Emperor Kangxi’s imperial seal to be auctioned at Sotheby’s Hong Kong
Belonging to China’s longest-reigning emperor, seal commands starting price of HK$50 million
An imperial seal used by China’s longest-reigning emperor will be auctioned at Sotheby’s spring auction next month, with the suitably grand starting price of HK$50 million.
Carved for Emperor Kangxi – who ruled for 61 years from 1661 to 1722 during the Qing Dynasty – it bears the inscription Jingtian Qinmin, or “revere heaven and serve thy people”. This was symbolic of Kangxi’s legitimacy as it attests to the ancient Chinese philosophy that heaven grants authority to an emperor if he serves his people virtuously.
“Heaven’s will is the people’s will, so you have to respect your subjects to respect heaven,” Nicolas Chow, Sotheby’s deputy chairman of Asia, said. “It’s a principle that still reminds everyone that the state ideology throughout most of Chinese history is Confucianism. It centres around the idea of benevolence and righteousness.”
Made of sandalwood, the seal was kept at Kangxi’s court during his rule. Although there are no records of its use, experts believe he might have used it on large works of calligraphy, as his successors Yongzheng and Qianlong did.
READ MORE: Sotheby’s puts record estimate on Zhang Daqian scroll for Hong Kong auction
Chow said Sotheby’s had auctioned a few imperial seals made of jade before, but none of them comparable to Kangxi’s in terms of size, material and historical importance. Unlike Chinese porcelain, which has a long auction record, imperial seals only started getting as much attention in the past decade.
He noted that the local auction market had weakened recently, which some might expect to impact prices. “[But] I strongly believe material of this quality doesn’t suffer setbacks,” he said. “It’s an object whose value is not in its physical appearance, like porcelain or paintings. Its value is in the history it carries.”
China ceded its second place in the global rankings of art markets to the UK in 2015. This was partly attributable to dropping sales amid an economic slowdown and the mainland government’s anti-corruption campaign, according to the latest European Fine Art Fair market report.
READ MORE: China cedes place in global art market to UK
Besides the seal, Sotheby’s will include two other objects for a joint auction. The first is a smaller seal of Kangxi that is made of soapstone. The other is one of only two copies of a catalogue recording 119 of Kangxi’s seals, the other copy of which is stored in Beijing’s Palace Museum. All three objects come from different private collectors.
Sotheby’s sold the catalogue for HK$4.5 million at auction in October 2004, but persuaded the buyer to auction it again this year, to complement the two seals.
“[The objects] could appeal to anyone, particularly in Greater China. For someone interested in power. For someone interested in buying a piece of history,” Chow said.
