bLOGOS/HA HA: Signed Sealed Delivered

David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.

20 December 2016

Signed Sealed Delivered

from Blouinartinfo/Nicholas Forrest, the following report :

French auction house Pierre Bergé & Associés has set a new record for a Chinese seal, selling an 18th-century imperial seal to a Chinese collector for €21,000,000 during its December 14 Extrême-Orient sale at Hotel Drouot in Paris – more than 20 times its estimate.

Owned by Emperor Qianlong, the palm-sized Qianlong period (1736-1795) red and beige soapstone seal is decorated with nine stylized dragons chasing the sacred pearl through the clouds. The dragon is a symbol of imperial authority, the pearl a symbol of imperial power and immortality, and the number nine, being the highest single digit number, a symbol of masculinity.

Alice Jossaum, an expert in Asian art at Drouot, told AFP that the seal was remarkable for its colour, which she described as being “very red, almost blood.”

“This seal was used to sign paintings by Emperor Qianlong himself, along with calligraphy,” Jossaum said. “The markings underneath the seal reiterate the famous saying: ‘Emperor Qianlong's paint brush,’ meaning everything he had painted or written himself,” she added, also stating that “the Qianlong period is highly prized, it’s flourishing, it’s the absolute pinnacle.”

from FIAPCE, the following report :

Untitled Document from 1973 on a single sheet of Arches paper two broad-brushed black-squarish washes of thin pigment sealed eight times across two rows of asymmetric four.