Chinese culture is broad and profound, Chinese jade has a long history, in the historical process of Chinese civilization for 5,000 years, Chinese jade has always forged ahead with traditional culture, and has become an important carrier of traditional Chinese culture.
In the first year of the Reign of Qing Shun (1644 AD), the Qing Dynasty set the capital at Beijing and began a feudal rule over China for nearly three hundred years.
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the demand for jade by the rulers of the Qing Empire was not very strong, whether it was the Qing Dynasty Zu Shunzhi or the Qing Shengzu Kangxi, the pursuit of art was relatively indifferent.
On the one hand, due to the withering of industry and commerce in the early Qing Dynasty, the waste to be revived, and the development of the country's social culture was objectively restricted, the production of folk jade was stagnant and fell into a state of stagnation; on the other hand, due to the social turmoil and frequent wars in the early Qing Dynasty, the ruling foundation of the Qing Dynasty was still unstable, and when the internal and external troubles of the Qing Dynasty were continuous, there was no time to take into account the pursuit of culture and art at the spiritual level.
Qing Dynasty white jade mother and child ornaments
With the gradual stabilization of the political situation, the national economy also began to gradually improve, the Qing Emperor's demand for culture and art began to increase, kangxi thirty years (1691 AD) due to the rapid increase in the needs of the palace, the Kangxi Emperor ordered to expand the scale of the Qing Palace "building office".
Court jade from the Qing Dynasty
It was after this that it gradually developed
In the Yongzheng period, although the Yongzheng Emperor's pursuit of works of art was significantly improved, and he even personally participated in guiding the design and production of enamel porcelain, the production of court jade was still in a stage of slow development.
QingYongzheng agate cup
However, in the Qianlong period, the style of painting changed abruptly.
During the Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty court's pursuit of culture and art began to reach its peak, whether it was ancient books and paintings or porcelain and copper tire filigree enamelware, the Qianlong Emperor's enthusiasm for art collection can be called unprecedented and unprecedented. Especially for the production and collection of jade, the Qianlong Emperor showed an unparalleled and astonishing fanaticism, so he was known as the "Jade Fool Emperor".
Qianlong's love for jade can be described as "jade addiction".
In Qianlong's lifetime, Guang Yongyu wrote more than 800 poems, and it should be known that the Poems of Li Bai included in the Quan Tang Poems are only more than a thousand and his own.
Because he loved jade, he named his seventeen sons next to the word "jade". Due to Qianlong's love for jade, it led to the unprecedented prosperity of jade production during the Qianlong period, and even promoted the birth of Qianlong Gong, a well-known craft standard in the history of Chinese jade.
Today, the Palace Museum in Beijing has a collection of more than 30,000 pieces of jade, half of which were produced during the Qianlong period.
Not only that, in addition to Qianlong's enthusiasm for contemporary jade, Qianlong is also fond of ancient jade collections.
As the saying goes, "If there is something good on the top, there will be something good on the bottom." Officials during the Qianlong period threw themselves into their favor, and did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to search for ancient jade that had been passed down from generation to generation, and then presented tribute to the emperor.
In order to increase and encourage the "enthusiasm" of officials in offering jade, Qianlong not only often rewarded officials with bounties far beyond the price of jade, but also abolished the Qing palace routine of three tributes a year, allowing officials to pay tribute at any time. According to Qing history records, there are even records of individual officials paying tribute more than 30 times a year.
Qingqianlong rosewood dragon baishi piece square box
The Qianlong Emperor's collection of ancient jade
It is no exaggeration to say that the vast majority of the Jade collected in the Qing Palace that we see at the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Palace Museum in Taipei at present is the "fruitful fruit" of the Qianlong Dynasty.
The heyday of jade management in the Qing Dynasty court appeared in the 35 years from the 25th to the 60th year of Qianlong (1760-1795), when the palace jade was the leader, which led to the rapid development of jade production in Suzhou, Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Beijing, and there was an unprecedented and unprecedented prosperity in Chinese jade.
Therefore, the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty became the third peak period in the history of the development of Chinese jade.
Qingqianlong landscape jade mountain zi
Qingqianlong imperial jasper five-old figure pen holder
Qingqianlong white jade skeleton carved lion button live ring ear three-legged lid furnace
Qingqianlong White Jade Sea House added a palace fan
Qingqianlong white jade has Yu Ruyi pattern cover every year
Here's why
There are both historical contingencies and the inevitable result of the times
First of all, the development of the Qing Dynasty to the Qianlong period, after the continuous accumulation of the Shun, Kang, and Yong dynasties, coincided with the peak of the comprehensive national strength of the Qing Empire, so the Qianlong Dynasty, which was stable in the country and the country treasury, could be called a peaceful and prosperous era, which objectively created the background of the era to promote jade production.
