Since the beginning of civilization humans have sought to adorn and decorate themselves, and the Chinese were no exception. Inspired by the beauty and variety of the birds and animals around them they sought, from the very earliest times to emulate these seemingly perfect creatures by first adorning themselves with their pelts and plumes. Then with increasing sophistication to embellish the clothes and accessories they wore, finally establishing by the time of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) a highly-stylised and visible social and political hierarchy. This was based upon their perception of the intrinsic characteristics of these creatures and famously epitomized by the bird and animal rank badges of that era.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, headgear and hairstyles evolved in the most spectacular manner, and the crests and head plumes of the birds the Chinese encountered provided inspiration over the centuries for an astonishing variety of hats, crowns, tiaras, hairstyles and hair ornaments. Drawn by their iridescent beauty, many races and peoples have used feathers as adornment or accessory, and the earliest humans, including the Chinese, probably initially sought to decorate themselves using entire feathers from the bird; we are all familiar with pictures of races right up until modern times such as the Papua New Guinean tribes, which continue to do so.

It is only the Chinese however who evolved beyond this to discover a way to incorporate the colour and sheen, which they so admired in the beautiful feathers, into something far more wearable, sophisticated and elegant (Hartman, R., 1980, p80). The most highly-prized of all as seen in the short poem above were the flashing iridescent turquoise and blue feathers of the little halcyon, or kingfisher bird, at that stage plentiful in China and in fact, in most of Asia. As can be deduced from the date of Ch’en Tzu-ang’s poem, the use of kingfisher feathers appears well-established at that stage and they were clearly already highly valued as much, if not more, than gold.

Excavations of T’ang dynasty (A.D. 618-906) tombs have revealed tiny kingfisher jewellery pieces, which were probably used more in the manner of gems or decorative items, and there are descriptions of a dying king from the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) detailing his private chamber in which there were “kingfisher hangings on jasper hooks” and “bedspreads of kingfisher all seeded with pearls”(Hartman, R., 1980, p76), apparently from the manner of their description not necessarily unusual objects for the time.

Beverley Jackson in her extensive book on the subject of the use of kingfisher feathers recounts a marvelous episode where the indefatigable English author Oswald Sitwell is musing upon the glory that was Angkor Wat, and concludes, somewhat amazed, that such glories in a country with few resources such as ancient Cambodia must have been provided by one thing only – the enormous trade in kingfisher feathers for the insatiable Chinese market (Jackson, B., 2001, p5). This rather startling observation provides some insight into the ubiquity and popularity of the exquisite objects, and certainly no museum collection of Chinese dress is without at least one or two examples of this art

Indeed kingfisher feathers were employed with dazzling effect in a large variety of items for personal adornment including not only hair ornaments but crowns, wedding head-dresses, bracelets, nail guards, brooches, earrings, pendants and occasionally even larger objets d’art such as screens and tableaux. Although it is evident that kingfisher decorative items had existed for many centuries, they were at their most spectacular when used to decorate women’s hair ornaments, and this was an art form whose artistic culmination was reached in the Qing dynasty when the Manchus took control of Imperial power.

Although they sought to enforce Manchu customs and language from the beginning of their reign in 1644, by the time of the Qianlong Emperor (c 1736-95) the ruling Manchus were increasingly concerned that not only were the ethnic Han Chinese continuing with their own style of dress, they were also influencing Manchu style. Subsequently in 1759, the “Illustrated Precedents for the Ritual Paraphernalia of the Court” (Huangchao liqi tushi) was published, ostensibly in an effort to unify the country but in reality of course to control and impose their rule upon the Han(Garrett, V., p10). Under this system, clothing was divided into official and non-official wear, seasonal wear, styles, and colours, all based on rank. As women held no official role in the court (other than occasionally acting as regent, most notably the Empress Dowager Cixi) their rank was determined by their husband’s⁴.

Subsequently their dress, hairstyles and even their hair ornaments were very formalised so combined with the immense wealth and leisure time these women enjoyed, the art of dressing the hair and ornamenting the subsequent confection reached new heights – literally in the case of Manchu women, who sought to develop increasingly towering styles. Combined with her extra physical height, floor-length robes and 4-6” platform shoes, the Manchu court female was an imposing figure, and made the shorter-statured, bound-footed Han Chinese woman look girlish and doll-like by comparison(Johnson, B., 2001, p61).

