The Yongzheng Emperor in Formal Court Robe (18th - 19th century)

Dimensions:

67.00cm wide   103.00cm high (26.38 inches wide  40.55 inches high)



A rare and important court painting on silk of the emperor seated on a cushion, holding a book, in a rigidly frontal and restrained pose. The emperor's expression is sombre and detached, and his clothing and cushion are all highly patterned.

Within the Qing Court such ancestor portaits were used in ritual ceremonies.
According to studies by Evelyn Rawski, it is recorded that after the death of the emperor Yongzheng, his portrait was hung in the Palace of Complete Harmony, his formerly princely palace. There daily rituals were performed in front of the portrait between time and death and burial. Apart from funerary rites, imperial portraits were worshipped in places such as the Shouhuangdian, the imperial family ancestral hall, at New Year, when the emperor and his sons would offer sacrifices before the portraits.

It is uncertain however how this portrait was used. There exist another formal portrait in the Gugong Museum in a similar pose.

By reputation this portrait has been one of a series of paintings of 12 emperors commissioned by the Jiaqing emperor at the start of his reign at the end of the 18th Century.

The painting has its original palace brocade surround and is newly framed and glazed.
A letter from the Beijing Palace Museum, authenticating this painting, will be supplied.

ref.#4661



Provenance:
private Japanese Collection

Literature:
For a discussion on court paintings , see : Zhang Hongxing, The Qianlong Emperor, Treasures From The Forbidden City. Edinburgh 2002.

Jan Stuart, Evelyn Rawski,; Worshipping the Ancestors, Washington 2001