This album contains five pieces of correspondence written by Su Shi (1037-1101), who was one of the four masters of Song dynasty calligraphy; four letters written by his younger brother, Su Che (1039-1112); a letter written by Su Shi’s oldest son, Su Mai (1059-1119), and poetry written by his third son, Su Guo (1072-1123). Su Shi, his sons, and his brother were all talented calligraphers. Placing works by four members of this outstanding family into a single album not only makes it possible to glimpse the calligraphic style of the Su clan, but it also makes it possible to see the elegance apparent in each of these individuals’ distinct writing. This album is an extremely rare and precious calligraphic specimen.
 
The word for written correspondence, “chidu,” originally referred to slips of wood or bamboo bound together and used for writing, and only later came to broadly refer to handwritten letters.

        Gui is a type of vessel used in rituals to hold food. The inner base of this particular vessel carries a sixteen-character inscription which states, “The Marquis of E has commissioned this gui to commemorate the marriage of Wang Ji. May it be treasured by Wang Ji’s progeny for ten thousand years!” The Marquis of E’s surname was Ji; his daughter married the king of Zhou, and is thus referred to as “Wang Ji” in the inscription. From the late Zhou period through to the Spring and Autumn period, establishing familial alliances through marriage was a prevalent means of maintaining political stability. The “Gui Food Container of the Marquis of E,” created upon the marriage of the Marquis’ daughter, is a testimony to the customs of its era. 

        The Ding ware, which was located in the vicinity of Quyang county in Hebei province, enjoyed great fame for the exquisite white porcelain wares they fired. Aside from its unglazed, bronzed rim, the entirety of this shallow-lipped dish is glazed in such a way that it radiates warm, ivory tones. A single peony was incised into the interior of the dish. This resplendent blossom is enhanced by the leaves and branches incised beneath it, which set off the peony’s gorgeous appearance. The incision was made with fluidly turning knife work that accents the stereoscopic sense of the peony’s petals and leaves. Underneath the plate, on its base, was engraved a poem written by Qing dynasty emperor Qianlong to extol the lively vividness with which the peony was incised. Pieces such as these are exceedingly rare. 

        This piece was carved of grass green jade, with brownish-yellow variegations on its lower left side. The plate’s face was decorated with a design featuring a mighty dragon, its body coiling like a silken banner rippling in the wind. The dragon’s entire body is covered in fine scales, and atop the scales themselves are lines carved in counter-relief. An openwork leaf scrolls, carved around and at a level slightly lower than the dragon, serves as a background. The designs on the reverse side of the plate mirror those on its front, except that the dragon’s whiskers are somewhat less detailed and fine lines were not added to its scales. Otherwise, none of the front’s details were omitted. We might imagine that this plate was not meant to be laid on a flat surface, and was instead displayed vertically so that both its front and back could be enjoyed. 

        The wall of this bowl seems almost like a painter’s canvas—it was painted with colorful images of marvelous stones, Paulownia trees, peonies, and short bamboo. In front of these features are pairs of five types of birds: phoenixes, whooping cranes, Mandarin ducks, pied wagtails, and yellow orioles. While still a prince, Yongzheng Emperor wrote “An Ode to a Painting of the Five Relationships,” which employs the aforementioned five pairs of birds to represent the relationships between sovereigns and ministers, fathers and sons, husbands and wives, brothers, and friends. In Yongzheng’s view, regardless of one’s age or aptitude, so long as one commits oneself to strive for loyalty and filial piety, then one will possess everything that is needed for proper conduct in the world. The painted paired bird motif on this bowl may well derive from the poetic symbols Yongzheng used to express the importance of the five relationships. 

        This rare artifact is a complete gold and painted enamel cup-and-saucer set, designed so that the dainty cup nestles firmly in the groove made for it in the accompanying saucer. The decorations on the body of the cup and the face of the saucer are extraordinarily detailed, richly colored realist depictions of a European mother and child. Chiaroscuro and pastel colors were used to increase the sense of depth in the figures’ faces, giving them clearly distinct expressions. The appearance of subject matter like splendid portrayals of wealthy, occidental mothers and children during Qianlong’s reign evidences the creative styles that arose in response to the emperor’s broad embrace of western art genres.