Juliette Hammer
Sale Coordinator
Lot 18
A PARCEL-GILT SEAL FORM INK CAKE WITH A BUDDHIST LION AND CUB By Hu Ziqing (b.1832), Qing Dynasty
14 May 2025, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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Chen Xie
Specialist
Edward Luper
Specialist, Chinese Works of Art
Lazarus Halstead
Head of Chinese and Asian Art, London
A PARCEL-GILT SEAL FORM INK CAKE WITH A BUDDHIST LION AND CUB
By Hu Ziqing (b.1832), Qing Dynasty
Of rectangular form surmounted by a gilded knob in the shape of a reclining unicorn mythical beast, nestled with two cubs on each side, one side of the seal with a four-character inscription in regular script, the other side with a three-character inscription in seal script, the seal face inscribed with four characters in bird-worm script, with a fitted box.
5.5cm (2 1/8in) high.
Of rectangular form surmounted by a gilded knob in the shape of a reclining unicorn mythical beast, nestled with two cubs on each side, one side of the seal with a four-character inscription in regular script, the other side with a three-character inscription in seal script, the seal face inscribed with four characters in bird-worm script, with a fitted box.
5.5cm (2 1/8in) high.
Footnotes
清 胡子卿製局部鎏金瑞獸鈕印形墨
「鐘鼎奇字」「奎照齋」邊款 「簫蛇飛龍」印文
Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: G.Tsang and H.Moss, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Hong Kong, 1986, no.185, pp.206-207 (dated as 'probably late Ming or early Qing dynasty')
展覽著錄： G.Tsang and H.Moss，《Arts from the Scholar's Studio》，香港，1986年，編號185，第206-207頁（斷代為"或為明晚期或清早期"）
The seal face reads 簫蛇飛龍 (Xiaoshe feilong), which may be translated as 'a whispering snake and a soaring dragon.' The characters are in the bird-worm script (niao chong zhuan 鳥蟲篆), an ancient calligraphic style frequently found on bronze and iron artefacts of the Yue Kingdom during the Eastern Zhou period. The choice of the script aligns with an accompanying inscription on the seal: 鐘鼎奇字 (Zhongding qizi), meaning 'unusual characters on bells and tripods'. This phrase refers to rare or archaic script forms traditionally inscribed on zhong (鐘), ancient Chinese bronze bells, and ding (鼎), bronze ritual tripods.
The second inscription on the seal reads 奎照齋 (Kuizhao zhai) meaning 'The Chief Star Shining Studio' which was the studio name of Hu Ziqing (胡子卿 b.1832). Hu Ziqing was the grandson of Hu Yude (胡餘德), the second-generation successor of the renowned ink maker Hu Kaiwen (胡開文). In the early years of the Tongzhi period (1862-1874), Ziqing launched his own brand under the name 'Hu Ziqing' and separately established 'Kuizhao zhai' for his business operations.
See a closely related seal illustrated in the Asian Civilisations Museum: the Chinese Collections, Singapore, 1997, no.129 dated as early Qing dynasty. Here it is noted that this piece was likely made as a gift rather than designed for use. A seal from the same mould from the Mary and George Bloch collection, was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23 October 2005, lot 126.