APLETE SET OF SIX BRONZE NESTING SEALS, CHINA, QING DYNASTYInscriptions: All 31 seal faces inscribed with sayings, aphorisms, and idioms, including ‘Three Friends of Winter’ and ‘A contented mind is a perpetual feast’ (to the second-largest seal); ‘Long distance does not separate bosom friends’ (to the second-smallest seal); and ‘A day like three years’ (to the smallest seal).Comprising a small cube cast in intaglio to each of its six surfaces with archaistic seal script characters, fitting snugly into five further square-sectioned seals which are all similarly cast with intaglio or recessed seal script characters to the sides, their tops each with a raised circle cast with an additional seal face. (6)Provenance: British trade.Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, few nicks, light scratches, casting flaws, and traces of seal paste.Weight: 254.5 gDimensions: Length 3.6 cm (the largest) to 1.5 cm (the smallest)Auction resultparison:Type: Closely relatedAuction: Sotheby’s New York, 27 September 2021, lot 611Price: USD 4,410 or approx.EUR 4,600 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writingDescription: A set of five bronze nesting seals, Qing dynastyExpert remark:pare the closely related form, and size (3.2 cm).清代一套六件銅印長方體或正方體同印，大小不一。每一個印的六個表面的都刻有篆書字符；從小到大，可以把印套在一起。(6)款識：讀未見書，如得良友，見已讀書，如逢故人；梅閣留春，荷亭銷夏，自娛而已；讀不盡者書，造詣不盡者人品，鶯旁按譜，花前覓句；歲寒三友；小樓一夜聼春雨；知足長樂；一日思君十二時；燕交飛處柳煙低；我欲醉眠芳草；江上青山送六朝；天涯知己；聲山翰墨；琴書知己；安且吉兮；出入日利；仁者必壽；坐花醉月；一日三秋，等。