Throughout his reign, the Qianlong Emperor could be defined as one of the most transformative rulers in Chinese history. Known for his vast historical legacy and conquests, his over 60 years of rule also saw a golden age for Chinese arts and culture. Through the commissioning of various paintings to the cataloging of a vast body of works, the influence of the Qianlong period on the arts can continue to be felt even on the auction floors of today.
At Sotheby’s Hong Kong, their Chinese Art sale, this was proven to be the case as it was led by an imperial seal made from white jade from the Qianlong period, which sold for around HK$43 million (around US$5.5 million), after fees. It is an exceptional piece with similarities to museum-grade artifacts.
The jade seal was won by Sotheby’s Senior Director and Deputy Chairman of Chinese Works of Art, Asia, Carrie Li, for her client on the phone with the paddle number 6833. At one point, it was owned by the Guimet Museum’s founder, Émile Guimet.
The sale, which occurred on 7 May, reached a sale total of just over HK$228 million (around US$29.3 million). Of the 165 lots put on sale, 122 were sold, with a sale rate of 74%. Other high-performing lots include a bowl from the Kangxi Emperor, which sold for HK$34.5 million (around US$4.4 million), and a bronze statue of the Buddha from the Ming dynasty that sold for HK$3.3 million (around US$3.3 million).
Lot 3634 | An exceptional imperial white jade ‘Qianlong yubi’ seal
Seal: Early Qing Dynasty | Seal Face: Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty
12.5 x 12.5 x 9.2 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Langweil, a leading gallery in Paris, 1905
- Collection of Emile Guimet (1836-1918), acquired from the above in January 1905, ref. no. 1689, and thence by descent
- Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8th October 2008, lot 2003 and cover
Estimate: HK$40,000,000-80,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$35,000,000
Sold: HK$43,075,000 (around US$4.4 million)
When the Yongzheng Emperor passed away in 1735, his fourth son took the throne of the Qing dynasty and was proclaimed the Qianlong Emperor. During such a transition of power, it was protocol in government to produce new seals for the new emperor for official stamping usage. As such, the old ones would be preserved for posterity and honor, and new seals with new inscriptions, including the title of the emperor, would be produced.
Even before he acceded to the throne, the future Qianlong Emperor had various seals produced, a trend that would continue through his reign, with around 1,800 seals being attributed to him. This was due to his process of ordering seals as part of sets, with as many as 24 seals being ordered at a single time.
Among these seals is this lot, which may be an older seal that the Qianlong Emperor had refurbished and remade for his usage. This is evidenced by the fact that the seal base is rather low and appears as if Qianlong ordered the old inscriptions and ordered the engraving of Qianlong Yubi instead.
The act of changing an older seal was a rare practice, especially among newly crowned emperors. Additionally, its overall style tends to correspond more with early Qing era seals than with ones from Qianlong.
Yubi translates to “Imperial Hand of His Majesty,” and this phrasing was specifically used for special purposes. Paired with the large size of this seal, it can be inferred that it may have been used to stamp large pieces of artwork, including bian'e, a large inscribed tablet common in Qinalong’s early reign.
The large inscription on the seal, which was added by the Qianlong Emperor
The aggressive twin dragons on the top of the seal, with the glossy white jade
Various elements of this seal identify it as coming from an earlier Qing era, including the quality of the white jade, its density, and its size. The Qianlong era was not known for producing such large jade seals using such high-quality materials, especially with the glossiness and warmth of its color. In fact, this seal is one of the largest ever to come from the Qing Dynasty.
The twin intertwined dragons are carved to appear rather thin, with the scales on the dragons also rather uneven and at irregular heights. The heads of the dragon are also facing straight forward, in a slightly raised position, in an aggressive posture.
Their styling bears similarities to the Manchu script golden seals, which are a set of three national seals inscribed with Fengtian zhi bao ("Seal of Receiving Heaven’s Mandate"), Tianzi zhi bao ("Seal of the Son of Heaven"), and Kangxi yubi zhi bao ("In the Imperial Hand of Kangxi"). The former two are in the Forbidden City in Beijing, and come from the Hong Taiji Emperor, with the third being auctioned in 2003 and coming from the period of Qianlong’s grandfather.
