Page 148 - Bonhams Chiense Paintings New York July 21 2020

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ANONYMOUS For the Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty hunting wild game enforced
Hunting Scene, Qing dynasty their cultural traditions and ethnic identity. The French Jesuit Ferdinand
Horizontal scroll, ink and color on paper, with two seals, one reading Verbiest (1623-1688) wrote of the Kangxi emperor organizing massive
sui zai gui X and yunyi caotang. annual hunts in pursuit of deer, wild boar, bear, pheasants and tigers.
22 7/8 x 60 1/4in (58.1 x 153cm)
The Imperial hunts (weilie), lasted as long as thirty days and were
US$15,000 - 20,000 held at the royal preserve at Mulan. These hunts not only afforded
the emperor and his retinue the opportunity to hone their battle skills
佚名 狩獵圖 設色紙本 橫軸 清代 and test their martial prowess, as archery competitions, mock battles,
wrestling and horse racing were also included in the activities. The
imperial hunts also served a diplomatic role, as the Emperor would
Provenance invite other frontier tribes to participate, thus strengthening the bonds
Sir Douglas Berry Copland (Ambassador to China, 1946-48) between the Qing rulers and the Kazakh, Mongol and Uighur nobles of
the Inner Asian frontier.
來源
道格拉斯·貝里·考浦蘭德爵士 (澳大利亞駐華公使, 1946-48) The present composition illustrates the rich tapestry of the Imperial
hunt. Officials, identifiable by their fur-lined hats, descend from the
mountains on horseback bearing weapons or captured game. The
presence of woman armed with arrows may seem out of place, but
in fact the emperor’s daughters were trained archers and would hunt
with bow and arrow, often competing with their male counterparts
in archery competitions as late as the Xianfeng reign in the middle
19th century. The faces of each participant are highly individualized,
suggesting they refer to specific members of the Imperial retinue.

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