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.
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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.