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Copper Plate 銅版印刷

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Catalogue of Xiqing Antiquities (Xiqing gujian 西清古鑑四十卷) is an illustrated catalogue of ancient bronze utensils and other objects from the Shang (1600-1046 BCE) to Han (202 BCE-220 AD) dynasties in the imperial collection of the Qing dynasty. It was commissioned by the Qianlong 乾隆 emperor (1711-1799), compiled under the supervision of the Qing official and scholar Liang Shizheng 梁詩正 (1697-1763), and completed in 1751. Appended to the book is a sixteen-juan 卷 record of coins (錢錄) from ancient times to the Ming dynasty. The structure of the book follows the Illustrated Catalogue of Antique Objects from the Xuanhe Hall (Xuanhe bogu tu 宣和博古圖) of the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). Each entry contains an illustration, a detailed description of the dimension and weight, and a discussion of the inscriptions. Donated by Dr. Peter Marie Suski, USC's copy is an exquisite, large copper-plate facsimile of the woodblock palace edition, printed in Japan in 1888. The original printer’s colophon (牌記) is missing from the copy, which reads "光緖十四年邁宋書館在日本銅鐫 (Engraved on the copper plate by Maisong Shuguan in the fourteenth year of Guangxu reign [1888])". The ex libris seal 陶齋 is from Duanfang 端方 (1861-1911; literary name 號 Taozhai 陶齋), a late Qing Manchu high-ranking official who was also a well-known collector of antiques.

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