Red sandalwood carved orchid pavilion with eight columns and eight drawers

[Red sandalwood carved orchid pavilion with eight columns and eight drawers]

Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, 83 cm high, 62.5 cm wide and 40.5 cm thick
In the ninth year of Yonghe (353 A.D.), the literati and celebrities would gather to practice the lake at the foot of Jishan Mountain. Wang Xizhi wrote the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion with a brush, recording the grand occasion, which is said to be a masterpiece for the ages. Later, “Preface to Orchid Pavilion” was collected by the royal families of Liang, Chen, Sui, Tang and other dynasties. After the death of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the original of the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion was buried with him. Later generations were no longer able to see the true face of the original of the Orchid Pavilion. Only the copies of the famous calligraphers Ouyang Xun, Chu Suiliang, Yu Shinan, and Feng Chengsu of the Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, as well as the copies of the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion by some famous calligraphers of various dynasties in the future, have spread. In the forty-fourth year of Qianlong’s reign (1779), Emperor Qianlong copied the seven authentic copies of the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion, which were copied by Ouyang Xun, Chu Suiliang, Yu Shinan and Feng Chengsu of the Tang Dynasty, Liu Gongquan’s Orchid Pavilion Poems and the missing part of “The Orchid Pavilion Poems by Liu Gongquan are engraved on the Xihong Hall”, Dong Qichang of the Ming Dynasty imitated Liu Gongquan’s Orchid Pavilion Poems and the Xihong Hall Poems by Yu Minzhong of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong himself immediately copied Dong Qichang’s “Orchid Pavilion Poems” by Liu Gongquan and made eight copies, and ordered the workers to copy them on eight stone pillars, which are called “Orchid Pavilion Eight Posts”. The Qianlong Emperor ordered the manufacturing office to design and produce a rosewood screen that stores the original copy of the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion. The inset panel is carved with the gathering scene of Kuaiji Orchid Pavilion, and the border on both sides is carved with Emperor Qianlong’s imperial pen: “The beauty of poetry is from the past to the present, and the temporary writing is stored in the Jin and Tang Dynasties”. Take down the pull-out panel, and inside it are eight drawers for storing the copy of Orchid Pavilion, which is very hidden. Close the panel and it is a piece of furniture for decoration. This screen insert not only expresses Qianlong’s yearning for the collection of literati, but also reflects the history of the Qing royal family appreciating and inheriting Wang Xizhi’s Preface to the Orchid Pavilion, and also records the collection history of the original and its copy of the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion



紫檀木雕兰亭图插屏(板心拆下)紫檀木雕兰亭图插屏局部