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Mar 3, 2008

Mar 4, 2008

Portraits of the Qianlong Emperor and His Twelve Consorts

乾隆帝及后妃圖卷

1736–c. 1770s

Giuseppe Castiglione 郎世寧

(Italian, 1688–1766)

and others

(Chinese)

China, Qing dynasty

(1644-1911)

Handscroll, ink and color on silk

Overall: 53.8 x 1154.5 cm (21 3/16 x 454 1/2 in.); Painting only: 53 x 688.3 cm (20 7/8 x 271 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1969.31

Location

not on view

Did you know?

Lingfei 令妃 (1727–1775), the first consort depicted in the maroon or “incense-colored" 香色 robe, was the mother of six of Qianlong’s children, including the future Emperor Jiaqing.

Description

Formal portraiture contributed to the affirmation of status and construction of role and identity. This scroll served as both familial documentation and a "mind picture" of the Qianlong emperor, suggesting that his constructed image of emperorship was inseparable from concepts of self and family. It was stored in a carved red lacquer box bearing the original painting title Mind Picture of a Well-Governed and Tranquil Reign (see CMA 1969.32).

Qianlong's portrait is inscribed with a date of 1736, the year he ascended the throne. The other portraits document the appearances of the empress and eleven consorts around the time when they received their respective imperial titles, which occurred at different stages of the emperor's life. The first three portraits were done by the Jesuit missionary-artist Giuseppe Castiglione whereas the others were by the Chinese court painters. Qianlong had unrolled and viewed the scroll in his old age, as indicated by the impression of the seals he used after abdicating in 1796.

Artist biography

Giuseppe Castiglione

Italian Jesuit missionary, painter, and textile designer, who worked in China. He served as an artist at the imperial court of three emperors: the Kangzi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors. He painted in a style that is a fusion of European and Chinese traditions.

Inscriptions

Inscription

9 seals of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-95).

Inscription

The eighth month, first year of Qianlong [1736] 乾隆元年八月吉日. The Empress (Xiaoxian) 皇后 (1712-1748), The Guifei (Huixian) 貴妃 (?-1745), Chunfei 純妃 (1713-1760), Jiafei 嘉妃 (?-1755), Lingfei 令妃 (1727-1775), Shufei 舒妃 (1728-1777), Qingbin 慶嬪 (1724-1774), Yingbin 穎嬪 (1731-1800), Xinbin 忻嬪 (?-1764), Dunfei 惇妃 (1746-1806), Xunfei 順妃 (1749-1788), Shunbin 循嬪 (?-1797).

Inscription Remark

The inscription dates Qianlong’s portrait to an auspicious day in the eight month, the first year of Qianlong (1736). He was twenty-six years old and had ascended the throne only a year earlier, following the death of his father the Yongzheng Emperor. None of the wives was older than 20 at the time she was painted.

Provenance

1736-?

Qing imperial collection (seals of Emperor Qianlong, r. 1736-1795)

by 1966-1969

(Spink & Son, Ltd., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1969-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Octagon III, No. 4 (Winter 1966). London: Spink & Son, pp. 12-13 pp. 12, 13

“Art of Asia Recently Acquired by American Museums, 1969.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 24, 1970, pp. 86–117. Mentioned: p. 127 www.jstor.org

Beurdeley, Cécile, and Michel Beurdeley. Giuseppe Castiglione, a Jesuit Painter at the Court of the Chinese Emperors. Rutland, Vt: C.E. Tuttle Co, 1971. Mentioned and Rproduced: pp. 41, 43, 98-100, 178

Beurdeley, Cécile, and Michel Beurdeley. "Le frère Castiglione." Connaissance des arts, 1971, 235, pp. 72-79. Reproduced: p. 75

Toynbee, Arnold, and Elsé Glahn. Half the World: The History and Culture of China and Japan. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973. Reproduced: p. 268

Sung, Yu. "A Comparison of Two Versions of the Chü jui t'u 聚瑞圖 by Giuseppe Castiglione." National Palace Museum Bulletin 故宮通訊, XI, no. 3 (July-August 1976). Reproduced: fig. 2

Lee, Sherman E. “Varieties of Portraiture in Chinese and Japanese Art.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 64, no. 4, 1977, pp. 118–136. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 119-122, cover pls., figs. 1, 2 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 358 archive.org

Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980. Reproduced: p. 355-357, cat. no. 262

Bunker, Emma C., Dieter Kuhn and Ronald Y. Otsuka. Secret Splendors of the Chinese Court: Qing Dynasty Costume from the Charlotte Hill Grant Collection, Denver Art Museum, Stanton Gallery, December 30, 1981-March 21, 1982. Denver, CO: The Denver Art Museum, 1981. Reproduced: p. 26

Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 72, no. 6, 1985, pp. 326–359. Reproduced: p. 355, fig. 60 www.jstor.org

Wilson, J. Keith. "Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 8 (1990): 286-323. Reproduced: cat. no. 35, p. 322 www.jstor.org

Garrett, Valery M. A Collector's Guide to Chinese Dress Accessories. Singapore: Times Editions, 1997. Reproduced

Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 100-101

Paludan, Ann. Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial China. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 159 and 196

Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華: 特别展: クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから= Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Nara, Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998. Reproduced: p. 73, cat. no. 45

Spence, Jonathan D. The search for modern China. New York/London: W. W. Norton, 1999. Reproduced

