T h en n

he eighteenth-century Qianlong

4 emperor was one of China's

greatest art patrons. Just as

he strove to expand the terri-

tory under his control, so too did he endeavor

to bring the arts of many foreign cultures into

his domain. The premier artisans in his imperial

workshops-hailing from Europe, India, and

S

capped sword handles, and Mongolian yurts

stood as temporary throne rooms for outdoor

events (see Fig. 4).

The Vtýttry Bajuluet it the Wedt Gard)en hand

scroll in Figures 2a and 2b, on view for the first

time at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem,

Massachusetts, not only demonstrates the caliber

of the imperial artists but also offers a glimpse

w e s t By Nancy Berliner

Facing page:

Backgrwmd: Fig. 1. Detail of Portrait of

Inperid Guard Uksgh, hanging scroll by

Liu Tongxun (1700-1773), Lhu Lun (1711-

1773), and Yu Minzhong (1714-1780),

China, Qing dynasty, 1760. Inscribed with

the artists' signatures and one seal of the

Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-1796). Ink

and color on s"lk, 73 ½/2 by 38 inches over-

all. Collection of Dora Mung.

Figs. 2a and 2b. Yuan Xi Kai Yuan

(Victory Banquet at the West Garden),

by Zhang Tmgyan and Zhou Kun,

1749. Inscribed with the characters

for "Respectfully painted together by

your humble servants Zhang Tingyan

and Zhou Kun" along the left edge and

with a poem written by the Qianlong

emperor at far top right. Ink and color

with gold on silk, 1 foot, 8 3/4 inches by19 feet. Private collection.

Ths page:

Fig. 3. Snuff bottle, Chinese, 1736-1796.

Painted enamels on copper alloy with

gilding, ivory, height 2 1/2 inches. Peabody

Essex Museun, Salem, Massachusetts.

Central Asia, as well as China- created fine and

truly unique works of art that blended and bal-

anced the cultures and aesthetics of the period.

Under the Qianlong emperor, who followed a

path set by his grandfather the Kangxi em-

peror (r. 1662-1722), European women

with blond hair and blue eyes stared

out from glossy enameled surfaces J

(see Fig. 3), mechanical clocks

chimed with spinning lotuses

and European figures (Fig. 6),

rugs from Central Asia swathed

floors and the ground (see Fig. 4),

Mughal carved and inlaid jade

at the emperor's desire to cultivate a style of

life that encompassed all the cultures within

his reach, and even those beyond. In the lushly

painted scroll, the artists Zhang Tingyan and

Zhou Kun depicted their emperor arriving

at the lakeside West Garden of the Impe-

rial City (at the center of what is now

Beijing) for a banquet honoring a

military conquest. He is seated

in an open palanquin carried by

sixteen red-robed eunuchs (Fig.

5). Unlike earlier images of pre-

vious emperors who insisted on be-

ing represented as larger than all

I o o k

other mortals, the Qianlong emperor, in-spired by European verisimilitude, allowedhis artisans to paint him as a figure com-parable in size to the servants and subjectsaround him.

What brought on this new perspective andfresh approach in Chinese imperial arts in theearly Qing dynasty? Answering this questionrequires a step back into the history of the dy-

nasty and of the Aisin Goro, the Jurchen clanthat established it. In the first years of theseventeenth century, while the Ming dynasty(1368-1644) was still ruling China, a Jurchenruler named Nurhaci (1559-1626), the great-great-great grandfather of the Qianlong em-peror, founded what would become the Qingdynasty in the region we now call Manchuria,and changed the name Jurchen to Manchu.The Manchus defined themselves as horse-men warriors, skilled at archery, who con-stantly sought to expand their dominion. An

early alliance with the nomadic Mongols tothe west, which was cemented by Nurhaci'smarriage to several Mongolian wives, all de-scendants of the Mongolian khans, or rulers,was intended as a strategic move for futureconquests, and it did, indeed, prove beneficialover the ensuing centuries. After this early al-liance with the Mongols, the Manchus beganadopting their neighbors' religious practices

and lifestyles, including Tibetan Buddhismand the nomads' yurt dwellings. Moreover,the alliance allowed the Manchus to see them-selves as descendants-or incarnations-of thegreat conqueror Genghis Khan (c. 1162-1227).Like Kublai Khan (1215-1294), a grandson ofGenghis, who in the thirteenth century hadestablished the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) andproclaimed his rule over China, the Qing wereable to march into Beijing in 1644, take thepalace, and eventually conquer the entiretyof Ming China.

