Page 116 - 2018 Hong Kong Important Chieese Art

fig. 1
Twelve-panel inlaid lacquer screen, in situ
Collection of Museo d’Arte Orientale, Turin
圖一
清康熙 嵌螺鈿十二扇圍屏
都靈東方藝術博物館藏品

merely elite activities of a leisurely nature, but functioned as representative flora and fauna from the various regions and
inspection tours and imperial progresses. They were a means the enclosure of wild animals from all over the empire. It is
of asserting Manchu authority over the empire, which included known that during Kangxi’s reign, captive animals such as
peoples as well as the animal world. Just as human subjects tigers, leopards, bears and wolves were brought in cages
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were to recognise the emperor’s sovereignty, so was the and released in the parks. Thomas Allsen notes how hunts
natural world brought within the power structure by means of represented the ‘court out-of-doors’ - an open-air theatre
the hunt. The history of imperial hunts in China date back as for displays of majesty, the entertainment of guests, and
early as the Western Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 9) when the the bestowal of favour on subjects. Another important
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Shanglin park, located outside the capital walls of Chang’an, aspect of the Qing hunt was its use as a military training and
was constructed as a microcosm of the empire, a study ground strengthening exercise in the traditional Manchu martial skills
for the emperor and his officials to observe nature, plants of archery and horsemanship. It was also a bonding ritual
and animals, as well as the setting for organised hunts and intended to emphasize the shared martial traditions of the
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animal fights for the entertainment of the court. Roel Sterckx Manchu and Mongol soldiers of the Eight Banners who were
explains the significance of hunting parks for symbolical selected to participate in these events that strictly excluded
reasons, noting that ‘parks served as scenes in which rulers Han soldiers. The Kangxi Emperor, in particular, encouraged
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staged symbolical conquests of the natural world through the development of skills such as riding, archery, shooting
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the means of ritual hunts and staged animal combats.’ This and hunting both as a physically strengthening exercise
function is not dissimilar to that of the hunt in the West, and as a preparation for warfare and military training in the
explained by Simon Schama as being a form of blood ritual Manchu tradition. Great hunts were recognised to be covert
through which the hierarchy of status and honour around the preparations for military purposes. They were conducted with
king was displayed and maintained. 9 strict discipline as that applied in war, and were also used as
sources of innovation in military organisation and tactics. The
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Similar to the ancient Shanglin grounds, Qing dynasty hunting headdress worn by the central figure on the screen presents
parks were maintained as nature reserves where a miniature
version of the empire was recreated by means of planting him as a military figure, emphasising the martial nature of the
hunt.
114 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比