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Pair of celadon-colored, imperial Chilong jade seals, "Xiangyong wufu" and "Nianyong shuzheng". Qianlong era, ca. 1790 Of square form, each crowned with a pommel in the shape of a crouching, hornless chi dragon. Both with finely carved faces, fine surface polish and made of almost flawless material. One of the two seals has the characters "Xiangyong wufu" incised in archaic seal script (zhuwen), the other "Nianyong shuzheng" (baiwen). (2) On the occasion of the eightieth birthday of the Qianlong Emperor, the production of imperial seals was again commissioned from jade carvers in Suzhou in 1790. When choosing the mottos for the seals, the emperor drew his inspiration from the chapter Hongfan (The Great Plan) in the Confucian classic Shangshu (Book of Documents). The chapter, which is structured as a conversation between the Zhou King Wu and the Shang Prince Jizi, postulates the nine principles of great government, which are said to have been revealed by Heaven itself. The Qianlong Emperor was particularly impressed by the eighth article and chose the saying "Bazheng maonian zhibao" (Treasure of the octogenarian who observes the eighth principle) for the main seal, which he paired with the seal "Ziqiang buxi". He wrote the essay "Bazheng maonian zhibao lianju" about his choice, in which he explains that he used the two seals together with the seal "Xiangyong wufu" (Fivefold bliss for pleasure, six sufferings for authority), a saying taken from Hongfan's ninth principle. Another secondary seal around the eightieth birthday is "Nianyong shuzheng" (Think like the people), which comes from the eighth principle of Hongfan. It is possible that archaic chi dragons (chilong) were attached to the seals as pommels, as the carved idioms refer to a Zhou-period text. a) H 3.4 cm; base 3.2 x 3.2 cm b) H 3.3 cm; base 3.2 x 3.2 cm Provenance Private collection, Westphalia, in family ownership for several generations Exhibitions The "Nianyong shuzheng seal" was on permanent loan to the Berlin Museum of Asian Art from 1990 to 2024 (DLG 116-1990) and exhibited there for a time (documented by a condition report from the museum) Literature For a discussion of the imperial seals on Qianlong's eightieth birthday, see: Guo Jing, 'Qianlong yuxi bazheng maonian zhibao shu yi', Wenjin xuezhi 2018 (11th series), pp. 208-212; Guo Fuxiang, 'On the Qianlong Emperor's Ziqiang buxi Jade seal', Sotheby's London, Fine Chinese Jades from the Thompson-Schwab Collection, 9.11.2016, pp. 22-25