Vollmer, John E. "Clothed to Rule the Universe: Ming and Qing Dynasty Textiles at The Art Institute of Chicago." The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, vol. 26, no. 2, 2000, pp. 13–105. Reproduced: p. 27, fig. 3 www.jstor.org

May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: cat. no. 83, pp. 78-9; Mentioned: p. 119

Chan Tat Chuen, William. A la table de l'empereur de Chine. Arles: Éditions Philippe Picquier, 2002. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 8-9

Berriedale-Johnson, Michelle. The British Museum Festive Feasts Cookbook. London: British Museum, 2003. Reproduced: p. 106

Sale, Giovanni and Gauvin A Bailey. Ignazio e l'arte dei gesuiti. Milano: Jaca Book, 2003. Reproduced: fig. 276

Ho, Chuimei, and Bennet Bronson. Splendors of China's Forbidden City: The Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong. London: Merrell, 2004. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 203, p. 294

Ho, Chuimei. "The Relations between Qianlong and His Consorts: Stories of a Man with Forty Wives." Orientations 35, no. 2 (March 2004): pp. 66-73.

Ho, Chuimei . "Building a Cultural Great Wall." Calliope, December 2004, Vol. 15 Issue 4, pp. 30-32. Reproduced: pp. 30-31 search.ebscohost.com.ingallslibrary.idm.oclc.org

Pirazzoli-t'Serstevens, Michèle. “Giuseppe Castiglione Et Le Renouveau Du Portrait Impérial Au XVIII e. Arts Asiatiques, vol. 60, 2005, pp. 22–30. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 24. fig. 3 www-jstor-org.ingallslibrary.idm.oclc.org

Elliott, Jeannette Shambaugh, and David L. Shambaugh. The odyssey of China's Imperial art treasures. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 52

Brummett, Palmira Johnson et al, eds. Civilization Past & Present, 11th edition, Volume B: 500-1815. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. Reproduced: p. 602

Schoppa, R. Keith. Revolution and Its Past: Identities and Change in Modern Chinese History, 2nd edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. Reproduced: p. 39

Hsia, Ronnie Po-chia. Noble patronage and Jesuit missions: Maria Theresia von Fugger-Wellenburg (1690-1762) and Jesuit missionaries in China and Vietnam. Rome: Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 2006. Reproduced

Chen, Pao-chen 陳葆真. "A Study of the Portraits of Emperor Qianlong and His Consorts and Its Related Problems 《心寫治平》— 乾隆帝后妃嬪圖卷和相關議題的探討." Mei shu shi yan jiu ji kan (Taida Journal of Art History = 美術史研究集刊), no. 21 (September 2006): pp. 89-150.

Schoppa, R. Keith. East Asia: Identities and Change in the Modern World, 1700-Present. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. Reproduced

Elliott, Mark C. Emperor Qianlong: Son of Heaven, Man of the World. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. Reproduced: cover

Fong, Wen, and Jerome Silbergeld, editor. Bridges to Heaven: Essays on East Asian Art in Honor of Professor Wen C. Fong. Princeton, NJ: P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art, Dept. of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, 2011. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 336-337, 344, figs 1 & 13

Kleutghen, Kristina. "Contemplating Eternity: An Illusionistic Portrait of the Qianlong Emperor's Heir." Orientations, 42, Number 4 (May 2011). Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 77, fig. 3

Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned and Reproduced: cover and pp. 216-217

Chung, Anita. Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: July 27, 2013-January 26, 2014, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. Reproduced: p. 18, fig. 3 (detail); p. 26-27, fig. 8

Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 53 no. 05, September/October 2013 Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 14–15 archive.org

Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Reproduced: pp. 434–439

Xu, Jay and Li He, eds. Emperors' Treasures: Chinese Art from the National Palace Museum, Taipei. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2016. Reproduced: p. 138, fig. 3

Clunas, Craig. Chinese Painting and Its Audiences. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2017. Reproduced: pp. 218-219, fig. 6.30

Wang, Daisy Yiyou. "Deciphering Portraits of Qing Empresses." In Empresses of China's Forbidden City: 1644-1912. Daisy Yiyou Wang, and Jan Stuart, eds., 88-109. Salem, Massachusetts: Peabody Essex Museum; Washington, DC: Freer/Sackler, Smithsonian Institution, 2018. Mentioned: p. 101, 144; Reproduced: p. 103, fig. 18

Wang, Daisy Yiyou. "Family, Gender and Power: Portraying Qing Imperial Women." Arts of Asia, vol. 49, no. 1 (January-February 2019): pp. 20-33. Reproduced: fig. 1, pp. 20-21

Vinograd, Richard Ellis. Facing China: Truth and Memory in Portraiture. London: Reaktion Books, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 28-29, fig. 7

Exhibition history

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 242). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 21, 2013-July 28, 2014).

Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970).

Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981).

Portraiture: The Image of the Individual. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1983-January 22, 1984).

The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986).

Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 24-November 25, 1990).

Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998).

Art Under Emperor Ch'ien-lung. National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C. (October 5-December 20, 2002).

Silent Poetry: Masterworks of Chinese Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 14, 2015-April 24, 2016).

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{{cite web|title=Portraits of the Qianlong Emperor and His Twelve Consorts|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.31|author=Giuseppe Castiglione|year=1736–c. 1770s|access-date=25 March 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Portraits of the Qianlong Emperor and His Twelve Consorts

Portraits of the Qianlong Emperor and His Twelve Consorts

乾隆帝及后妃圖卷

Giuseppe Castiglione 郎世寧

and others

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Giuseppe Castiglione

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