Naturally in this era no woman of rank or wealth, Manchu or Han, did her own hair; in the case of the Manchu woman if a hat was not being worn for an official occasion, the preparations for this coiffure could take some hours, especially with the higher ranking princesses and empresses of the court(Princess Der Ling, 1911, p67). In order to keep the elaborate structure in place, a gel-like substance was used called pao bua, derived from soaking fine wood-shavings from a special tree in hot water until a sticky jelly was obtained. This was then combed through the hair which was then styled. In the case of Han women, unless their husband was a mandarin at the Imperial court this style would have simply been in the fashion of the day, often a simple coil or two braids at the nape of the neck; very few ornaments were used, often just fresh flowers or a couple of small pins.

In the case of Manchu women however it was a much more complex process and the gelled and combed hair was then wound around elaborate frames made of horsehair; according to the dictates of her rank a number of different types of styling followed, the best known of which is the liangpa tou “two handle ends” seen in many portraits of the day including the Empress Dowager. Against this towering backdrop (further augmented in the late Qing by a similar structure made of black satin), numerous beautiful objects such as sheng (combs), zan (hair slides), chai (hair pins) and buyao (hair ornaments) could be displayed, along with fresh and artificial flowers, pompoms and tassels (Garrett, V, 1997, p76, Hartman, R, 1980, p90, Jackson, B, 2001, pp61-63)

The hair ornaments themselves could be functional or decorative, serving to either help hold the hair in place in the case of the very large hair slide known as bianfang which essentially supported the two side buns and was often decorated on one side with a large hanging tassel which swung as the wearer walked, or in the case of smaller pins and ornaments be displayed entirely for their beauty and workmanship. The variety of materials used along with the kingfisher feathers included gold or silver (depending on wealth and rank), pearls, precious and semi-precious stones notably unfaceted rubies and sapphires, tourmalines and carnelians, the highly-valued Peking glass, coral, jade or jadeite, mother of pearl, and sometimes in the case of dangling hair ornaments (liusu) brass figures such as fish.

The ornaments themselves came in a huge variety of shapes including birds, animals, insects, flowers and other plant life including fruit and gourds, children or small figures, auspicious symbols including the shou “long life” and shuangxi “double happiness” symbols, shapes such as the Eight Precious Objects and even in the case of larger crowns and tiaras, small still life scenes depicting court life or famous scenes, however the most popular themes were butterflies, bats, dragonflies, grasshoppers, fish and gourds(Garrett, V, p19-35, Hartman, R, 1980, pp76-80, Jackson, B, 2001, p97) The reason for these choices was several-fold, for apart from their intrinsic charm and beauty these motifs held another type of significance. The Chinese language is rich with homophones, words that sound like one another but have different meanings, with the result that saying one thing can evoke something entirely different, sometimes humorous or for the superstitious Chinese, auspicious.

Well-known examples of this include “happiness” fu and “bat” bianfu, “prosperity” yu and “fish” yu, or interesting combinations such as “butterfly” and “gourd” guadie mianmian creating a rebus meaning “offspring for eternity”. Other motifs had their own inherent meanings, such as peaches and pomegranates (fertility), paired ducks (marital happiness) cranes (immortality) and lingzhi mushrooms (longevity). Because of this there resulted a strong visual vocabulary, almost a type of ‘visual shorthand’, so that the use of certain animals, insects or symbols would result in a piece that was not only able to be admired for its exquisite workmanship, but also had great meaning for the wearer and all those around her and usually connoted her wish for a happy and fulfilled life, preferably with many sons (Hartman, R, 1980, pp76-80).

It can be understood in the light of this that the Chinese of this era wore jewellery for different reasons to us today, usually more for aesthetic reasons or the enjoyment of the wearer, or as a practical means of storing their assets, rather than actually showing off wealth. In addition, the choice of background metal was again stipulated by formal decree, and gold was generally only permitted for ornaments for the ladies of the Imperial court or the very wealthy.

Whatever the metal it was wrought into an astonishing variety of shapes, often three-dimensional, and was frequently worked as filigree; quite frequently design elements such as stems, branches and leaves were fashioned with a springy copper ball so that they trembled when the wearer moved or walked, adding to the charm and beauty of the final picture(Jackson, B, 2001, p85).

