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“Rose-water Upon His Delicate Hands” 113
from imperialist trophy to museum object, into an object with complexly concatenated
readings continuing to denote all of the above but now signifying most of all—that
moment during which across a few days in the autumn of 1860 a profound shock
was dealt to the late Qing imperial order by two European powers—a historic
moment that continues to reverberate powerfully in the Chinese national psyche.

Notes
1 NMS A.1884.54. See www.oxforddnb.com/index/101011267/James-Grant; accessed
October 2015).
2 The Chinese term for a ewer of this form is 执( (Zhihu).
3 Anna Jackson and Amin Jaffer, Encounters: The Meeting of Asia and Europe, 1500–1800
(London: V&A, 2004), 51. See also Esin Atil, W T. Chase, and Paul Jett, Islamic Metal -
work in the Freer Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C: The Gallery, Smithsonian Institution,
1985), 62–63 and 117–123. Datable examples of ewers are found in Syria, Egypt, and
Iraq from as early as the eighth century. Ibid 14.
4 See for instance an example of Hongwu period (r. 1368–1398) underglaze red ewer, and
a Ming Longquan celadon ewer in Du Feng and Su Baoru, “‘Hongwu Imperial Porcelain’
from the Yongle Reign,” Orientations 37.5 (2006): 50, and p. 55.
5 See for instance Rose Kerr, Luisa E. Mengoni, and Ming Wilson, Chinese Export Ceramics
(London: V&A Publishing, 2011), 86. Chinese porcelain ewers, sometimes with European
metal mounts, had been in circulation in Europe for a number of centuries before the
nineteenth century, so the form was likely already familiar or recognisable to prize
committee members who chose the Xianfeng ewer for Lt.-Gen. Sir Hope Grant.
6 See Wu Zhuo, “Notes on the Silver Ewer from the Tomb of Li Xian,” Bulletin of the
Asia Institute New Series, Vol. 3 (1989): 61–70. The Sassanid Empire (224–651), centered
on Iran and Mesopotamia, extending at its greatest from Egypt to Sogdia.
7 See also Annette L Juliano, Judith A. Lerner, and Michael Alram, Monks and Merchants:
Silk Road Treasures from Northwest China Gansu and Ningxia 4th-7th Century (New
York, N.Y: Harry N. Abrams with the Asia Society, 2001), 98–100.
8 Jessica Rawson, “Central Asian Silver and Its Influence on Chinese Ceramics,” Bulletin
of the Asia Institute New Series, vol. 3 (1989): 144–146. See also Juliano et al., Monks
and Merchants, 224.
9 See for example Atil et al., Islamic Metalwork in the Freer Gallery of Art, 120–121.
10 James W Allan and Nuhad Es-Said, Islamic Metalwork: The Nuhad Es-Said Collection
(London: Sotheby, 1982), 57.
11 Palace Museum, Gu.11453. See Li, Jian, Li He, Hou-mei Sung, and Ma Shengnan,
Forbidden City: Imperial Treasures from the Palace Museum, Beijing (Richmond, Virginia:
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2014), 94.
12 See Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold, Silver, and Porcelain: The Kempe Collection (New
York: Asia Society, 1971), 151–152, and Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the
Carl Kempe Collection: A Catalogue (Stockholm: Nordisk Rotogravyr, 1953), 39 and
64. The collection was finally dispersed in the Sotheby’s Masterpieces of Chinese Precious
Metalwork, Early Gold and Silver sale of 14 May 2008. The Ming silver ewer was Lot
119. See Sotheby’s Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork: Early Gold and Silver:
Auction in London, Wednesday 14 May 2008 (London: Sotheby’s, 2008), 222–223.
13 www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/fine-chinese-ceramics-works-of-art-
hk0331/lot.2612.html; accessed November 2015.
14 www.capitalmuseum.org.cn/other/content/2008-07/09/content_22553.htm;
accessed November 2015.
15 Craig Clunas and Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming, 50 Years That Changed China (London:
British Museum Press, 2014), 90. See also Craig Clunas, Screen of Kings: Royal Art and
Power in Ming China (London: Reaktion Books, 2013), 155–156, and Yang, “Ming Art
and Culture from an Archaeological Perspective—Part 2: the Imperial Mausoleum and
Elite Burial Practices,” Orientations 37.6 (2006): 77.