The round tents known as yurts, or gers asthey were called in their native region, werea Mongolian architectural form descendedfrom the days of Genghis. With domed roofsand vertical sides that were supported on theinterior by a wooden fencelike lattice, yurtswere easily assembled and disassembled,making them convenient dwellings for thenomadic herdsmen of Mongolia, who neededto move constantly in search of fresh grass-lands for their animals. Some Manchus werealready using them in the first half of the sev-enteenth century, just when they were firstallying themselves with the Mongolians, andthe structure's continued importance underthe Qing court is seen in the Victory Banquetscroll, in which an elegant yurt decoratedwith a ruyi-edged roundel on its peak is thearchitectural highlight (Fig. 4). Indeed, likethe grand halls within the Forbidden City, itwas the focus of the event's entire constructedenvironment, and as such was intended tosymbolize the grandeur of the emperor. Forthose familiar with the traditional Chinesemonumental architecture of brick, wood,and glazed tile found in the Forbidden City,the presence of the Mongolian yurt in theimperial garden could be a surprising vision.However, for the emperor, who would havebeen responsible for designing the setting ofthe banquet, the yurt announced the signifi-cance the Qing rulers attached to this type ofarchitecture, and, more important, it symbol-ized their alliance with their neighbors andold friends, the Mongolians. Yurts appear inmany Qing imperial paintings depicting theemperor or imperial entourages beyond theurban setting.

The Mongolians were not the only peopleswith whom the Manchus chose to demonstratetheir allegiance in a material fashion. The Ti-betans were considered another potent forceof the time, and Qing rulers did not hesitateto show their respect for them as potentiallyhelpful allies. The Qianlong emperor's per-sonal involvement with Tibetan Buddhism isapparent not only in the magnificent templesand shrines he built within the Forbidden Cityand at other palace sites-such as a reducedreplica of the Potala Palace at Chengde, theQing imperial summer resort but also inthe multitude of objects created in the impe-rial workshops for specific Tibetan Buddhistrituals. In addition, during his reign the em-peror entertained the third Panchen Lama(c. 1738-1780), Tibet's spiritual leader, in great

Fig. 4. Detail of the hand scroll in Fig. 2b.

ANTIQUES90

splendor at both Chengde and Beijing.The extravagant urn in Figure 8 exempli-

fies the emperor's dedication to creating thefinest Tibetan Buddhist ritual implements foruse either in the court or in religious institu-tions supported by the court. It was createdin the imperial workshops using the cloisonn6technique, which itself had been imported toChina centuries earlier from Byzantium andadopted by Chinese artisans during the earlyYuan dynasty. The body reflects typical cloi-sonne patterns and construction, but it hasbeen enhanced with gold mounts inlaid withcoral, lapis lazuli, and turquoise, three stonesthat are marks of Tibetan opulence and figurein important Tibetan religious art. Currentunderstanding is that vessels of this type wereused to hold butter tea, a significant bever-age in Tibetan Buddhist rituals and life butone that was not taken up by native ChineseBuddhist sects.

ust as the Manchus cementedtheir alliances with the pow-erful peoples to their westby absorbing the TibetanBuddhist religion, Mongo-

lian yurts, and other aspects of Mongolianculture, once they had overthrown the Mingdynasty in China, the Manchus also intention-ally studied and took on significant aspectsof Chinese culture-from Confucianism tothe Chinese writing system and from Chinesepoetry to southern Chinese style gardens. Thisborrowing was intended to ensure that theywould be accepted as foreign rulers and re-spected by their Chinese subjects, althoughamong themselves they maintained their ownnative Manchu culture, language, dress, andarchery skills (see Fig. 1).

