Page 107 - Collecting and Displaying China's Summer Palace in the West

92 James Scott
1991. The nature of the loan is a yearly renewal, signed by both the museum and
the Mess. In theory, the throne could be removed by the mess to be displayed there
at any point, although it currently has no intention of doing so.
When the throne first arrived at the Mess in 1861, it was furnished with cushion
covers, purchased by the Mess. Although the original cushion covers did not travel
with the throne itself, the museum holds two cushion covers, supposedly from thrones
in the Summer Palace. The first was brought back by Gordon; it is embroidered with
bats around a lotus flower. There is no evidence to suggest that this cover belonged
to the throne that Gordon brought back. The other cushion cover was taken by
Harrison and is embroidered with an imperial five-clawed blue dragon. Both feature
on the back wall of the case, above the throne, both are framed and glazed. Due to
the nature of the case, these are not displayed in a way that does them justice; the
window to the case provides limited visibility to the back wall.
Another object taken by Gordon is a small jade bowl, cut from a single piece into
the shape of a lotus flower (see Figure 6.2). This precious object is typical of those
in the case, as it is believed to have been taken from the Summer Palace, but this
cannot be confirmed. Gordon had gifted this object to a fellow officer, G.F. Mann. 17
The bowl is referred to in a letter of 1860 letter between Mann and his wife, and
this confirms that Gordon was the source of the bowl, but does not confirm the
ultimate source as the Summer Palace. Mann’s daughter subsequently donated the
object in 1963. 18
One of the more eye-catching objects attributed to the Summer Palace sacking is
the gilt bronze bell (see Figure 6.3). It is shaped like a barrel and features a handle
on top in the form of two crouching dragons. The bell is decorated with eight tri -
grams on each side, with symbols on its circumference, including Yin (represented
by --) and Yang (represented by -). Unfortunately, this bell is much like other objects
from the Summer Palace, in that it is thought that it used to belong to a set (of 12
bells) all varying in size and sound when struck. The chaotic nature of the looting
meant that sets of objects were often separated and dispersed. There is some doubt
as to who looted this bell from the palace. While the Royal Engineer Museum’s

Figure 6.2 Jade bowl in the shape of a lotus flower. Reproduced by permission of the Royal
Engineers Museum, Library & Archive.