Lot 84 Dα

Of the ‘Four Famous Inkstones’ (Si daming yan) in ancient China, three types were made from natural stone, the Duan, She and Taoye inkstones. Chengni inkstones from Luoyang in Henan province, on the other hand, were the only ones to be modelled and fired from clay since the Tang dynasty. The Chengni stones of the old Daoist practioner Lü from Ze Prefecture were considered to be the best ink stones of the Song dynasty and were praised by contemporary poets. The recipe for the clay was lost over the centuries until the Qianlong Emperor was finally able to bring it back to life through numerous experiments. To produce the tiger inkstone, his artists used a historical model from the Han dynasty, which is also depicted in the Xiqing yanpu, the collection catalogue of the imperial inkstone collection, which is now kept in the Palace Museum in Taipei (ill.). Qianlong had a poem written by himself engraved on the inside of the lid, the first lines of which read: ‘What was made by old Lu is unattainable in our times; it was skilfully made in Jinchang in the shape of a crouching tiger’. Qianlong's poem about the Chengni tiger inkstone can also be found in the Siku Quanzhu (Complete Writings of the Four Treasuries), the monumental collection of books compiled between 1773 and 1782 (ill.).

清乾隆 禦銘仿古澄泥伏虎硯
款識：「乾隆戊戌仲夏 禦銘」 (一七七八年)
鈐印：「比德」、「朗潤」
禦題：「呂老所造，茲不可得；金閶巧鍛，如伏虎式，球琳其質，青綠其色；置之舊側，幾難別白；列於文房，友乎子墨；幾暇怡情，揮毫是北；每繹旅獒，不無慚德。」
展覽：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：可比《乾隆皇帝的文化大業》，國立故宮博物院，臺北，2000年，113頁
另有三件非常相似的硯臺，一件2023年5月30日在香港佳士得拍賣，編號 3119； 一件2010 年6月4日在於京保利拍賣，編號4146；一件2015年6月6日在北京保利拍賣，編號6535
來源：德國威斯特法倫州私人收藏，家族幾代相傳

中國古代的“四大名硯”中，端硯、歙硯和洮河硯是自天然巖石雕琢而成。 而河南洛陽的澄泥硯是唐代以來唯一用澄江之泥精工燒制而成的硯臺。澤州呂道人的澄泥硯被認為是宋代最出色的硯臺，備受詩人贊譽。然而因古人不輕易傳授秘方致使真正的澄泥硯制法失傳，直到乾隆時期通過無數次實驗才使澄泥硯重見天日。此件澄泥硯的制作中工匠們參照了漢代銅硯的模版(參見《西清硯譜》即禦制硯臺收藏目錄), 現一存於臺北國立故宮博物館。硯蓋內鐫刻的乾隆帝禦制詩參見由其自1773 年至 1782 年間編撰的巨著《四庫全書》。