Page 117 - Collecting and Displaying China's Summer Palace in the West

102 Kevin McLoughlin
of gold artifacts survive from the Qing imperial court in comparison with other
categories of material. As Regina Krahl has noted:
Precious metalwork, and gold in particular, belongs in a different category. The
emperor and his immediate entourage always enjoyed the privilege to use gold,
but sumptuary laws restricted a wider use . . . Gold vessels were made by various
imperial household agencies, apparently on an individual basis, and therefore
tend to be unique. 13

Ewers were also produced for members of the imperial household and gifted to notable
individuals outside the court, and a small number of these have survived. A mid-
to-late fifteenth century gold ewer studded with rubies and sapphires was recovered
from a tomb in the Yongdingmen area of southern Beijing. The occupant, Wan Tong
( , 1439–1482), was younger brother of the imperial concubine Wan Guifei
(1428–1487, personal name 兒), the favorite consort of the Chenghua emperor
(r. 1464–1487). 14 Two other examples of gold Ming ewers, one dated to 1425 and
now in the collection of the Hubei Provincial Museum, were excavated from the
tomb of King Zhuang of Liang (梁 , 1411–1441) in Hubei, a son of the Hongxi
emperor (r. 1424–1425). 15 An outstanding example of surviving late Ming imperial
artisanship is to be seen in a Wanli period (r. 1572–1620) gold ewer, which appeared
for sale in Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2010. 16 This heavily decorated body-spouted
ewer is studded with tourmalines and sapphires, and features intricate filigree dragons
on either side of the vessel. It is singular among surviving examples of Ming imperial
gold work for the excessive ornateness of its decoration. Two mid-fifteenth century
Ming handscroll paintings depict golden ewers within imperial contexts suggestive
of their use. The first, an anonymous fifteenth century handscroll entitled, Amuse -
ments of the Xuande emperor’s palace (Zhu Zhanji xingle tu, 朱"#$%圖) depicts a
golden ewer with a basin as part of a set of vessels on a lacquer table, which were
probably used for wine, which would indicate that the ewer was probably used as a
wine decanter. 17 The lacquer table is placed adjacent to a pavilion in which a meal
has been set out for the emperor; shown nearby playing the arrow-throwing pitch-
pot game (投(, touhu). The second such depiction is found within a handscroll
entitled, Amusements in the Four Seasons (Siji shangwan tu, )*+-圖), which shows
another golden ewer in proximity to the emperor who is shown admiring chrys -
anthemums. Holding the ewer is a court servant, who pours the contents upon a bed
of chrysanthemums in what appears to be a humorous visual aside. 18 Despite this,
the main function of such ewers was as wine decanters. The Qing period Hope
Grant Ewer would have been produced in one of the many specialized imperial
workshops (./, zuofang) organized under the Office of Manufacture (造1處,
zaobanchu), which, in turn, was administered and supervised by the Yuyongjian
( 用4) division of the Imperial Household Department (內67, neiwufu) responsible
for the activities and affairs of the imperial household. Workshops were located not
only in the Forbidden City but at other imperial sites, and at other manufacturing
centers such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Nanjing where the imperial factories produced
silks and textiles for the imperial court. 19 Part of the imperial glass workshops were,
for instance, established in 1728 at the Yuanmingyuan by the Yongzheng emperor
(r. 1723–1735).