Page 114 - Bonhams Asian Art London November 5, 2020

The most notable feature of the present lot is the remarkable similarity See S.McCausland and Lizhong Ling, Telling Images of China:
of the faces of the ladies with those in Yongzheng’s famous Screen of Narrative and Figure Paintings 15th-20th Century from the Shanghai
Twelve Beauties in the Palace Museum, Beijing. Compare the faces Museum, London, 2010, pp.65-7. The Manchu rulers, seeking to
and hems of the ladies with those in the Twelve Beauties at Leisure define themselves as the proper heirs to the throne of China, could
Painted for Prince Yinzhen, the Future Yongzheng Emperor (hereafter not have missed the support of female intellectuality that many found
abbreviated as Screen of Twelve Beauties), by anonymous court artists even within the conservative Confucian tradition.
in the Late Kangxi period, illustrated in China: the Three Emperors
1662-1795, London, 2005, pp.258-259, no.173. The uncanny It would be tempting to suggest that the artist of the present lot also
similarity of the faces painted in realistic style with neat outlines and showcased the most popular costumes and hairstyles of Qing court
generous colour, follows the custom of depicting ladies of the Court women. However, it interesting to note that these ladies are dressed
as women of elegance and natural grace, and strongly points to the in the styles of the flourishing Chinese cultural centre of the Yangzi
courtly origin of this painting. delta region, at a time when there were repeated Imperial efforts to
block the growing Manchu tendency to take on Han Chinese folkways.
The present lot closely follows the composition of another Imperial The Qianlong emperor, like his predecessors an author of repeated
painted album, the Yue man qing you tu (月曼清遊圖) by Chen Mei 陳 prohibitions against Manchu adoption of Han dress - wrote that its
枚 (active in the early Qianlong reign), in the Palace Museum, Beijing. appearance in one rendition of women attending the emperor was
Painted in 1738, the album depicts the life of concubines over twelve not to be taken seriously, dismissing it as ‘painterly playfulness’ (丹
months. One of the album leaves shows ladies playing chess in the 青遊戲); see J.Larsen, ‘Women of the Imperial Household: Views of
exact same posture and position as the present lot, but within an the Emperor’s Consorts and their Female Attendants’ in Proceedings
interior. Therefore, one can see that the depiction of court ladies of the Denver Museum of Natural History, no.15, November 1, 1998,
followed set models and precedents by court masters, which the p.24. One can surmise that the present lot and paintings like it, such
present lot also follows. as the Screen of Twelve Beauties and Yue man qing you tu, were
following artistic conventions of the court rather than depicting the
By examining further the Screen of Twelve Beauties, we may actual leisure garments of palace women.
understand too the background of the present lot. While the
Yongzheng emperor was still a prince, he commissioned the set of Indeed, one can argue that the present lot encapsulates a fantasy.
paintings of twelve beauties for the purpose of decorating a screen in Wu Hung presents evidence associating these paintings of imagined
the Deep Willows Reading Hall, a study within his private quarters at court ladies in Han dress with the feminised and sexualised landscape
the Summer Palace. An Imperial garden to the northwest of Beijing, of China, now intimately known by the Manchu conquerors; see
the Summer Palace, was presented to the young prince in 1709 by Wu Hung, ‘Beyond Stereotypes: The Twelve Beauties in Qing Court
his father, the Kangxi emperor. However, an item found in the archives Art and the Dream of the Red Chamber’ in Ming and Qing Women
of the Imperial Household Department notes that in the eighth lunar and Literature, Stanford, 1997, pp.306-322. These fictional female
month of 1732, ten years into Yongzheng’s reign as emperor, the possessions of the emperor surrounded him as did the real women
twelve paintings were removed from the screen and individually stored. of his harem. These pictures of women gathered - whether made for
the Kangxi, Yongzheng or Qianlong emperors - are for the private
Like the Screen of the Twelve Beauties, the present painting was also pleasures of a Manchu emperor as mates or as lovely paintings open
probably part of a larger screen or wall painting meant to decorate a to his gaze. The present lot does not show the formalised traditional
palace. The apocryphal seal in the top right of the painting Jing ji shan garb of the Manchu conquerors worn in official portraits, but rather
zhuang (靜寄山莊), refers to an Imperial retreat in Panshan near Tianjin. the forbidden, softer gowns of the Chinese who now submit to the
Although the seal is apocryphal, it could refer to the original location Manchu emperor’s rule.
where the present lot was from. Furthermore, like the Screen of the
Twelve Beauties, the present lot was also at some point detached Despite elements of artistic fantasy, however, there are some aspects
from a wall or screen and later cut into a more convenient and smaller of the present lot and similar paintings, which act as visual and
section and re-mounted onto a different background. The format of the historical documents of unparalleled authenticity. The black lacquered
present lot is in keeping with 19th century practices of display; see for and gilt-decorated weiqi boxes on the table for example, are typical
example J.Cahill, Pictures for Use and Pleasure: Vernacular Painting in of the mid 18th century; compare with a similar pair of black and gilt-
High Qing China, 2010. lacquered weiqi boxes and covers, Qing dynasty, from the Qing Court
Collection, illustrated in the Compendium of Collections of the Palace
The artist of this painting as well as the Screen of Twelve Beauties Museum: Jade, 9, Beijing, 2011, p.105, no.87.
portrayed the imagined beauties enjoying traditional Han Chinese
leisure activities such as playing chess or weiqi, sampling tea, The present lot is a remarkable example of court painting, revealing
watching butterflies, and reading, as well as showing them in quiet not only artistic conventions of the court but also perceptions about
reflection. This view reflects the late Imperial Chinese model of the women of the court, documenting their refined demeanour
femininity, where women could engage in the traditionally male and fine costumes, as well as the negotiation of cultural and ethnic
‘Four Arts of the Scholar’ (playing the guqin, calligraphy, painting, boundaries between Han and Manchu, and finally the fantasies of
and chess) whilst still being refined, delicate and attractively feminine. Manchu emperors.

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