Into this richly brewing mix of traditionsin early eighteenth-century Qing palace cul-ture entered a fresh and exciting new culturalwhirlwind-the Europeans. When Jesuit priestseager for new religious adherents first appearedat the doorstep of the Ming emperors in 1601,their spiritual proposals were rejected. How-ever, the emperors were intrigued by some oftheir guests' talents and gifts, such as scien-tific apparatus that could probe astronomicalphenomena and artistic skills that producedsurprising new visual experiences. Over thefollowing decades the Jesuits endlessly dis-played their skills in glassmaking, enamels,clockmaking, and realism in painting, intro-ducing these new realms of production intothe imperial workshops.1 Then, while serving

Fig. 5. Detail of the hand scroll in Fig. 2b.

the Qianlong emperor, who knew no limits inartistic extravagance, they were called uponto transform the appearance of the palacesand palace grounds.

The emperor had been shown images of thefountains at Versailles and demanded that hisEuropean artistic servants-the Jesuits-cre-ate such mechanisms for him. As the settingfor these experimental European style struc-

tures, he chose the Yuan Ming Yuan (Gardenof Perfect Brightness), an 865-acre gardenand palace complex located six miles fromthe Forbidden City. Begun by the Kangxi em-peror and extended and elaborated over time,the Yuan Ming Yuan encompassed numer-ous gardens within gardens and multitudesof pavilions and residences of all types. TheFrench Jesuit Jean Denis Attiret (1702-1768)was so awed by it that he referred to it as "averitable paradise on earth."2 The eighteenth-century Qing emperors spent most of the year

in residence at the Yuan Ming Yuan, prefer-ring to return to the Forbidden City only forofficial obligations.

The Jesuit artist Giuseppe Castiglione(1688-1766) designed a new waterworks forthe emperor and then teamed up with MichelBenoist (1715-1774), a fellow Jesuit and anexpert in mathematics and hydraulics, to cre-ate a model fountain. Delighted by the result,

the emperor commissioned the constructionnot only of several fountains but also of aEuropean style baroque palace in the YuanMing Yuan. Using books from Jesuit librar-ies in Beijing and consulting with other localJesuits, including Attiret, Ignatius Sichelbart(1708-1780), the botanist Pierre d'Incarville(1706-1757), and Gilles Thebault (1703-1766),Castiglione and Benoist delivered the firstcompleted structure in 1751. The emperor wasoverwhelmed by it and demanded more. Overthe next three decades, the team of European

MARCH 2007 91

designers, together with Chinese masons, ar-chitects, and engineers, created eight fantasticpalaces, a labyrinth, and multiple elaboratewaterworks. Each construction was unique,but they all combined Chinese and Europeanfeatures-such as marble balustrades in build-ings covered with glazed Chinese tiles-thatliterally made them monuments to the fusionof cultures.

he Qianlong emperor wantedto preserve the Yuan for pos-terity not only in stone andwood, but also in a repro-

ducible visual format that hecould distribute to his loyal subjects. Insteadof traditional Chinese woodblock prints, theemperor selected the European techniqueof copperplate engraving, to which he hadbeen introduced two decades earlier, in theearly 1760s, when he was shown engravingsof horse-filled battle scenes by the Bavarianartist Georg Philipp Rugendas 1 (1666-1742).Wishing to have his own military pursuitsmemorialized in a similar manner, the em-peror had Castiglione and other Jesuit art-ists at the court make drawings of the cam-paigns in western China, which were sent toGuangzhou and thence to France with ordersthat they be produced as copper engravingsof the finest available quality.3 When he re-ceived the results almost ten years later (seeFig. 7), the emperor was so pleased that hecommanded that a workshop with trainedengravers and printers be established withinhis palace. Thus, he was able to have imagesof Castiglione's European palaces and foun-tains in the Yuan Ming Yuan made underhis own direction without waiting for thelengthy delays of shipments from far-off Eu-rope. Fortunately, these prints survive today(five in the collection of the Peabody EssexMuseum; see Fig. 9), for, ironically, Europeanallied forces occupied the entire Yuan MingYuan in 1860, during one of the most destruc-tive incidents of the second Opium War, andafter extensive looting, burned the "veritableparadise" to the ground. Today only its ruinsremain in Beijing.

