Emperor Qianlong

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Emperor Qianlong

"This accessible account describes the personal struggles and public drama surrounding one of the major political figures of the early modern age, with special consideration given to the emperor's efforts to rise above ethnic divisions and to encompass the political and religious traditions of Han Chinese, Mongols, Tibetans, Turks, and other peoples of his realm." From Amazon.
Imagining Qianlong

Author: Florian Knothe
language: en
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
Release Date: 2017
This publication accompanies an unprecedented exhibition highlighting four of the magnificent chinoiserie tapestries of Chinese Emperor Qianlong, woven after designs by Fran ois Boucher at the famous Beauvais manufactory from 1758-1760. The large and well-preserved textiles form part of the royal French commission by King Louis XV, objects of which were presented to Qianlong in 1766. These celebrated tapestries are joined by another historic set of culturally related depictions in print--The Battles of the Emperor of China. The engravings were ordered by Qianlong, drawn by Jesuit painters at the Imperial Court in Beijing and then printed in Paris 1769-1774. The 'culture' of these prints follows King Louis XIV's influential images of the Histoire du Roi and presents Qianlong as both a war hero and as the undisputed leader of China in the mid-eighteenth century. These depictions date to the exact same time period, one that coincides with the high demand for chinoiserie in France--culminating in the world-famous designs by Boucher--and the Imperial Court of China's interest in French design and culture. Despite their world-renowned fame, these groups of images previously have not been shown together. Imagining Qianlong presents one of the rare topics to celebrate the court cultures in both France and China, at a time when the empires idolized each other, and cultural influences and exchanges were highly significant and supported by well-established and prosperous monarchs during an increasingly enlightened eighteenth century. In order to highlight the cross-cultural aspects of this project, Florian Knothe (HKU), Pascal-Fran ois Bertrand (Bordeaux), Nicholas Pearce (Glasgow) and Kristel Smentek (MIT) have contributed essays detailing the sociocultural history of the tapestries and prints. Each scholar is an expert in their fields and a well-versed lecturer on Chinese artistic influences in France, as well as French and European Jesuit culture in China.
Emperor Qianlong’s Hidden Treasures

Author: Nicole T. C. Chiang
language: en
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
Release Date: 2019-08-15
In this stunning reassessment, Nicole T. C. Chiang argues that the famous Qianlong art collection is really ‘the collection of the imperial household in the Qianlong reign’. The distinction is significant because it strips away the modern, Eurocentric preconceptions that have led scholars to misconstrue the size of the collection, the role of nationalism in its formation, the distinction between art and artifact, and the actual involvement of the emperor in assembling the collection. No one interested in Chinese art will be able to ignore the ramifications of this important study. Emperor Qianlong’s Hidden Treasures: Reconsidering the Collection of the Qing Imperial Household argues that the size of the collection was actually smaller than previously stated. Moreover, the idea that the collection put the whole of the empire on display (and thereby promoted political unity) does not square with the reality that most of the collection was hidden away. Instead, the collection was primarily for the emperor’s gaze alone. Chiang further explains that the collection was largely the product of work done by many specialists working at the Qianlong court, noting that the emperor often assumed a more supervisory role. Preliminary drawings, patterns, models, and prototypes of the items made in the imperial workshops also formed an important part of the collection, as they served to establish standardized models used to run the imperial household. The collection was thus both broader and narrower than previously stated. ‘Chiang has identified many misguided assumptions about the Qing imperial collection. In their place, she proposes a new definition of an imperial collection that does not give primacy to art objects. This bold revisionist thesis may be controversial, but it is important and deserves to be read widely for this exact reason.’ —Dorothy Ko, Barnard College, Columbia University ‘Chiang makes a new argument which will contribute to the literature on Qing imperial art. She shows that a distinction should be made between the Qianlong emperor’s activities in commissioning objects from the palace workshop and his activities in accumulating, assessing, and cataloguing objects that went into what she calls the “imperial household collection.” This work will attract wide attention from scholars in art history.’ —Evelyn S. Rawski, University of Pittsburgh