AN IMPERIAL POETRY ALBUM BY YU MINZHONG (1714-1779), WITH CARVED SANDALWOOD COVERS, QIANLONGChina, 1760-1779. The covers finely carved in low relief with five-clawed long dragons, two on the front cover flanking the central incised title inscription and one front-facing on the back cover, surrounded by lingzhi-shaped clouds above crashing waves. 24 pages printed in intaglio with black ink on paper, containing 80 poems about the four seasons. With two imperial yellow silk covers. (3)Provenance: Old French private estate. Galerie de Chartres, Chartres, France, 23rd October 2011. A noted French private collection, acquired from the above. A copy of the original invoice from Galerie de Chartres is accompanying this lot.Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, the wood covers with some natural age cracks and few small losses, the paper with some minor soiling as well as foxing to the reverse only.Weight: 231.5 g (total)Dimensions: Size 15.5 x 10.8 cmYu Minzhong (1714-1779) served as Chief Grand Councilor from 1773 and had been a minister as well as Grand Councilor prior. He was an influential official at court who gained the title of Zhuang Yuan, the highest graduate of the prestigious Hanlin academy, in 1737. By 1760, Yu Minzhong was summoned to the Maoqin Pavilion where he was tasked by the Qianlong Emperor to produce a drawing of a pagoda with the use of text from the Huayan sutra to form the pagoda's structural outlines. Yu Minzhong's literary abilities undoubtedly propelled him into the inner circle of Qianlong's ministers, particularly by working in the Maoqin Pavilion.The Maoqin Pavilion - situated southwest of the Forbidden Palace - was Qianlong's personal library where the emperor appraised and appreciated paintings in the imperial collection, and it was also a place where he worked on his state papers.Literature comparison: For a closely related book with very similar sandalwood covers, see The Palace Museum (ed.), Gugong jingdian [Classics of the Forbidden City – Imperial Seals of the Ming & Qing Dynasties], p. 160, no. 114. Also compare with an Imperial Prajnaparamita Sutra jade book, with similarly carved sandalwood covers, at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 9 October 2007, lot 1332.乾隆于敏中《御制生春生夏生秋生冬詩》冊頁,檀木雕刻 中國, 1760-1779年。封面精巧地浮雕一對五爪雲龍,雲龍之中是標題《御制生春生夏生秋生冬詩》,另一隻在封底,周圍是如意祥雲。24頁紙本水墨書寫有關四個季節的80首詩。御用黃色絲綢蓋。 來源:古老的法國私人財產, 2011年10月23日購於法國Chartres藝廊。 隨附有來自Chartres藝廊的原始發票副本。 品相:狀況極佳,磨損很小,木材覆蓋層有一定的自然年齡裂縫,幾乎沒有小缺失,紙張稍有污跡。 重量: 縂231.5 克 尺寸:15.5 x 10.8 厘米 于敏中 (1714-1779) 1773年晉文華殿大學士,兼戶部尚書如故。他曾是一位很有影響力的官員,於1737年一甲一名進士(狀元),授翰林院修撰。到1760年,于敏中被乾隆命為軍機大臣。于敏中以文翰得到高宗賞識,入直懋勤殿,敕書華嚴,楞嚴兩經。 文獻比較: 一本相近的同樣有檀木雕封面的書可見The Palace Museum (ed.), Gugong jingdian [Classics of the Forbidden City – Imperial Seals of the Ming & Qing Dynasties], p. 160, no. 114. 另一本御制《般若經》,有相似的檀木封面,見香港蘇富比2007年10月9日,lot 1332。