The Yongzheng Emperor's Seal of Honoring Parents - View 1

This seal is fashioned from stone quarried from the Shoushan area of Fujian Province. The knob is carved with the image of a resting elephant, while the base is engraved with an inscription of Chinese characters in the seal script. The lifelike elephant is delicately carved with appropriate proportions. Beside the animal stands a vase that symbolizes when there is peace (ping), there are signs (xiang) . A southern craftsman named Yuan Jingshao wrote the original seal text. These characters would later appear as a personally-written inscription by the Yongzheng Emperor on various plaques and monuments at the Jing Tomb of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1662-1722). This practice was carried on by later Qing emperors who also included personally-written inscriptions of the same characters at the tombs of their fathers. The inscription reads Seal of Honoring Parents (Zunqin zhi bao, lit. "Treasure of Honoring Parents") and expressed this filial piety. Each emperor would simply add his reign name at the beginning of this expression and commission a new seal for his own official use.

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