The seal’s historical importance is also part of this lot’s allure. As noted, such a large seal would’ve been used on large texts such as calligraphy scrolls, and its presence would dictate imperial authority. However, by also making use of a seal that was repurposed from earlier emperors, that context was slightly altered. The Qianlong Emperor was venerating his ancestors and Manchurian heritage, but also the Han language, as the older seal was stripped of Manchu script and replaced only with Chinese.
As such, the seal represents a period when the Manchu dynasty was undergoing a transformative period towards adopting more Han culture to legitimize their rule over the majority ethnicity in their empire. This seal is a symbol of the stripping away of Manchu script by an emperor who had a large focus on cultural achievements.
Fengtian zhi bao ("Seal of Receiving Heaven’s Mandate") from the Hong Taiji Emperor | Beijing Palace Museum
Tianzi zhi bao ("Seal of the Son of Heaven") from the Hong Taiji Emperor | Beijing Palace Museum
The history of this lot continues into Europe when it was owned by Émile Guimet (1836-1918), the founder of the Asian art museum in Paris. Guimet would purchase a vast array of art from the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and the Eastern Mediterranean.
This lot was one of four he purchased from a Parisian Asian art dealer in the early 1900s; this specific seal was acquired on 2 March 1903 and was later sold on 8 October 2009 by Sotheby’s Hong Kong. Of that same batch of seals that he acquired from that one Parisian art dealer, Guimet gifted one to the Dowager Cixi in 1905.
Lot 3638 | A fine and exceptionally enamelled ruby-ground falangcai 'floral' bowl, Blue-enamel yuzhi mark
The Kangxi Period of the Qing Dynasty
Diameter: 12.5 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of George Hathaway Taber (1859-1940), Pittsburgh, prior to 1935, and thence by descent
- Gifted to the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 1958
Estimate: HK$40,000,000-60,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$28,000,000
Sold: HK$34,535,000 (around US$4.4 million)
Porcelain production in China has had a long and rich history, with one of its greatest and most influential moments being the role of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty. The emperor would reinvest heavily in the art of Chinese ceramics in both the north and south of the country, personally getting involved in the development of new techniques and science used to make ceramics.
This was a rather big shock to the court, as it meant bringing in outsiders and craftsmen into the Forbidden City, where the Emperor directly interacted with them, but through the advancement of the craft and the incorporation of European methods brought over by Jesuits.
This bowl, along with various other pieces, is the outcome of that transformative period in Chinese ceramic working ushered in by the Kangxi Emperor. The most striking element of this period of ceramics is the enamel that provides the glossiness and bright colors seen on this lot. Each ceramic would have its enamel painstakingly crafted for a specific detail in a specific work through immensely detailed artisanship, brought over from Europe.
This purple-ruby-red color of the flowers and rim was incredibly hard to achieve until European techniques were introduced to China
What stands out across the enamel is the quality of the colors and how varied they are, with the one ruby-red flower, which appears to have this glow that blends in with the rest of the bowl. This is achieved through the introduction of gold into the red coloring before it's applied, in very small particles, a process introduced to Chinese artists by the Jesuits.
At the time, this was a highly experimental technique in the country, with numerous other failed enamel ceramic works in the Palace Museum in Taipei. The reason for their lack of quality is that the ruby-red color that borders on purple or burgundy is incredibly hard to achieve and leads to numerous imperfections due to not being properly glazed. This work is one of the exceptions to success. Due to the process of glazing.
Sotheby’s does write that this specific lot may be the first successful ceramic to have produced this purple color with a golden sheen, but other elements of the bowl elevate its importance. Running throughout the enamel is a deep yellow, and these blue flowers, all spaced out equally, are details only found on the most important of Kangxi-era ceramics.