The exteriors of the European style palaceswere not superficial facades for Chinese inte-riors. Accouterments imported from Europeor made in European styles, including plankwooden floors and glass windows, were usedthroughout. European style furniture wasmost likely made for many of these structuresas well. The carved ivory desk with a mirror

Fig. 6. Automaton clock, Chinese, 1736-1796. Or.molu, enamel, glass, silver, silk, and brass; height36, width 16 1/4, depth 13 inches. Private collection.

ANTIQUES92

stand in Figure 10, based on early eighteenth-century English designs, may, in fact, haveonce offered its surface to the emperor's paperand brushes when he was in residence at theYuan Ming Yuan. Previously thought to havebeen commissioned for a European, the deskis made of precious and rare materials thatmore likely suggest a great imperial client.The desk is constructed of the rare, deeplydark-colored tropical wood called zitan, im-ported from Southeast Asia. Its grain is sodense, and the wood so heavy, that it sinksin water and polishes to a gleaming surfacecomparable to jade. Zitan's sensuous appealand slow-growing tendency guaranteed itseventual shortage and the court's ultimate

Fig. 7. Tchao-Hoei [Zhao Hui] Receives in HisCamp within the Walls of Yerechim the Homage

of the Inhabitants of the City and of the Province,and Tchao-Hoei Names the Offices for the Admin-

istration of this Part of Little Buckarie, July 1759,drawn by Jean Damascene (d. 1781), engraved byIsidore Stanislas Helnan (1743-c. 1806), Paris,1786. Copperplate engraving, 17 by 23 1/2 inch-es. This print is from a set in reduced size thatHelman issued in 1786, after his first set, execut-

ed between 1765 and 1775 for the Chinese em-

peror, had become extremely rare and desirablein Europe. Peabody Essex Museum, gift of John

Mayer.

Fig. 8. Tibetan Buddhist ritual vessel, Chinese,

1736-1796. Carved into the central gold mountare the characters "Da Qing Qianlong Nian Zhi"(made in the great Qing Qianlong era), indicatingthat it was made in the imperial workshops. Cloi-sonnd with gilt-bronze mounts inset with lapis la-zuli, turquoise, and coral; overall height 32 1/2,

diameter 16 'A inches. Private collection.

MARCH 2007

monopoly over all available timbers. Likezitan, ivory was a rare imported material ofutter luxury. The carved images on the ivorycovering the desk further suggest Qianlong'staste. A magnificent hunt in the wilds, at-tended by handsome horsemen and court-iers-a favorite theme of the Qing emperorswho savored their Manchu traditions of thehunt-is played out in fine detail.

arved into the ivory above theEuropean style looking glassis a portrait of a Europeanwithin a roundel. Europeansalso appear in the details of

the eighteenth-century imperial clock in Fig-ure 6, which may have once chimed withinthe Yuan Ming Yuan. The Jesuits and otherEuropeans had charmed the Chinese em-perors with automatons and mechanical

clocks, so that clockmaking workshops hadalso been established within the palace. TheQianlong period clock clearly announces itsnative Chinese design with eight ChineseBuddhist emblems on the enamel doors,peacocks that flap their wings, and lotusesthat twirl. But the doors open three timesa day, to a tinkling of chimes, to reveal aEuropean gentleman in his drawing room,and discerning eyes will notice on the sidesof the base a European hunt scene of menand dogs bounding through a swamp insearch of fowl. Like the Central Asian rugsscattered before the yurt in the hand scroll,such European figures (and those of Chinesewomen, who were just as exotic to the Man-chu Qing emperors) peppered the imageryof the Qianlong era. Another example is of-fered by the snuff bottle in Figure 3, whichis adorned with European women.

