Carved boulder with bronze
stand:
The Nine Elders of Huichang
1787
Nephrite, bronze
Height: 114.5 cm.
Height: 56”; Width: 40”; Depth: 32”
Splendors of
China’s
Forbidden City: The Glorious Reign
of Emperor Qianlong
Splendors of China’s Forbidden City
is devoted to the long reign of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795). The
exhibition concentrates on Qianlong’s 18th-century period, the last
grand era of the Chinese empire. During his long reign, Emperor
Qianlong became the epitome of a great Chinese ruler, at once
all-powerful and civilized. The Chinese empire reached its largest
geographic spread under his rule, while life in China was both peaceful
and prosperous. The exhibition investigates how Qianlong achieved this
magnificent level. Politically adept, he recognized and supported all
facets of Chinese civilization. Although he was a Manchu and remained
proud of his nomad forebears, he cultivated the Han Chinese, who formed
the majority of the Chinese people. Like his predecessors, the Kangxi
and Yongzheng emperors, Qianlong carried out a balancing act between
his Manchu heritage and the culture of Han China, which the Manchu Qing
dynasty had conquered. (continued from the Curator’s essay: about the
exhibit and the art we will continue to see here:)
Qianlong was a Renaissance ruler with a variety of skills and
interests, and the next section illustrates his personal taste. As a
man who produced anthologies of classic Chinese writings and catalogues
of the history of Chinese art works, as well as writing 40,000 poems
himself, Qianlong took personal pride in amassing one of the great
Chinese art collections, represented here by a rich array of art works,
including porcelains, jades, lacquer works, wood and bamboo. Two
impressive inlaid elephant censers frame the entry into the room. The
elephants are cloisonné and champleve enamel. Qianlong’s taste
for sumptuous works of great technical brilliance led him to patronize
enamel as a favored material, especially for decorative arts and
architectural details.
The center of this area is a very large jade boulder carved with
scenes of The Nine Elders Of Huichang. The work commemorates an
historical symposium and demonstrates Qianlong’s devotion to the
Confucian ideal of respect for the elderly. A striking technical tour
de force, the carving depicts a party held by the T’ang poet Bai Juyi
with his scholarly friends. As in a landscape painting, the elders
wander across the mountains with wine and music. It is a series of
Arcadian scenes, where man and nature are in harmony. Grandeur is
replaced by the civilized pleasures of creation and intellect. The
carving includes a poem by the emperor, commenting on the way jade
would outlast ink painting.
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