185 - Album of Celebrated Views of Guangling

Album of Celebrated Views of Guangling Qing dynasty, Qianlong period Woodblock printing on paper, comprising eighteen leaves, including nine landscape illustrations with accompanying inscriptions, each leaf 26.8 × 21.8 cm, the album overall 30.7 × 28 × 1.3 cm. Cf. The Complete Album of Celebrated Views of Guangling comprises forty-eight scenes in total, divided into two volumes, each containing twenty-four illustrated pages with corresponding inscriptions. The nine illustrations in the present lot are all from the upper volume. According to existing research, both the author and the date of publication remain unknown. Based on references within the text to Emperor Qianlong’s southern tours, the seventieth birthday celebration of the Empress Dowager, and the recorded terms of local officials, the album is generally considered to have been produced in the mid-to-late Qianlong period. A version of this work is held in the National Library of China, access no. 地750.22/101.84. Compared with the present lot, one version presents a more panoramic, wide-angle view, while the other offers closer, more detailed compositions. Another vertical-format edition is held in the Capital Museum. The textual content across the three versions is broadly consistent, with occasional omissions or minor revisions. From the Kangxi to the Qianlong reigns, southern regions of the Yangtze River remained a major centre for the construction and flourishing of private gardens and scenic sites. During the Qianlong period, Guangling (present-day Yangzhou), owing to its convenient position along the Grand Canal and its role in north–south grain transport, developed into a key hub of commercial and logistical exchange as well as a major mercantile city. A large number of salt merchants settled and conducted business there, competing in the construction of private residences and garden estates, which in turn made Yangzhou a focal point of garden design and landscape cultivation. In relation to Yangzhou’s garden culture, a corpus of garden imagery emerged through ink painting and woodblock-printed illustrations. Literati painters and commercial print workshops jointly produced a series of garden-related visual works, particularly notable during the Qianlong period. Representative examples include Illustrations of Pingshan Hall, Scenic Views of Jiangnan Gardens, and Yangzhou Huafang Lu. The Complete Album of Celebrated Views of Guangling is one such example. As a visualised geographical gazetteer, it reflects the commercial vitality, garden culture, and literati aesthetics of the period, and serves as an important visual source for understanding the local prosperity of the Qianlong period. 清乾隆 廣陵名勝圖 木板印刷冊頁 《廣陵名勝全圖》共四十八景，分上下兩冊，每冊二十四幅景觀插圖及相應題識，本拍品中的九幅皆出自上冊。据現有研究，作者不詳，出版時間不詳。根據文本内容中提及的乾隆皇帝南巡，皇太后七十壽辰，及當地官員任職時間推斷，該版畫圖冊應製于乾隆朝中後期。 現有一版本藏於中國國家圖書館，訪問編號：地750.22/101.84。此版與本拍品相較，一版為宏觀遠景，一版為特寫近景。另有一竪開本藏於首都博物館。三版本文總體大致相同，偶有刪改。 康熙至乾隆時期，江南依舊是私家園林和風景名勝的營造中心與薈萃之地。乾隆年間，廣陵，現揚州，因京杭大運河水運便利，成爲南北漕運的要冲，商業中心城市。大量鹽商在此定居經商，爭相營造私宅園林，揚州因此成爲園林造景的中心。圍繞揚州園林，以墨水畫及木刻版畫插圖為媒介，文人畫家和書坊刻工生產了出現了一批園林圖像，其中尤以乾隆年間的圖像為名。如《平山堂圖製》刊刻，《江南園林勝景圖》，《揚州畫舫錄》等。《廣陵名勝全圖》即為其中一例，作爲視覺化的地理志，反映了當時的商業、園林及士人審美，成爲理解「乾隆盛世地方繁華」的重要圖像資料。 題識： 香阜寺 在運河之東，崖岸稍峻，宛如岡阜，俗名小五臺山。康熙三十八年，聖祖仁皇帝南巡，賜今名，又賜名香清梵四字額，并頒賜諸珍物法寶。乾隆十六年、二十二年、二十七年，皇上南巡，俱賜御書聯額、詩章。內恭備坐起，並修餙寺宇，洒掃路徑，俱前任戶部郎中谷雲陛敬謹辦理。 竹西芳徑 揚州城北十里有上方寺，一名禪智寺，又名竹西寺。舊藏石刻，唐吳道子畫寶誌像，李白贊，顔真卿書，亦稱三絶碑。歲久石泐，今存者，明僧本初所重刻也。又有蘇軾送李孝博詩，石刻在壁間。寺旁爲竹西亭，唐杜牧詩：「誰知竹西路，歌吹是揚州。」亭之名以此。宋郡守向子固改歌吹亭。乾隆十九年，翰林院編修程夢星重建，名仍