Lot 77 Dα

When the Qianlong Emperor celebrated his seventieth birthday in 1780, the poem Qiujiang (name of a park in Chang'an) by the Tang-period poet Du Fu (712-770) came to his mind. One verse reads "Since ancient times, life up to seventy has been rare" (rensheng xiqishi gu lai xi). With reference to this, Qianlong had the jade seal "Guxi tianzi" ("Seventy-Year-Old Son of Heaven") carved, of which further variants were continuously produced between 1780 and 1789. In the famous essay "Guxi shuo" ("An Explanation of guxi"), Qianlong shared his thoughts on the only six emperors before him to reach the age of seventy, including the founders of the Yuan and Ming dynasties. He came to the conclusion that he was the only true enlightened emperor in history and that his rule was superior to that of the others in terms of administration, justice, rites and music. At the same time, he had the seal "Youri zizi" ("Daily Diligence") carved, which was applied to many imperial paintings and calligraphies paired with "Guxi tianzi".

清乾隆 一七八O至一七八九
禦制白玉蹲龍紐印璽一對
「古希天子」、「猶日孜孜」
展覽：其一 (印文猶日孜孜) 由1990至2024年借於柏林亞洲藝術博物館，期間不定期展出 (附其出具的品相記錄)
文獻：葉其峯著，““古希天子”——乾隆帝晚年最得意的印章”，《紫禁城》，1981年01期，44頁
來源：德國威斯特法倫州私人收藏，家族幾代相傳

1780年乾隆皇帝慶祝七十大壽時，唐代詩人杜甫（712-770）的《曲江》被引用，其曰：“人生七十古來稀”，乾隆帝被稱頌為 “古稀天子”， 他遂令人刻制寶璽“古希天子”，並在1780至1789年期間不斷加制不同樣式的古希天子璽。
《古稀說》中，乾隆帝分享了對在他之前僅有的六位超過七十歲的皇帝（包括元朝及明朝的開國皇帝）的看法。他得出的結論是，他是歷史上唯一真正功業巨大的皇帝，他的統治在行政、司法、禮樂等方面都優於其他皇帝。 當時，他還命人刻制了“猶日孜孜”為次章，將其與 “古稀天子”配對運用於眾多宮廷書畫之上。