A Rare Kangxi Period Imperial Edict, 1685

A Rare Kangxi Period Imperial Edict, 1685
Ink on paper, mounted as a handscroll, heavily inscribed in Chinese and Manchu with two seals reading Chiming Zhibao in Manchu and Chinese, dated Kangxi, 24th year, 11th month, 28th day, the calligraphy rendered in ink on paper embellished with a printed border depicting dragons writhing among clouds.
16 1/2 x 44 1/4in (42.1 x 112.6cm)
Footnotes:
清康熙二十四年(1685年) 誥命聖旨 「敕命之寶」印 水墨紙本 手卷

Provenance:
Rendezhai (House of Benevolent Learning) Collection, acquired in Hong Kong between 1949-1971
Bonhams New York, 12 September 2016, lot 8109

來源：
施欽仁（Olaf Kristian Skinsnes, 1917-1997）仁德齋舊藏，1949-1971年間購於香港
紐約邦瀚斯，2016年9月12日，拍品編號8109

Edicts in this format, rendered on paper rather than silk, and decorated with a similar border, appear to be a convention of the Kangxi period. A highly similar example, dated 1652, bearing identical seals, was housed until 1929 at the storehouse of the Grand Secretariat at the Imperial Palace, Beijing and then purchased, along with all the remaining records of the Grand Secretariat by the Museum of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Item No. 103986. Another related edict, dated 31 October 1716 and produced by the Imperial Printing Office, Beijing, is illustrated by Evelyn S. Rawski and Jessica Rawson in China, The Three Emperors, 1662-1795, London, Royal Academy of the Arts, 2005, p. 230, no. 149, with that example held in the collection of the British Library, London, accession number 19954.c.12.