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A RARE AND MASSIVE INSCRIBED OFFICIAL STONE WEIGHT OF 400 JIN (200 KG), QING DYNASTY OR EARLIER
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09月10日 下午5点 开拍 / 09月08日 下午3点 截止委托
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Description

A RARE AND MASSIVE INSCRIBED OFFICIAL STONE WEIGHT OF 400 JIN (200 KG), QING DYNASTY OR EARLIER
This lot is a museum deaccession and is therefore offered without reserve

China, 1644-1912 or earlier. The stone carved in the form of a cylinder, with a large, arched handle to the top, and the sides neatly incised with two four-character inscriptions including an apocryphal date.

Inscriptions: To one side, dated to ‘the first year of the reign of Chongning [corresponding to 1102]’, and to the other, inscribed ‘the weight is 400 jin [corresponding to 256 kg in the later Northern Song dynasty]’.

Provenance: The Kienzle Family Collection, Stuttgart, Germany. Acquired between 1950 and 1985 by siblings Else (1912-2006), Reinhold (1917-2008), and Dr. Horst Kienzle (1924-2019), during their extensive travels in Asia. Subsequently inherited by Dr. Horst Kienzle and bequeathed to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, Germany. Released through museum deaccession in 2024. The Kienzle siblings were avid travelers and passionate collectors of Asian and Islamic art. During their travels, the Kienzle’s sought out and explored temples, monasteries, and markets, always trying to find the best pieces wherever they went, investing large sums of money and forging lasting relationships to ensure they could acquire them. Their fervor and success in this pursuit is not only demonstrated by their collection but further recorded in correspondences between Horst Kienzle and several noted dignitaries, businesses and individuals in Nepal and Ladakh. Their collection had gained renown by the 1970s, but the Kienzle’s stopped acquiring new pieces around 1985. Almost thirty years later, the collection was moved to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, opened by Peter Hardt in 2014. Before his death in 2019, Horst Kienzle bequeathed his entire property to Peter Hardt and legally adopted him as his son, who has been using the name Peter Kienzle-Hardt ever since.
Labels:Galerie Hardt, inscribed ‘Salzgewicht, China, Stein, ca. 16. Jh.’, the back ‘Reg.: 5015’, priced at EUR 6,250, with a second label inscribed ‘Reg.: 5015’.
Condition: Good condition with extensive wear. Signs of weathering and erosion, small losses, chips, nicks, and scratches.

Weight: approx. 252 kg
Dimensions: Height 61 cm

This monumental stone weight, carved in a barrel-like form with a robust integral handle, represents a rare surviving example of a high-capacity standard weight likely used in the Qing dynasty for official metrology. With an inscribed or stated weight of 400 jīn—equivalent to approximately 200 kilograms under the modern jīn standard—it would have served as a reference unit in state granaries, salt depots, or regional tax stations, where bulk goods were assessed for levies or redistribution.

While earlier weights from the Qin through Han dynasties were often cast in bronze or iron, the use of stone for large-scale weights became more widespread from the Ming period onward, valued for its durability and ease of carving. This particular form—rounded and unadorned, yet monumental—reflects the utilitarian aesthetics of Qing administration. The integral handle, carved directly from the stone, emphasizes the object’s practicality in an environment where such heavy standards needed to be moved yet not easily tampered with.

Weights of this scale and form are seldom encountered outside of museums, and they likely originated in riverine trading hubs or canal-side warehouses, such as those found near Tianjin, Zhangjiawan, or nodes along the Grand Canal, where grain and salt flowed through imperial supply chains.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related smaller inscribed stone weight dated to the Qing dynasty in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum.

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价格信息

拍品估价:1,000 - 2,000 欧元 起拍价格:500 欧元  买家佣金: 35.00%

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