Page 29 - Sothebys Fine Chinese paintings Hong Kong

THE PAINTINGS,
CALLIGRAPHY AND

OLD BOOKS THAT WERE
TRANSPORTED OUT OF

THE PALACE WERE
THE MOST OUTSTANDING

EXAMPLES.

— THE XUANTONG EMPEROR
FROM EMPEROR TO CITIZEN:
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AISIN-GIORO PUYI

In the early 1920s, the deposed, last emperor of China, Puyi, and out of the Palace. The brothers understood the inventory
and his younger brother Pujie, devised a plan to migrate procedures for the works of art, and that pieces were marked
inventoried imperial works of art outside of the Forbidden in accordance to their merit. The Forbidden City’s rare
City through the act of bestowing Pujie these treasures. The books collection, of similar dimensions to the brothers’
plan was executed to extract more than 200 books from the English textbooks and which fitted inconspicuously within
Song (960-1279), Yuan (1279–1368), and Ming (1368–1644) the embroidered yellow cloth brocades used by Pujie on his
periods, together with over 1,000 paintings and works of way to and from the Palace, became the first of the brother’s
calligraphy from the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing targets. In a similar manner, with priority given to those
periods from the Palace. Among these is the present scroll objects identified as those of superior merit, Pujie continued
painting, Ten Auspicious Landscapes of Taishan , by Qian to transport increasing numbers of treasured articles outside
Weicheng (1720-1772). of the Forbidden City.
In 1919, at thirteen years of age, Puyi was introduced The extracted works were temporarily stored at Puyi’s
to Reginald F. Johnston, his to-be English tutor. The father’s home in Beijing, upon which Pujie ordered them
experienced British diplomat lived within the Forbidden City packed into somewhere between seventy to eighty large
and soon formed a close relationship with his new pupil. wooden boxes. A pass permit exempting the goods from
After familiarizing himself with the indulgent operations of examination and taxes was successfully obtained by Pujie
the imperial court, seemingly often to best serve interests through family connections, and he armed himself with this
of members of the Household Department as opposed to document as he personally escorted the goods to Tianjin.
those of the young emperor, Johnston brought to Puyi’s Eventually, the cases were stored at a property belonging
attention the losses of imperial treasures through theft or to Puyi on the boundaries of the Tianjin British Concession,
pawning, sometimes in order to make up for the Household purchased for him by a Manchu prince who supported the
Department’s monetary deficits. brothers’ escape plan.
Two years later, in 1925, after Puyi was himself ordered
Soon after, Puyi ordered habitual inspections of antiquities, out of the Forbidden Palace, the “Qing Dynasty Aftermath
and called for a full inventory to be logged. This act quickly Committee” was taking stock at the Yang Xin Dian (Hall of
brought to light the fact that many works were indeed Cultivation of Character) when, to their excitement, the lists
missing, and in June, 1923, Puyi instructed a personal (fig. 1 ) of objects that Puyi had bestowed on Pujie and which
inspection of the Palace of Eternal Happiness (Qian Fugong), had been so discreetly removed from the Forbidden City were
where Emperor Qianlong’s beloved treasures were stored. A uncovered. The lists, which include the present scroll painting,
fire broke out at this particular part of the palace before the show the work to be bestowed on Pujie on the 6th day of the
inspection could take place, and less than 380 items of over 11th lunar month, in the 14th year of Xuantong reign (1922).
6,600 inventoried items were retrieved.
Had it not been for the occurrence of this troubled series
About this period, the migration of the Palace’s treasures of events, Ten Auspicious Landscapes of Taishan by Qian
began: whilst Pujie lived outside of the Forbidden City, he Weicheng may not have survived to be presented before us
was a fellow pupil of Johnston’s and commuted daily into today.

A REDISCOVERED IMPERIAL HEIRLOOM – TEN AUSPICIOUS LANDSCAPES OF TAISHAN BY QIAN WEICHENG 27