The Qianlong Emperor:Treasures from the Forbidden City



The Qianlong emperor in formal court robe (detail) (1735) Anonymous

In 2002, recently returned from a visit to China, I was lucky enough to visit an exhibition called Treasures from the Forbidden City in the Royal Museum, Edinburgh. For sheer spectacle the articles included, from huge jade seals to a ruby and pearl encrusted gold wine cup, were the best I'd ever seen. The paintings were amazing in scope and quality: landscapes, portraits and a great many representations of flowers, fruits and animals both wild and domestic. I was impressed by the character of the Qianlong emperor, Hongli,(1711-1799) who, in a reign that spanned 63 years, patronised literary and visual arts as well as working hard to be a good ruler. Many of his own works appeared in the exhibition.




Detail of The Qianlong emperor in ceremonial armour on horseback, Like his grandfather and father before him Hongli followed the Manchurian horse-riding tradition. An intelligent and scholarly man,the emperor enjoyed hunting, tea drinking, composing poems, gardening and travelling. He was devoted to his family; his mother,the Xiaosheng dowager empress, often accompanied him on hunting trips and inspection tours of his enormous empire.




Spring's Peaceful Message This double portrait is attributed to Jesuit Guiseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) who joined Hongli's grandfather's court as a painter. It's generally agreed that this picture shows the young Qianlong emperor as a prince receiving a symbolic sprig of plum blossom from his father the Yongzheng emperor. It shows Castiglione's grasp of Chinese symbolism; plum blossom signifies trust. Towards the top right hand corner is a poem written by the emperor, a meditation on the changes made by time.



Bi disc, )(1st -2nd century AD)

'Bi' was a term used to categorise jade discs with a hole at the centre. They were commonly used in court rituals, especially when making sacrifices to heaven as heaven was believed to be round. However, they were also used as personal ornaments. This one has a poem by Hongli inscribed on the rim:

'Its beauty is a match for pieces made the Xia, the
Shang and the Zhou.
Some are inclined to envy the owner,
And the owner should no longer feel poor.
Stories fabricated in the inner court
Tell it was once worn by the lady who courageously
confronted a bear.'

(The incident referred to is one where a Lady Feng is said to have saved the Yuan emperor's (48-33BC) life by shielding him from a ferocious bear.)




The elderly Qianlong emperor in formal court robe (1792) Anonymous

Although attired in the maginificent robe of imperial yellow and physically robust, the emperor here shows unmistakeable signs of the fatigue of a long reign. Minor details such as the downward pointing fur trim on his shoulder cape contrast with the inaugural portrait (above), where the points are spread like wings. Hongli abdicated early so as not to appear to outdo his grandfather's reign of over 60 years.



Mount Pan was painted by Hongli in 1745. The emperor had a villa built on Mount Pan so that he would have somewhere to stay when he visited his ancestral tombs near Beijing. The villa is the subject of this ink on paper study,in the form of a hanging scroll. Built in 1744, it was destroyed some time during the revolution in the first decade of the twentieth century.