While it is certainly acknowledged that the art of working with kingfisher feathers is one of China’s traditional handcrafts (Yuan, H, 2006, p97), the actual construction of the pieces themselves has been the subject of some conjecture. What is known is that thin sheets of gold or silver were formed into the desired shape with the appropriate ridges in the design being fashioned with a tiny hammer and a surrounding lip then being attached, much in the fashion of cloisonné(Hartmann, R, 1980, p76). The pieces of feather were then painstakingly laid in place and then affixed with adhesive or glue.

The method of fixation may have been variable depending on the way the piece was constructed and has been variously describedas eithercovering the entire finished product with a glue-like substance(Jackson, B, 2001, p53-54) or affixing each piece individually, as in a fascinating eye-witness account of the timedescribing how individual feather filaments were dredged through the glue before being laid flat upon the metal surface(Jackson, B, 2001, p50) What is agreed upon is that the glue must be invisible, and not discolour the feathers at all.

The exact composition of this glue is not precisely known although it was most likely a combination of adhesives derived from both animal (hide) and plant (seaweed) sourceswhich would have been plentiful and readily available at the time. The feathers themselves also appear to have been used in a couple of different ways to create the jewellery. One technique, by far the slowest and most painstaking and most likely that used for the Court jewellery, involved the method described above whereby individual feather filaments were laboriously attached side by side until the piece was covered and a solid lacquer-like effect was achieved.

Alternately and possibly as demand for these objects grew, a different and no doubt slightly more efficient technique was employed with larger sections of actual feather being attached. This may also have been used for larger pieces. What is certain is that with the inevitable intermingling of the ruling Manchus and the Han Chinese women, demand for these pieces grew as every women in China wanted one of these covetable and fashionable items. In addition the increasing influx of Western visitors combined with the aesthetic of the Art Nouveau movement in Europe made these pieces desirous beyond Chinese shores, and demand eventually outstripped supply with the eventual hunting to extinction of the little kingfisher bird in China.

Fashions then changed and with the advent of the sweeping social changes that were to befall China, this art, like so many others, was lost. The last factory producing these items commercially closed in Canton in 1930(Hartman, R, 1980, p78), and although reproduction items are still produced in China and the Philippines today, the items are generally inferior and do not use genuine kingfisher feathersbut rather dyed feathers from other birds(Jackson, B, 2001, p53).

What is so remarkable then is that the appreciation of, and delight in these beautiful little objects endures in both China and the West, and even in such a changed world as ours the fact that we can still admire and desire these little gems, and the very fact that so many pieces of this extraordinary art form still survive today is a tribute to both the skill of the artisans and the timeless beauty of the pieces themselves.

Guest Author: © Dr Sheena Burnell Shanghai 2009 – 2012 **Ch’en Tzu-ang (661-702) Translation by Paul W. Kroll

Dr Sheena Burnell is an anaesthetist currently living in the East. She began collecting Chinese objet d’art and Japanese ukiyoe (wood block prints) in the 1980s. Her shift in focus to Chinese dress accessories dates from her first visits to Hong Kong in the early ‘90s. This led to an expanding interest in women’s and children’s dress accessories in general and more recently kingfisher hair ornaments. Sheena appeared on the Australian ABC program ‘Collectors’ in 2007, with her collection of bound feet shoes and related objects.

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In 1260 Kublai Khan (1215-1294) set about rebuilding the city of Peking as his winter capital, governing along Chinese lines and employing foreigners who traveled the Silk Road. It was often called the Pax Mongolica, because a single power dominated its length, which was a safe highway at this time. Along this route in 1260 the Venetian travellers, the Polo brothers travelled until they first reached the court of Emperor Kublai Khan. On his behalf they sent back a message of friendship and goodwill to the Pope at Rome, as well as a request for one hundred learned priests and oil from the lamp burning over the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Marco, Nicolo Polo’s 20 year old son, traveling with his father and his brother Matteo, delivered this rare gift to the great Khan. This historic meeting took place at Kublai Khan’s summer palace situated some 200 miles from Peking.

Marco described it as ‘sumptuous pavilions set with a wall surrounding sixteen miles of land in which are fountains, rivers and lawns’. His description later inspired eighteenth century English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem about the palace entitled Xanadu, which over the centuries became a metaphor in Europe for exotic opulence.

Giuseppe Castiglione arrived in China in 1715 where he was to pass his life at the Court of three of its Emperors K’ang’hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch’ien-lung. The arrival of any ship was a great event with much celebration, including a holy Mass to give thanks. When they embarked the Jesuits knew that they would be considered subjects of the Emperor of China and would never again be able to return to Europe.

