Lot 97
RARE SET OF FOUR SOAPSTONE INLAID 'ROMANCE OF THE WESTERN CHAMBER' 'SUBTLE PLEASURES' PANELS
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
Auction: 15 May 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
清乾隆 壽山石百寶嵌《西廂記》秘戲圖桌屏（一組兩套共四件）
assembled as two boxes, each with one panel forming the sliding door opening to reveal another panel beneath, each panel inlaid in coloured soapstone with the couple Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying, the top panels showing the man romantically courting the lady in a traditional architectural setting, the bottom panels showing them in amorous embrace (4)
Dimensions
24.5cm x 19.5cm each panel without wooden frame
Provenance
Private collection, London; acquired from Lyon & Turnbull London, 8 November 2017, lot 112;
Formerly in a private Canadian collection
倫敦私人收藏；購自倫敦禮昂騰博拍賣行（Lyon & Turnbull），2017年11月8日，拍品112；
前加拿大私人收藏
Footnote
The Romance of the Western Chamber, also translated as Story of the Western Wing, is one of the most famous Chinese dramatic works. Written by the Yuan dynasty playwright Wang Shifu and set in the Tang dynasty, it tells the story of the young couple Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying consummating their love without parental approval and outside of the bond of marriage. Hailed as 'The Chinese lover's bible', the story has inspired Chinese public imagination for centuries, and has been adapted across a broad range of artistic media: from paintings, woodblock prints, porcelain to carvings.
The late Ming Dynasty marked a peak in the development of erotic painting, a trend that continued unabated into the Qing Dynasty, during which the art of "hidden erotic scenes" (an chungong) flourished as never before. This work consists of two pieces overall, with soapstone as the main material: the surface depicts figures in courtyard pavilions, while the interior conceals erotic scenes. This hidden erotic design is ingeniously conceived, with meticulous composition and a rich variety of materials. The different colours and textures are employed with exquisite precision, making it a masterpiece representing the level of Qing Dynasty inlay craftsmanship.
《西廂記》（亦譯為《西廂傳奇》）是中國最著名的戲劇作品之一。該劇由元代劇作家王實甫創作，故事背景設定於唐代，講述了青年張生與崔鶯鶯在未經父母許可且未締結婚約的情況下，私下結合的愛情故事。這部作品被譽為「中國情侶的聖經」，數百年來不斷啟發著華人的想像力，並被改編為多種藝術形式：從繪畫、木版畫、瓷器到雕刻等，不一而足。
明代後期是春宮畫發展的一個頂峰，到清代盛行不衰，暗春宮藝術也由此空前繁榮起來。這件作品整套分為兩件，以壽山石為材：表面爲庭院樓閣人物圖，內套春宮。此暗春宮設計巧妙，構圖細緻，各色材質，種類豐富，將其不同的顔色質地利用得細緻入微，堪稱代表了清代鑲嵌工藝水準的一件杰作。
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