Collecting and Displaying China's “Summer Palace” in the West: The Yuanmingyuan in Britain and France (The Histories of Material Culture and Collecting, 1700-1950)

"In October 1860, at the culmination of the Second Opium War, British and French troops looted and destroyed one of the most important palace complexes in imperial China--the Yuanmingyuan. Known in the West as the "Summer Palace," this site consisted of thousands of buildings housing a vast art collection. It is estimated that over a million objects may have been taken from the palaces in the Yuanmingyuan--and many of these are now scattered around the world, in private collections and public museums. With contributions from leading specialists, this is the first book to focus on the collecting and display of "Summer Palace" material over the past 150 years in museums in Britain and France. It examines the way museums placed their own cultural, political and aesthetic concerns upon Yuanmingyuan material, and how displays--especially those at the Royal Engineers Museum in Kent, the National Museum of Scotland and the Musée Chinois at the Château of Fontainebleau--tell us more about European representations and images of China, than they do about the Yuanmingyuan itself."--Provided by publisher "In October 1860, at the culmination of the Second Opium War, British and French troops looted and destroyed one of the most important palace complexes in imperial China--the Yuanmingyuan. Known in the West as the "Summer Palace," this site consisted of thousands of buildings housing a vast art collection. It is estimated that over a million objects may have been taken from the palaces in the Yuanmingyuan--and many of these are now scattered around the world, in private collections and public museums. With contributions from leading specialists, this is the first book to focus on the collecting and display of "Summer Palace" material over the past 150 years in museums in Britain and France. It examines the way museums placed their own cultural, political and aesthetic concerns upon Yuanmingyuan material, and how displays--especially those at the Royal Engineers Museum in Kent, the National Museum of Scotland and the Musée Chinois at the Château of Fontainebleau--tell us more about European representations and images of China, than they do about the Yuanmingyuan itself."--Provided by publisher In October 1860, at the culmination of the Second Opium War, British and French troops looted and destroyed one of the most important palace complexes in imperial China-the Yuanmingyuan. Known in the West as the "Summer Palace", this site consisted of thousands of buildings housing a vast art collection. It is estimated that over a million objects may have been taken from the palaces in the Yuanmingyuan-and many of these are now scattered around the world, in private collections and public museums. With contributions from leading specialists, this is the first book to focus on the collecting and display of "Summer Palace" material over the past 150 years in museums in Britain and France. It examines the way museums placed their own cultural, political and aesthetic concerns upon Yuanmingyuan material, and how displays-especially those at the Royal Engineers Museum in Kent, the National Museum of Scotland and the Musée Chinois at the Chateau of Fontainebleau-tell us more about European representations and images of China, than they do about the Yuanmingyuan itself. Book jacket In October 1860, at the culmination of the Second Opium War, British and French troops looted and destroyed one of the most important palace complexes in imperial China - the Yuanmingyuan. Known in the West as the "Summer Palace", this site consisted of thousands of buildings housing a vast art collection. It is estimated that over a million objects may have been taken from the palaces in the Yuanmingyuan - and many of these are now scattered around the world, in private collections and public museums. With contributions from leading specialists, this is the first book to focus on the collecting and display of "Summer Palace" material over the past 150 years in museums in Britain and France. It examines the way museums placed their own cultural, political and aesthetic concerns upon Yuanmingyuan material, and how displays - especially those at the Royal Engineers Museum in Kent, the National Museum of Scotland and the Musee Chinois at the Chateau of Fontainebleau - tell us more about European representations and images of China, than they do about the Yuanmingyuan itself Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 List of Figures 10 List of Contributors 13 Acknowledgments 15 Part I Overviews 16 1. The Yuanmingyuan and its Objects 18 2. The Afterlives of a Ruin: The Yuanmingyuan in China and the West 40 3. From the Summer Palace 1860: Provenance and Politics 53 Part II The Yuanmingyuan in Britain 66 4. The Yuanmingyuan and Design Reform in Britain 68 5. “True Beauty of Form and Chaste Embellishment”: Summer Palace Loot and Chinese Porcelain Collecting in Nineteenth-century Britain 87 6. “Chinese Gordon” and the Royal Engineers Museum 102 7. “Rose-water Upon His Delicate Hands”: Imperial and Imperialist Readings of the Hope Grant Ewer 114 Part III The Yuanmingyuan in France 136 8. Henri Bertin (1720–1792) and Images of the Yuanmingyuan in Eighteenth-century France 138 9. Empress Eugénie’s Chinese Museum at the Château of Fontainebleau: An Unusual Décor in the “House of the Ages” 153 10. Yuanmingyuan on Display: Ornamental Aesthetics at the Musée Chinois 164 Index 183 Edited By Louise Tythacott. This Volume Emerged From Papers Presented At A Conference At The University Of Manchester In July 2013 - The Yuanmingyuan In Britain And France : Representations Of The 'summer Palace' In The West,--page Xiv. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.