Castiglione became during his lifetime an artist of high accomplishment. In the course of his long stay at Peking (he died there in 1766), he managed to achieve a remarkable synthesis between the traditions and techniques of European painting and those of Chinese painting.

In China Castiglione became famous as a portraitist and genre painter. His paintings of animals, flowers and landscapes earned him an unprecedented  honour – first painter at the Court of the Quing Dynasty (1644 to 1712) and that of Emperor Ka’inghsi

Emperor Ka’inghsi by Castiglione

Giuseppe Castiglione (1688 – 1766) was born at Milan in Italy. Of his family and birth there is very little recorded. At the age of nineteen he entered the society of Jesus at Genoa to commence his novitiate. His talent as a painter was quickly recognized, as well as works entrusted to him. He painted two pictures illustrating the life of St. Ignatius and they were listed in a guide of Genoa in 1780. He joined an order of Jesuits, who had been sending missionaries to China for some time so that they could spread the Christian faith. He asked permission to be among them.

Completing his novitiate at Portugal where he is said to have painted portraits of young princes and murals for the Chapel of the College of Coimbra, Castiglione departed with some of his fellow brothers for Goa on 11 April 1714 to be part of an adventurous sea voyage. The route followed the shore line of Africa where some encounters were terrifying, including colliding during the night with an enormous whale. It spurted great jets of water into the passenger’s faces while the Jesuit monks tried to calm and reassure everyone they weren’t being cast into the ‘fiery furnaces of Babylon’. There were many calm moments when the trip resembled a cruise, but when the winds blew up the passengers had to join forces with the crew to avoid shipwreck and death. Vivid first hand accounts survive of the dramatic nature of these voyages and the courage of the men who battled storm and tempest and of the swollen legs and gums shredded in ribbons brought about by scurvy which ravaged the ship’s company.

The Emperor Ka’inghsi (Kangxi – 1661 – 1722) protected the foreign monks because he admired their skills in various fields, including the sciences. Persecutions brought about through superstition meant that the presence of the ‘foreign devils’ ensured that they were blamed for all cataclysmic events such as earthquakes that hit the city of Peking during their period of residency.

Castiglione was presented to the Emperor Kang-hsi in November 1715. A contemporary description survives.

‘In November 1715, I was summoned into the presence of the Emperor to act as interpreter to two Europeans, a painter and a chemist, who had just arrived. While we were awaiting his Majesty’s pleasure in one of the anterooms, a eunuch addressed my companions in Chinese, and was angry because they returned no answer. I immediately told him the cause of their silence, upon which he said, that we Europeans were all so alike that it was scarcely possible to distinguish one from another. I had often heard the same remark from other persons, our resemblance being generally attributed to the long beards we all wore. The Chinese do not shave; but their beards are so thin that the hairs might be counted; the few they have, however, they value even to ridicule…’

At Court etiquette regarding presentation was very strict and custom dictated that gifts must be given. The Emperor was 61 when Castiglione arrived. A great lover of the arts and sciences he reputedly displayed sincere esteem for the Jesuits and appreciated the services they rendered to him. He called them ‘The Men of the West’ but while he admired their many talents he was deeply reserved about their religious beliefs. He wrote ‘Is it possible that you are always concerned about a world you have not yet entered and count for almost nothing the one in which you are now living? Believe me, everything in its own time’. K’ang-hsi appreciated not only poetry and painting, but also music and the Jesuits introduced him to certain European instruments.

What the Jesuits achieved and accomplished in China is striking in both its scope and diversity. When the Emperor Ka’inghsi died on the 30th December 1722 the Jesuits believed they had lost a benevolent master and protector. It would have been difficult for them taking part in the funeral knowing it was to their mind, a pagan rite, but nevertheless they joined in the lamentations of officials and servants.

They were patient men of science who wrote books on the subjects of mathematics, physics, geography, history, music, perspective to name a few, as well as numerous books on religion. These included translations of Chinese classics, which they sent to Europe. Their pioneering works on subjects such as anatomy were viewed with complete suspicion in China where the Emperor K’ang-hsi considered a Treatise on Anatomy written by Father Parennin in 1698 as too ‘strange’ to be acknowledged officially.

