Page 74 - Collecting and Displaying China's Summer Palace in the West

The Yuanmingyuan and Design Reform in Britain 59
of the highest forms of art, in the lower, those which may or should enter into
the uses of everyday life, they are supreme . . . a Chinese vase is much more truly
ornamental than those which display pictorial designs of Sèvres . . . 64

The last comment reflected a Eurocentric art hierarchy, but also the design reform
agenda. Forward-looking men like Dresser often preferred the flat patterns and bright
colours of Asian design to ornament in the European classical tradition.

Yuanmingyuan Artifacts and British Design
How did Yuanmingyuan spoils affect Victorian decorative arts? One designer who
studied spoils was Owen Jones (1809–1874). He had dismissed Chinese design in
The Grammar of Ornament (1856), arguing that “In their decoration, both painted
and woven, the Chinese possess only just so much art as would belong to a primitive
people.” Like other Victorian critics, he acknowledged their “happy instinct of har -
monising colours.” 65 In the 1860s, Jones saw novel material that changed his views.
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In 1863, he designed the Oriental Courts for the SKM. Next, Alfred Morrison hired
Jones, with Jackson & Graham, to install his collection at Fonthill House. 67 This
included copious spoils purchased from Lord Loch of Drylaw (1827–1900), the Earl
of Elgin’s secretary during the China campaign. The result was Examples of Chinese
Ornament Selected from Objects in the South Kensington Museum and Other
Collections (1867), a study of patterns on Chinese vessels with 100 chromolithographs
representing pieces in the museum and private collections. 68 Without mentioning the
Yuanmingyuan, Jones noted the recent windfall of spoils: “The late war in China,
and the Ti-ping rebellion, by the destruction and sacking of many public buildings,
has caused the introduction to Europe of a great number of truly magnificent works
of Ornamental Art.” 69 He also thanked Henry Durlacher and William Wareham,
70
who bought many “Summer Palace” items at Christie’s, along with Alfred Morrison.
Christie’s later sold parts of Morrison’s collection. 71 The 1965 and 1971 catalogues
state that most pieces came from the “Summer Palace” via Lord Loch; the second
mentions additions from Henry Durlacher. This suggests that Jones had access to
many Yuanmingyuan pieces while preparing Chinese Ornament.
Many plates show floral scrolls and auspicious motifs in the style of Qing imperial
wares, and in enamel palettes developed under imperial patronage (e.g., plates 20,
65, 66, 82). Some match Morrison pieces possibly from the Yuanmingyuan. Plate
54 shows two yellow-ground floral patterns (see Figure 4.3). The right-hand pattern
matches two falangcai bowls with Daoguang marks (r. 1820–1850), catalogued by
Christie’s in 2010 as reputedly from Loch. 72 The left-hand pattern matches two
falangcai bowls with Qianlong marks sold in 1971 (see Figure 4.4). 73 Another is in
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the Nanjing Museum. Plate 83 matches lot 58 in the 1971 sale, a falangcai meiping
with Qianlong mark, showing flowers on a ruby graviata ground, a rare incised
decoration produced in imperial workshops. It is close to a meiping in the Palace
Museum, Beijing. 75 Plate 62 matches a Qianlong-period vase, 76 and plate 73 the
cavetto of a Yongzheng-period bowl, both in the Palace Museum. 77 Qing emperors
were closely involved in producing these costly wares: ordering pieces and monitoring
court workshops, some of which were in the Yuanmingyuan, 78 primary imperial
residence and place of business since the Yongzheng emperor (r. 1723–1735). 79