Seal of the Imperial Brush of the Yongzheng Emperor - View 1

This seal is fashioned from stone quarried from the Shoushan area of Fujian Province. The large seal features a knob carved with nine kui dragons in various poses among clouds. The shallow relief on the sides was engraved after the kui dragon design of China's remote past. This archaic patterning presents the simple elegance of ancient arts. Executed meticulously, the seal is typical of sculpted works of Shoushan stone in the early Qing period. The workshop archives of the Qing Imperial Household Department recorded the procedure of crafting this seal in great detail. The first seal completed after the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne, it was carved in the first month of the first year of his reign. The text on the bottom was written by the famous imperial calligrapher Zhang Zhao and then carved after undergoing slight modifications as instructed by the emperor. This seal was one of the most significant of the Yongzheng Emperor's seals.

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