A RARE LARGE INSCRIBED SOAPSTONE 'ODE TO THE RED CLIFFS' SEAL

Signed Lu Yuan Lin Ji and Ji Ren, Qing Dynasty

Signed Lu Yuan Lin Ji and Ji Ren, Qing Dynasty
Skillfully carved in the form of a mountain, decorated in low relief with a continuous scene depicting an idyllic mountainscape with Su Shi, another scholar and a boatman travelling on a sampan floating on calm waters, crossing tree-strewn riverbanks dotted with dwellings and intricate foliage, all below an extract from the poem 'Former Ode on the Red Cliffs' by Su Shi, signed Ji Ren, the reverse inscribed with an extract from the 'Second Ode to the Red Cliffs' by Su Shi, signed Lu Yuan Lin Ji between further pavilions, pawlonia trees and bamboo stalks, the base with a twelve-character inscription. 11.2cm (4 1/2in) high.

清 壽山石浮雕「赤壁賦」印章
「吉人」、「鹿原林佶」刻款

Provenance:
Parry Collection, London, and thence by descent

來源：
倫敦Parry家族收藏，並由後人保存迄今

The remarkable skill of the carver is demonstrated through his success in transcribing a landscape image, likely derived from a painting or woodblock, onto a three-dimensional object by working through the uneven surface of the stone to create a continuous, three-dimensional canvas for the relief decoration.

The inscriptions on the front and reverse of the seal are carved, respectively, with the First and Second Odes to the Red Cliffs by Su Shi (1037-1102 AD), a famous poet and calligrapher of the Song dynasty.

The First Ode to the Red Cliffs may be translated as:
'A cool breeze was wafting, too gentle to ripple the water. Raising my cup, I toasted my friends and chanted the stanza on the gentle and graceful orb from the verse about the bright moon. Jiren'.

The Second Ode to the Red Cliffs may be translated as:
'The flowing river gurgled between cliffs that rose to a height of a thousand feet. The moon looked small over the lofty mountains. As the river fell low, the rocks came into view. It was only a few months since I last visited and now the mountains and the river were hardly recognisable! Luyuan Lin Ji'.

The inscription on the base of the seal, 'wu wei qi suo bu wei, wu yu qi suo bu yu', is a famous quotation by Confucian philosopher Mencius and could be translated as:
'Let a man not do what his own sense of righteousness tells him not to do, and let him not desire what his sense of righteousness tells him not to desire.'

Mountainous landscape scenes carved with scholars and sages were popular during the 18th century, reflecting the ideal peaceful retirement of the literati class or a momentary escape from the quotidian world of mundane affairs to idealised pursuits taken between official posts: a dreamlike desire perhaps even more remote from the lifelong service of the Emperor.

Compare with a related but smaller (6.5cm high) tianhuang seal, mid Qing dynasty, depicting the scene Qiujian daidu ('Waiting for the ferry on an autumn river'), in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, published on the Museum's website: http://www.dpm.org.cn/collection/seal/228550.html; and another small (4.8cm high) tianhuang seal, Qing dynasty, decorated with scenes of the Red Cliffs, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Small Refined Articles of the Study, Shanghai, 2009, no.249.

Lin Ji (circa 1660-1720) is also known by his style name Ji Ren and sobriquets Lu Yuan and Ziwei Neishi. He was awarded the Jinshi degree in 1713 for his services at Court. He was a noted poet and calligrapher, specialising in xiaokai (small regular script), seal and cleric scripts. He had a substantial collection of rare and fine books in his library the 'Puxuezhai'.

Compare with a related soapstone 'boulder' seal, Republic period, decorated with a mountainous landscape, which was sold at Bonhams London, 10 November 2011, lot 385. See also a related tianhuang boulder decorated with a riverscape and a sampan, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2019, lot 3001.

壽山大料為材，隨形，薄意。以蘇軾赤壁夜遊為題材，浮雕成通景山水人物。

正面刻東坡與友人泛舟江上，巨石插立江中，茂密虯松批於崖上，遠處高山重迭，雲煙縹緲。石壁上以楷書陰刻蘇軾《赤壁賦》之詞句，「清風徐來，水波不興，舉酒屬客，誦明月之詩，歌窈窕之章」，落款「吉人」。

背面依皮色巧雕幾桿修竹，一輪明月懸於空中，巨石上同樣陰刻楷書「江流有聲，斷岸千尺。山高月小，水落石出。曾日月之幾何，而江山不可複識矣」，出自《後赤壁賦》，落款「鹿原林佶」。

印文篆體，朱文，右上起順讀「無為其所不為，無欲其所不欲」，語出《孟子》。

蘇軾於元豐五年秋遊赤壁，作《赤壁賦》，三個月後再遊赤壁，又作《後赤壁賦》，成為古典文學史上的千古名篇，其超然物外，曠達恢弘的人生態度更是歷代文人的精神像徵。後世以夜遊赤壁為題的書畫作品不勝枚舉，並逐漸脫離原始文本之意義，成為文人遊趣的圖式來源。北京故宮館藏一例清中期田黃石淺浮雕「秋江待渡」章，雕飾風格可為比對，見於故宮博物院官方網站http://www.dpm.org.cn/collection/seal/228550.html。另有一例清田黃石雕赤壁圖章，收錄於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系：文玩》，上海，2009年，編號249，可資參考。

林佶（約1660-1720年），字吉人，號鹿原，別號紫微內史。康熙五十一年（1712年）欽錫進士。林氏善書法，精校勘，手跡尤為至寶。曾手寫汪琬撰《堯峰文鈔》、陳廷敬撰《午亭文編》和王士禎《漁洋精華錄》、《古夫於亭稿》，手寫上板，寫、刻、印俱精，被文壇和藏書家譽為「林氏四寫」。其藏書室名「樸學齋」。

比較一例民國壽山印章，同以薄意山水人物圖為飾，較本例稍小，售於倫敦邦瀚斯，2011年11月10日，拍品編號385。另見一例田黃薄意山水圖山子，售於香港佳士得，2019年5月29日，拍品編號3001。