Live Auction 19039Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part II
A SPINACH-GREEN JADE `DRAGON' SEAL
Lot 934

A SPINACH-GREEN JADE `DRAGON' SEAL

CHINA, QING DYNASTY, DATED 3RD YEAR OF THE GUANGXU REIGN, CORRESPONDING TO 1878

Closed24 September 2020

Price Realised

USD 22,500

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A SPINACH-GREEN JADE 'DRAGON' SEAL
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, DATED 3RD YEAR OF THE GUANGXU REIGN, CORRESPONDING TO 1878
The top carved with adorsed, crouching dragons flanked on either side by incised inscriptions, Guangxu san'nian zao (made in the third year of the Guangxu reign) and zhuchi Xianding li (established by abbot Xianding), the underside with a lengthy inscription in seal script, Jiangning fudu Chenghuang zhi yin (The seal of Chenghuang in the Capital of Jiangning) in both Chinese and Manchu, and one side with a further inscription, Puren Juntong Ye Wenquan kan (carved by Ye Wenquan of Pu region)
4 in. (10.1 cm.) wide

Nicholas Grindley, Inc., Works of Art, New York, 28 September 1982.
The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago.

Specialist note


Ye Wenquan was an official during the Guangxu period. He was from Jiangning county, Jiangsu province, and passed the imperial examination in 1890. Chenghuang, `god of the boundaries', is a deity in Chinese folk religion who protects the local people and affairs of a village, town or city, both in life and death.