AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND IMPORTANT GOLD GEM-INSET FIGURE OF AN 'ABLE MINISTER'

Qianlong

Footnotes

清乾隆 金嵌寶七珍「主藏臣寳」像

Provenance: Sir Michael Oppenheimer (3rd Baronet, 1924-2020) and Lady Helen Oppenheimer DD (1926-2022), and thence by descent

來源：Michael Oppenheimer 爵士（三代從男爵，1924-2020年）與Helen Oppenheimer爵士夫人（1926-2022年）舊藏，並由後人保存迄今

The collection belonged to Sir Michael and Lady Oppenheimer DD (3rd Baronet, 1924-2020). Sir Michael's maternal grandparents were Sir Robert Grenville Harvey, 2nd Baronet (1856-1931) and Lady Emily Blanche Harvey (1872-1935) of Langley Park, Buckinghamshire. The Chinese art collection can be, at least in part, traced back to Langley Park, Buckinghamshire, home to the Harvey Baronets from 1788 until 1945, as demonstrated in a pre-1945 photograph showing Lot 122, the cloisonné enamel tripod 'elephant' incense burner, Qianlong.

Sir Michael Oppenheimer's paternal family was the well-known South African mining family. The baronetcy was created in 1921 for Bernard Oppenheimer, Chairman of the South African Diamond Corporation for setting up diamond sorting factories to employ wounded ex-servicemen after the First World War. The family has been involved with De Beers over many decades. Lady Oppenheimer DD (1926-2022) was a distinguished moral and philosophical theologian, with a particular interest in the ethics pertaining to personal relationships.

The present figure, made of gold of exceptionally high purity, is exceedingly rare and notable for the impeccable casting, the high-quality gilding, the meticulous filigree work and the setting of semi-precious stones adorning the garments, and generous use of the precious metal. Works displaying such a high-level of workmanship were undoubtedly produced by the Imperial workshops at the time and destined for use at the Imperial Court.

This gold figure was part of a set of 'The Seven Royal Treasures', which would have been placed on an altar. See a related jade and semi-precious stone-inlaid set of the 'Seven Royal Treasures' on sandalwood stands, and a similar figure of an 'Able Minister', 18th century, in the Qing Court Collection, the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated by E.Rawski and J.Rawson, China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795, London, 2005, p.140, no.45. The set includes a Golden Wheel, Swift Horse, White Elephant, Loyal General, Able Minister of the Treasury, Jewels of Omen, and Divine Pearls. The present lot can therefore be identified as 'Able Minister of the Treasury' similar to the one in the jade set in the Palace Museum, Beijing. See also a related altar quintet of the 'Eight Auspicious Treasures' in jewel-inlaid gold-filigree, Yongzheng, illustrated in Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, 2009, Taipei, p.143.

According to the Indian myth, only the 'Wheel-turning Sage King' (Sanskrit: cakravarti-raja) possessed the 'Seven Treasures', which would aid him in ruling his domain. Later, the 'Seven Royal Treasures' were inherited by Buddhism and taken as offerings presented to Shakyamuni Buddha. Besides, the association of the 'Seven Treasures' with the Sage Kings, with whom the Chinese emperors often liked to identify themselves, made the symbols a highly auspicious motif for decoration in the Imperial palace.

The Qing Court funnelled immense resources into their religious projects through the Imperial Household Department (Neiwu fu) and the Ministry of Rites. The Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors alone established dozens of temples in Beijing, most of them dedicated to Tibetan Buddhism and the Confucian rituals of the state. But daily records of the Court also show that they promoted many other religious activities, especially shrines for their own Manchu spirits, for the Chinese war god Guandi, and for the beloved bodhisattva of compassion, Guanyin. They personally performed Daoist-inspired acts of abject penitence before local dragon-gods during years of drought, and patronised such popular Daoist figures.

The use of semi-precious stones insets, such as tourmaline, pearls and turquoise, on gold, appears to be a revival of a Ming dynasty practice which can be seen on vessels dating to the fifteenth century. The early Ming emperors were expansionist and outward-looking, and following Admiral Zheng He's seven voyages across the 'Western Oceans', gems from Southeast Asia, India and Sri Lanka, started to be imported into China along with gold, spices and exotic animals; see for instance a gold ewer, Ming dynasty, decorated with dragons and inset with similar stones as the present lot, illustrated in Art of China. Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 2018, p.97, and a rectangular gem-inset gold 'dragon' plaque, early Ming dynasty, illustrated in Ming: Fifty Years that changed China, London, 2014, pp.108-109, fig.98. For Qing dynasty examples of goldwork and inlay, see a gold gourd-shaped ewer for wine, inlaid with pearls, rubies, coral, and other semi-precious stones, Qianlong, illustrated in Splendors of China's Forbidden City: The Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong, New York, 2004, p.193, no.235.

Goldwork in the Qing dynasty is extremely rare and usually would have been commissioned by the Imperial Court. See for example, two gold cups 'of Eternal Stability', circa 1739-1740 and 1740-1741, commissioned by the Qianlong emperor to drink a special herbal drink during ceremonies relating to the Chinese New Year, in the Wallace Collection, London (acc.nos.W113 and W112). Originally a set of four, the other two are in the Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei. This shows the close connection between goldwork and the Imperial Court.