In Europe at this time, and right throughout the eighteenth century, established facts were being questioned, whether they were history, astronomy or religion. By way of contrast in China their culture was still dominated by a nostalgic and devoted veneration of the past. This meant that instead of viewing an expansion of knowledge, as introduced by foreigners as a stimulant that would bring about a fresh outlook, Chinese literati who were forever wary, superstitious and fearful of earlier wars which had brought about the fall of the Ming dynasty and placed a foreign dynasty on their throne, were entirely suspicious.

While the Jesuits were in China they were conscious of the hostility of the Chinese. They sought to expand knowledge of their faith, but not to impose their own culture on one, they believed, was not only not ready to receive it, but also would have been contrary to the evangelical spirit of their mission.

Of all the Jesuits in China Castiglione had exceptional talents that won him favour, especially with the last Emperor whose court he was part of Ch’ien-lung. The major part of all his works went to enrich the collections of the Imperial Palaces. The story of the survival of the majority of his works, which are to be found in the National Palace Museum of Taiwan, built to house the collections saved from the destruction of the Forbidden city, is extraordinary in itself, but for another day.

The daily routine of the Jesuits included presenting themselves every morning at the Palace where the guards informed the eunuchs of their arrival. After a long wait they passed through several gates until they reached the courtyard where they had to paint until five in the evening.

The eunuchs did not miss opportunities to spy on them or give them a hard time as they were jealous of the attention they received from the Emperor who sometimes also made tyrannical demands. He was however, enchanted by the enamels they produced and insisted that Castiglione and other monks teach the beauty of European enamels to Chinese artists, the knowledge of they quickly absorbed and the skill of they quickly acquired. Emperor Yung-chen (1722 – 1736) was the fourth son of K’ang-hsi and during his reign the persecution of the Christians continued.

The Portuguese mission where Castiglione was living particularly had a difficult time. The were all put under house arrest so Castiglione made the best of it and decorated St. Joseph’s Church built with donations from Europe. Said to be among the finest in Peking, it was later destroyed.  He was employed during all these years in the palace daily decorating enamels or painting in oils and watercolour.

Emperor Ch’ien-lung painted by Castiglione

Emperor Ch’ien-lung (1711-1799)  was the fourth emperor of the Manchu dynasty; a man of letters, a calligrapher, poet he was devoted to art and architecture; his name was associated with works of literary importance and he had thirty six thousand volumes from imperial and private collections copied and assembled in a vast encyclopedia.

He corresponded with Louis XV and was a collector of French clocks. Under Qianlong pottery production became completely industrialized.  His reign was characterized by courtly splendor, prodigious accomplishments in literary compilations, and vigorous expansion of the Chinese frontiers to the west and the south.

The buildings of the precinct included the so called Palace of Delights and Harmony which the French Jesuits declared ‘would bear comparison with the Chateau of Versailles and Saint Cloud’. Built of marble and majolica with motifs deriving from antiquity, the structure was symmetrical flanked by pavilions to house the musicians that were linked to the main building by a glazed gallery. The Emperor could sit on his throne contemplating the wonderful water work display provided by Father Benoist where bronze sheep and wild geese spat out jets of water. In the second precinct there was a maze with a central kiosk all built of marble where on the day of the Feast of Lanterns, the 15th day of the eight month, the Emperor organized a lantern race for the young girls of the palace.

In the centre of this Garden of Lanterns and Yellow Flowers rose the Palace of the Calm Sea, so called because of a vast reservoir placed on the terrace to feed the fountains and all water displays. This building seemed inspired by the Trianon at Versailles and an extraordinary water clock decorated the foot of the monumental staircase. At midday the water spurted from 12 animals, a rat, bull, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, cock, dog and a wild boar. Castiglione also built other less important pavilions one called the House for Gathering the Waters which concealed the hydraulic machinery.

The Emperor set the scene himself, attracting Italian and French painters for the court and the European style palace known as the Yuan Ming-Yuan. The only known representations of what this Palace and its gardens was like are copies of the original drawings made by the Jesuit missionaries. They had brought with them to China engravings of European palaces, which fascinated the Emperor. 

He instructed Castiglione, who was his favourite painter, to draw up plans and choose his collaborators. Here is Castiglione now taking on a role that many European artists before him had done, for that of architect. To assist the missionaries sent away to Europe for works on architecture that included three versions (Latin, French and Italian) of Marcus Pollio Vitruvius famous first century Roman treatise De Architectura.

