Page 68 - Collecting and Displaying China's Summer Palace in the West

4 The Yuanmingyuan and Design
Reform in Britain

Kate Hill

Introduction
After the 1860 China campaign, artifacts attributed to the Yuanmingyuan were ex -
hibited in Britain as trophies, curiosities, and objets d’art. Spoils were also integrated
into the design reform movement. In the 1860s, items “from the Summer Palace”
were studied by leading design reformers and appeared in at least 13 industrial art
shows nationwide. 1
A number of scholars have examined the politics of Asian exhibitions in Victorian
Britain, showing how displays recontextualized objects to support notions of progress,
2
cultural superiority, and empire. On the subject of the Opium Wars, Pagani has

Figure 4.1 Enameled wares, jades, bronzes, paintings, a “porcelain pagoda,” and a net
garment in the Chinese Court. London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company,
The International Exhibition of 1862. No. 203 Chinese Court (1), 1982.
Courtesy of the Brian May Collection. 3