17.5 cm high, at Christie’s London, 6 November 2018, lot 109 (sold for GBP 47,500). Compare a related aloeswood carving of a scholar’s rock, dated to the Qing dynasty, 17.5 cm high, at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2 December 2015, lot 3265 (sold for HKD 325,000). Compare a related carved wumu scholar’s rock, with a four-character mark, dated circa 18th-19th century, at Dallas Auction Gallery, 25 September 2019, lot 217 (sold for USD 22,000). Compare a turquoise matrix miniature carving of a scholar’s rock, illustrated by Eskenazi on their website (price on request).

#byimperialcommand

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