Castiglione’s designs for the Yuen-Ming Yuen, which means Garden of Perfect Clarity, a name applied to the totality of the buildings and gardens, were presented to the Emperor for consideration. They were of a fascinating kind of exuberant Baroque palace set in the midst of a multitude of jets of water, cascades and fountains. These were worked by hydraulics designed by Jesuit Father Michel Benoist. He was assisted by two other Jesuits and for the heavy labour made use of Chinese craftsmen he had trained.

Their work began in 1747 and would go forward until 1759 and although their movements were at first highly regulated, as time and experience went forward, they were given the freedom to come and go as they pleased in the vast precincts. They had a house half way between Peking and the Yuan Ming Yuan and traveled the distance through beautiful gardens on mules in all weathers if hot, raining, windy the Emperor would accept no excuse for the pace of work to be slowed.

The Belvedere had monumental stairs built in marble similar to the one at Fontainbleau. This became a mosque for the beautiful Hsiang Fei, who came from Aksu in Turkestan. A widow brought by force, she held all at bay with a dagger including the emperor who conceived a passionate lover for this young Moslem woman. He asked Castiglione to build her a pavilion and “The View of the Distant Lake”, which included multiple mirrors and paintings of sites at Asku, her homeland, endeavoring to give her comfort. These pictures created an allusion of perspective and a system of runners meant they could be interchanged. However all he achieved was to make her more homesick.

One day when Ch’ien-lung was absent the Dowager Empress decided to bring matters to a head and asked the young princess her intention ‘ to die’ she answered and the Empress had her taken to a room where she hung herself from the beams of the ceiling. The Emperor’s grief was so immense he ordered a funeral like that of a concubine of the first rank.

Castiglione became pre-eminent among a group  of European missionary-court painters who combined the propagation of the Christian faith (in the face of daunting difficulties) with professional dedication to the artistic commissions of the Emperors. K’ang-hsi is today considered the greatest of the Manchu rulers of China. He seemingly held the Jesuits in high esteem and they felt a real admiration for him. He had a lively mind with an acute memory for detail as well as a reputation for reliable judgment.Castiglione was not allowed to include internal staircases in any of his buildings because Ch’ine-lung did not want to ‘live in the air’ like Europeans.

Louis XV sent Gobelins tapestries in 1767 with full length portraits of the beauties of the French Court. He also sent mirrors which the Emperor had cut up and used as window panes. Pilasters of white marble contrasted with walls of brick scrimmed with red plaster. The roofs were covered with tiles of yellow, blue or green respecting Chinese tradition. For its time the Yuen-Ming Yuen was a state of the art creation, nothing seen like it before in China. It was packed with remarkable treasures, which were later carted off when this extraordinary group of buildings were pillaged, ravaged and destroyed by the British and French during the 1860’s and the opium wars. There is hardly anything left today except a few stone fragments embellished with relief carving, to bear witness to the magnificence of the work of Castiglione or his brother Jesuits in the Palace complex.

In the three courts that Giuseppe Castiglione graced in China they had only partly opened their doors to the west. At the beginning of the eighteenth century they were on an equal footing with the west, having an extraordinarily advanced civilization. However by the end of the eighteenth century the Chinese were now a hundred years behind western civilization, which was advancing rapidly. If they had embraced new knowledge and new ideas they would have quickly mastered them. However instead they became more timid, more prudent and more conservative which in the end endangered not only their national sovereignty but also Chinese culture itself. This led to all the calamities that brought about the end of the dynasty system in China and the people’s revolution of 1949.

In China growing old brings with it great honour. It is a time when recognition of services rendered is acknowledged, especially on your birthday. Castiglione would have surely enjoyed the festivities attached to celebrating momentous milestones in his life each decade after he had turned 50. The fantastic summer palaces of the Emperors of China finally went up in flames and the delirious soldiers tore down the glorious tapestries threaded with silver to put out the blaze. Those jades, bronzes and porcelains that were not pillaged and miraculously survived are now displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum at London and at the Palace of Fontainebleau at Paris.

The Jesuit Priest Giuseppe Castiglione at the Court of the Chinese Emperors had excelled at painting both horses and flowers. While many may not embrace his style, he did have great success and influence on the creativity attached to Chinese painting during his lifetime. When he died the Emperor, who was sincerely attached to the old missionary wrote the epitaph that is engraved on his tombstone. It was discovered by a missionary early in the twentieth century, who reported the inscription was flanked by two dragons and engraved with the two characters that indicated it had been erected by order of the Emperor.

© The Culture Concept – Carolyn McDowall, 2011

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