Within the confines of the Yuan Ming Yuan,the emperor kept Xiang Fei, a special Uighur

concubine captured by his troops in westernChina. She, like so many of the elements ofthe complex, was meant to demonstrate thatthe palace reflected his domain over all thecultures of the world. While European mon-archs of the time may have assumed an atti-tude of superiority toward this distant fellowruler, and we today may mistakenly believethat the Chinese rulers were awed by theirvisitors from afar, the Qianlong emperor didnot hesitate to express his condescension to-ward these "foreigners" proffering their ar-tistic techniques and talents. He consideredthem to be from remote tributary kingdoms,which, like their equals in Central Asia, wouldoffer up their finest to please him as the all-powerful sovereign of the Central Kingdom.For example, in 1793 he wrote to George III(r. 1760-1820) of England:

You, 0 King, live beyond the confines ofmany seas, nevertheless, impelled by yourhumble desire to partake of the benefits ofour civilisation, you have dispatched a mis-sion respectfully bearing your memorial.Your Envoy has crossed the seas and paidhis respects at my Court on the anniversaryof my birthday. To show your devotion, youhave also sent offerings of your country'sproduce.... Our dynasty's majestic virtue haspenetrated unto every country under Heaven,and Kings of all nations have offered theircostly tribute by land and sea. As your Am-bassador can see for himself, we possess allthings. I set no value on objects strange oringenious, and have no use for your coun-try's manufactures... .It behoves you, 0 King,to respect my sentiments and to display evengreater devotion and loyalty in future, sothat, by perpetual submission to our Throne,you may secure peace and prosperity foryour country hereafter.4

In 1748, the thirteenth year of the Qian-long emperor's reign, Fuheng (1721-1770),one of China's most commended militarycommanders (and also the emperor's brother-in-law), proclaimed victory over a region inwestern China. The emperor ordered that avictory banquet be held in the western gar-dens of the imperial palace and that artistsin his atelier paint four hand scrolls to cel-ebrate the conquest. One was to depict theimperial sacrifices attended by the emperorbefore the soldiers left the capital; one, theritual imperial farewell to the soldiers andcommanders; one, the surrender of the con-quered; and the final one, the pomp, rituals,and routines of the victory banquet itself. Itis this last that provided the focus for thisarticle and its examination of the emperor'swide cultural interests. Coincidentally, inthe same year George III commissionedGeorge Frideric Handel (1685-1759) to com-pose "The Music for the Royal Fireworks"(1749) to celebrate the end of the War of theAustrian Succession. Imperial commission-ing of art to celebrate territorial dominionand expansion was not unique, but, underone of the greatest art patrons of China, theQianlong emperor, it resulted in fascinatingcombinations and amalgamations of manycultural traditions.

An exhibition entitled The Emperor LooksWest, curated by Nancy Berliner, is on viewat the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem,Massachusetts, through the end of March.It includes many of the objects illustratedin this article.

1 For more on this subject, see Lauren Arnold, "Intro-duction: Of the Mind and the Eye," Pacific Riot Report,no. 27 (April 2003), http://www.pacificrim.usfca.edu/research/pacrimreport/pacrimreport27.html.2 Jean Denis Attiret, A Particular Account of the Emperor

of China's Gardens near Pekin, trans. Joseph Spence (Lon-don, 1752; reprint Garland, New York, 1982), pp. 7-8.3 For more on this subject, see Hartmut Walravens,"The Introduction of Copper-Engraving into China,"paper presented at the Annual Conference of the In-ternational Federation of Library Associations andInstitutions, August 25-31, 1996, http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla62/62-walh2.html.

4 Cited in Edmund Backhouse and John Otway PercvBland, Annals and Memoirs of the Court of Peking(Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1914), pp. 322-331.

NANCY BERLINER is the curator of Chinese

art and culture at the Peabody Essex Museum in

Salem, Massachusetts, and is the author of several

books on Chinese art.

ANTIQUES94

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TITLE: The emperor looks westSOURCE: Mag Antiq (1971) 171 no3 Mr 2007

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