Here, the owner of an outstanding Chinese Collection coming to auction at Hansons on July 29, reflects on the intricate beauty of carved seals and shines the spotlight on works of art in the sale.
I’ve practised Chinese calligraphy and painting for more than 20 years in Hong Kong in a respected school and under an outstanding teacher. With an astigmatism that helps me focus on small details, I enjoyed – and still do – practising small Dunhuang sutra script characters.
However, always enamoured with seals, and feeling my love of detail could be used in this, I turned to study bronze script for three years with an intention to turn my hand to small seal carving. Whilst I have a piece of my bronze script calligraphy on permanent display in a museum, it was never quite my forte to bring this skill into seal carving. I never found the tranquillity of compact characters that breathe, whilst the perfect sense of dissymmetry within the script’s characters was well beyond my skills.
However, my passion for seals remained, and whilst it’s not one of the more accessible of Chinese objects for those outside China, the Hong Kong SAR, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan where they remain in use, if you relax when you look at them – in the same way you would a painting – you’ll soon appreciate their beauty.
As a collector, but poor critic or writer, it’s hard to express just how serene but powerful the pieces are. Carved on one Shoushan seal in the collection (#50), dated 1861, are the words “Jian Dan Qin Xin” which roughly translates as “Courage of a warrior and the soul of a musician”. That poetry on seals finds its way onto calligraphy and painting, themselves a manifestation of thoughts and feelings and even into comments on a seal collection, is not a surprise.
Seal carvings regularly provide contemplative thoughts – a further example being (#56), the beautiful pale celadon and grey Ming Dynasty Jade Horse playfully and thoughtfully carved with the words from Du Fu’s Tang Dynasty poem: “Wei Xi Ma Di Yao” (to reach your goal, you would not hesitate to travel far).
In addition to “play” seal carvings, seals commonly include names and some within the collection come from great masters including a set of stones by the outstanding calligrapher, painter and carver Wu Chang Shou Cherry Blossom (#45), as well as (#51) and (#76). Other outstanding names include the Old Gaoshan stone (#41) (Apr 1743) of Pan Xi Feng (courtesy name Gui Hai), the extremely rare Jin Dynasty (269-312 AD) seal and carving of Wang Pingzi (#53), and the beautiful seal inscribed Chen Henke Zi Hao Chi Ceng (1876-1923) (#68).
Three of the stones in the collection comes from the outstanding master Feng Kanghou (1901-1983), who carved the national seal of Taiwan, and from whom there is also a piece of calligraphy in this auction collection (#31). Pieces by Feng Kanghou include (#67), (#61), and the pair of stones (#44) which provide students with instruction on small seal carving.
Other attributions bring attention to the decorative carving on the sides of the pieces such as the rarely pure Orange Jelly (#42) carved and inscribed with what are known as the four gentlemen being plum, chrysanthemum, bamboo and orchid.
And this brings us to outstanding carvings on the pieces including, for example, the Gaoshan jelly (#49) by Zhang Ze (1882-1940) – the seal carving expert brother of world-renowned artist Chang Dai Chien (Zhang Daqian) – including a lion and her cub presumably from their garden which was known to have lions roaming in it. Within this art is the sympathetic use of the stones’ colours and attributes with the collection exemplifying this even in Jades such as the dark green dragon a top a white jade in (#97).
Other sensual carvings to bring to your attention are the large and intricately marked Buffalo (#37) and the exquisite Furong (#38) (from a book whose title escapes me), the foliage on (#52) by Lin Qing Qing (1876-1948), the pale amber coloured Luohan figurine (#64), and the brilliant large brush rest from the Captain’s Cave (1882) (#65).
Approaching seal collections from the perspective of a would-be calligrapher and painter has focused my writing on the carving of the seals, and their owners. However, and of course, of major interest in the holistic balance are the high quality Shoushan stones themselves.
And this collection brings a wide range of outstanding examples including Stones, Jades and Bronze:
The Chinese Auction will take place on July 29, 10.30am, at Hansons, Heage Lane, Etwall, Derbyshire. Viewing by appointment only is available at Etwall Auction Centre on Tuesday July 27 and Wednesday July 28, 10am-4pm and also in London. To book an appointment, please email Isabel Murtough: [email protected]
Catalogue/bidding: www.hansonlive.co.uk | www.the-saleroom.com
Please note: catalogue not yet live.