Secondly, as the Qing government used troops to the western region during the Qianlong period, quelled the rebellion of Xinyi Dzungar, opened the passage of Hetian jade to the interior, and restored the supply of Hotan jade, so a steady stream of high-quality Hetian jade was transported to the interior, fundamentally solving the problem of the source of jade carving materials.
Qingqianlong Dayu zhi shui yu shanzi
Qingqianlong Dayu Zhishui Yushanzi (partial)
Finally, due to the Qianlong Emperor's enthusiasm for jade collection, it was uniquely powerful in the era of feudal imperialism for more than two thousand years. It is precisely because of Qianlong's unparalleled enthusiasm and admiration for jade that it has greatly promoted the vigorous development of jade production in the Chaolong period.
However, Confucius said: Too much is too late. Due to Qianlong's excessive pursuit of jade and other works of art, on the one hand, it left many precious cultural heritage for future generations, but on the other hand, it also added a heavy economic burden to the people at that time.
Coupled with the qianlong emperor who pursued pleasure during his reign, he made six southern tours, laboring the people and hurting their wealth and depleting national strength, although they were comfortable playing, but they did not brake the car because of the fierceness of playing, and finally laid the groundwork for the decline of the Qing Empire.
Qingqianlong white jade dragon bottle
In the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), with the death of the Qianlong Emperor, the Jiaqing Emperor, who "knew his father Mo Ruozi", began to pro-government, and immediately ordered the cessation of the hugely expensive tribute to The New Yi and Tian Yu materials, and from then until the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the tribute of Hetian Yu in Xinjiang was never restored.
The peak of jade control in the Qing Dynasty court also came to an abrupt end, and since then it has quickly turned into a trough, although there were also a small number of fine jade products produced in the Jiaqing Dynasty, but the quantity and quality cannot be compared with the Qianlong period.
After that, Daoguang and Xianfeng did not reach the Tongzhi period until the Qing Dynasty court Zhiyu fell into a low ebb for a long time.
It was not until decades later, in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, with the xianfeng Emperor's concubine and Tongzhi Emperor's biological mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, that jadeite products began to sweep the imperial palace.
Cixi, as the de facto ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, had a great interest in jadeite, and if the Qianlong Emperor was a well-deserved "Jade Fool Emperor", then Empress Dowager Cixi could be called a veritable "Jade Madman".
The relevant records of the existing Qing Palace archives and the historical objects left by the Forbidden City can explain the popularity of jadeite in the late Qing court, when many of the daily necessities such as chopsticks, pots, and jewelry used by the emperor, empress and harem concubines were jadeite products, and many of the ornaments such as flat squares, hairpins, pendants, rings, and bracelets of the harem concubines were made of fine jadeite.
The Forbidden City in Beijing houses a Jade Ring of Qing Dynasty gold inlaid with Eastern Pearls
The Forbidden City in Beijing holds a Qing Dynasty jade bracelet
The Forbidden City in Beijing holds a bracelet of Eighteen Jadeites of the Qing Dynasty
The Forbidden City in Beijing holds a pendant of Jade Buddha hand from the Qing Dynasty
As jadeite was incomparably cherished and respected by Empress Dowager Cixi, the jade works of the Qing Palace Office also began to revitalize, and various exquisite and beautiful jade products were successively baked and successively presented in the Qing Palace.
The royal court's preferences also directly affected the people at that time, with the Qing Dynasty's royal love for jadeite, jadeite in the jade market accounted for more and more, continued to be loved and sought after by gentry, noblewomen, rich merchants, and its popularity even continued until the Republic of China period.
Qing Guangxu imperial jade nine lion lid furnace
The above is the historical evolution of qing dynasty court jade, which can be said to reflect the court fashion and value orientation of the Qing Dynasty from one side, and can also be understood as historical evidence of jade culture as an important part of traditional culture.
The reason why jade has always been cherished and valued by the ancient Chinese people, and analyzed from a deeper cultural point of view, is because in the traditional Chinese values, jade with warm and introverted physical characteristics is considered to be the embodiment of Confucianism with the most benevolent connotation. Ancient China was a society that promoted the Confucian "moral rule of etiquette", and the warm and clean jade just fit the noble national integrity of the Chinese nation, and thus became one of the materialized symbols of the national spirit.