Pink-Ground Falangcai Bowl Puce-Enamel Yuzhi Mark and Period Of Kangxi | Sold for around HK$238.8 million (around US$30.7 million) by Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2018
Lot 360 | A monumental gilt-bronze figure of Chaturbhuja Mahakala
Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty
Height: 74 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Eduardo Lingero (1907-79), Brussels, until March 1979
- A European private collection
- Gifted to the Bodhimanda Foundation, The Netherlands, 2011
Estimate: HK$10,000,000-15,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$21,000,000
Sold: HK$25,995,000 (around US$3.3 million)
The history of Buddhism in China is tightly interwoven with the history of the state and cultural development. During the Yuan dynasty, Tibetan Buddhists played an active role in its state and affected various parts of it, including the introduction of Nepalo-Chinese-style Buddhist sculpture. This meshed with the introduction of Mahakala, a deity in both Buddhism and Hinduism, who in the former is seen as a wrathful manifestation of the Buddha.
In Tibet, Mahakala was seen as a protector of the state and political power due to the close intertwining of Buddhism and Tibetan society, and by the time the Yuan dynasty had given way to the Ming, these traditions had found their way to that government as well as a form of political legitimization. As such, the Ming would commission sculptures and paintings of Mahakala, including this lot, which features the four-armed deity.
There are some differences between this lot and traditional descriptions of Mahakala, including their sword, trident, or scythe. The person crawling underneath connects with the religious description that he sits on five corpses. Also, Mahakala is often portrayed in the colors of a dark navy-like blue or black. This lot is cast in bronze and falls in line with the Nepalo-Chinese style of sculpture, which used bronze and copper alloys and leans into more ornate and exaggerated depictions of religious figures.
The inscription on the bronze that identifies it as coming from the period of the Xuande Emperor of the Ming dynasty
The markings indicate this lot came from the Xuande period of the Ming dynasty, meaning that it’s one of the earliest Ming-era Buddhist sculptures that is circulating within private hands. Something of this quality would have been cast for and in Beijing for the imperial court, and its quality as an artifact is further elevated by its large size.
At this period, the Ming court would have been immersed in Vajrayana Buddhism, and objects like these would have been a core part of the court’s culture. The Hongwu Emperor, founder of the dynasty, even intervened heavily in the faith, elevating its intellectuals in his court while also reorganizing temples and the faith’s property ownership.
This piece, along with various other Buddhist sculptures of a similar quality, was all put up for auction by the Bodhimanda Foundation. They are a Dutch foundation dedicated to the education, promotion, and collection of Buddhist art and culture, which they have been doing since the 1950s.
Other Highlighted Lots:
Loted 3628 | A superb and extremely rare blue and white vase with fruit and floral sprays, ganlanping
Yongzheng Period of the Qing Dynasty
41.2 cm
Provenance:
- Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 20th November 1985, lot 69
- Christie’s Hong Kong, 8th October 1990, lot 338
- Lai Antiques Ltd., Hong Kong
Estimate: HK$15,000,000-25,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$12,000,000
Sold: HK$15,015,000 (around US$1.9 million)
Lot 3646 | An important imperial white jade ‘ziqiang buxi’ seal
Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty
6.5 x 4.8 x 4.8 cm
Provenance:
- A European private collection
- Sotheby's Hong Kong, 3rd October 2017, lot 3623
Estimate: HK$5,000,000-15,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$11,000,000
Sold: HK$13,795,000 (around US$1.7 million)
Lot 3652 | A fine and rare pair of famille-rose 'longevity' handled vases
Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty
28.8 cm
Provenance:
- Christie's Hong Kong, 8th October 1990, lot 526
- Peter Lai Antiques Ltd, Hong Kong
Estimate: HK$10,000,000-15,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$8,000,000
Sold: HK$10,135,000 (around US$1.3 million)
Auction Details:
Auction House: Sotheby's Hong Kong
Sale: Chinese Art
Date: 7 May 2025
Number of Lots: 165
Lots Sold: 122
Lots Unsold: 43
Sell Rate: 74%
Sale Total: HK$228,024,810 (around US$29.3 million)