Page 114 - Collecting and Displaying China's Summer Palace in the West

7 “Rose-water Upon His Delicate
Hands”

Imperial and Imperialist Readings
of the Hope Grant Ewer

Kevin McLoughlin

Introduction
In 1884, a ewer of gold entered the collections of the Edinburgh Museum of Science
and Art, presented as a gift to the Museum by Lady Elizabeth Hope Grant (1816–
1891), the widow of General Sir James Hope Grant (1808–1875) born at Kilgraston
House, Bridge of Earn, Perthshire in Scotland. The ewer features three sets of short
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engraved texts on its surface, two in English and one in Chinese. The two English
engravings identify the ewer (known as the “Hope Grant Ewer” but mainly referred
to hereafter as the “ewer”) as having been taken from the Yuanmingyuan in 1860,
and presented to the Commander of British Troops in China and Hong Kong
(1860–1861), General Sir James Hope Grant by the officers of his army. The Chinese
inscription, in functional Regular Script (楷 , kaishu), engraved on the flat base of
the ewer, reads in three lines 十兩, 成, (Weight: 60 liang [taels], 80
percent [purity], 2nd Year of the Xianfeng Reign [1852]). The first of two English
inscriptions in copperplate engraving in three lines on the area of the body under the
handle reads, Taken from The Emperor of China’s Palace. Yuen Mien Yuen. The
second English inscription, engraved in a mix of copperplate and Roman style serif
faces, on the body of the ewer just behind the spout reads, Presented to Lieut. General
Sir Hope Grant G.C.B [Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath] by the Officers
of the Army In China, Pekin. October 1860. The ewer features a flaring circular
foot, a bulbous pear-shaped body, and a slender tapering neck, with a tall curving
spout rising out of a stylized dragon head projecting from the body, and connected
near the top of the spout to an incised collar encircling the neck. The S-shaped handle
is similarly connected to the neck, from which features two bands of upward and
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downward pointing plantain lappets. Two chased peach-shaped panels adorn both
sides of the ewer, each filled with a dense design of scrolling lotus leaves surrounding
a lotus flower. The lid is topped with a pearl-shaped finial and attached to the ewer
by a chain. The form of the ewer occurs as a distinct vessel shape in Middle Eastern
metalworking from at least as early as the eighth century, where they were produced
in gold, silver, bronze, and brass, and crafted using a variety of techniques including
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casting, inlay, repoussé, and gilding. The direct Persian antecedents to the Hope Grant
style of ewer may have arrived in China as tribute goods during the early fifteenth
century as a consequence of the maritime voyages that took place under the reign of
the Yongle Emperor (r.1402–1424) during the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644),