LONDON, ENGLAND.-The Royal Academy’s forthcoming landmark exhibition, China: The Three Emperors, 1662–1795, will present imperial treasures of the Qing dynasty. Drawn largely from the remarkable collections of the Palace Museum, Beijing, it will focus on the artistic and cultural riches of the three most powerful emperors of China’s last dynasty: The Kangxi Emperor (1662–1722), The Yongzheng Emperor (1723–35) and The Qianlong Emperor (1736–95). Some 400 works will include such treasures as paintings and painted scrolls, jades and bronzes, porcelain and lacquer ware, precious robes, palace furnishings, scientific instruments, weapons and ceremonial armour. Many of these unique objects have never been shown outside China.

The Qing dynasty, founded by the Manchus living in the north-east of the Eurasian continent, invaded and conquered China in the 1640s. During the period encompassed by the exhibition the Qing state stretched as far west as Tibet and Central Asia, north to Mongolia and Manchuria and south to Vietnam. As the Qing ruled territories that embraced a wide range of different peoples, they needed their authority to be respected across a wide constituency. This breadth is reflected in their patterns of court life, their palaces and the ritual banquets and journeys in which they engaged.

A spectacular range of paintings and objects will illustrate the various activities, projects and accomplishments associated with the three emperors. They had at their command the great painters of the court and the principal workshops of China. The Qing had themselves portrayed in magnificent paintings and commissioned dazzling works of art to the glory of the state.

The exhibition will begin with formal ritual portraits of the three emperors, depicted on dragon thrones and dressed in ceremonial robes of embroidered yellow silk. On display alongside will be rare survivals of the period: court robes that were worn by the emperors themselves, as well as a carved lacquer throne and screen, accompanied by incense burners and metalwork cranes, typical of a formal court setting.

One of the highlights of the exhibition will be the showing of court paintings commissioned to illustrate the many different occasions that marked the calendar. Hanging scrolls, handscrolls and albums show imperial palaces, hunting expeditions to the north, and the long journeys undertaken by the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors to Southern China, particularly the Yangtse region. Two magnificent scrolls are examples from large sets that record these visits, whose purpose was to exert control of the south. We will show two further scrolls depicting the emperors’ birthday celebrations and a set of six paintings illustrating the emperors’ private lives.

In a state made up of a multitude of different peoples, religious belief and practice were diverse. Shamanism, the original belief-system of the Manchus, was practised alongside Buddhism and Confucian court ritual. A gallery devoted to art and religion will have as its centrepiece a two-metre-high pagoda; also in this gallery an altar set-up will be re-created and the dazzling paraphernalia for religious ceremonies displayed.

Much of an emperor’s rule was spent consolidating and extending his territory. Both the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors took an active interest in their own troops and generals. Displays of military prowess were an important part of court life. Next to fine armour, embroidered saddles and even a sedan chair will be paintings of the rulers depicted as fearless riders in military garb. The coloured armour of the imperial military, known as ‘the eight banners’, will also be displayed here.

Imperial China had little direct contact with the West during this period. However, the Emperors were much interested in Western technical expertise. To illustrate the interaction with Westerners, a gallery of paintings, clocks and decorative arts will show Chinese curiosity with foreign expertise and innovation. This gallery will also explore the courtly relations with Jesuits, who went to China to seek converts to Christianity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These envoys remained important members of the Qing court, both in technical areas, as advisors on scientific instruments, and in providing painters who inspired Chinese court artists to emulate foreign styles. The exhibition will include a display of magnificent paintings by the famous Jesuit court artist Lang Shining, known by his Western name of Giuseppe Castiglione, alongside examples by Chinese court artists.

Besides their military skill, the emperors are famous for their scholarly dedication and their patronage of the arts. To illustrate their individual strengths, a gallery will be devoted to each reign. Starting with the Kangxi period, artefacts for the scholar’s table will be displayed together with a portrait of the emperor shown at his desk in an informal scholar’s hat, poised to write. Highlights of the gallery devoted to the Yongzheng Emperor include paintings of twelve court ladies arranged according to the four seasons, refined decorative arts, and a number of exquisite porcelains for which his reign was famed. Following in his path, Yongzheng’s son Qianlong was an avid collector who ensured that his collections would be forever enshrined in elaborate catalogues. Alongside the antiquities and precious objects he amassed will be prized examples of his own calligraphy.

The next gallery will look at works by artists contemporary with the Qing emperors but not necessarily associated with the court. Contrasting with the brilliantly coloured court paintings these works originate from the well-developed tradition of literati painting and continue the much earlier interests in monochrome painting of landscapes, mountains, rivers, birds and flowers. A massive jade mountain displayed here will present, in solid physical form, the Chinese conception of mountains as places of contemplation, imagination and metaphor.

In ancient and modern China auspicious emblems are everywhere. Chinese characters expressing wishes for long life, flowers and fruits, chrysanthemums and peaches, plum blossom and gourds: all embody hope for the future. As auspicious signs such motifs were essential elements in the decoration of a palace. The final gallery will be devoted to paintings, embroideries and artefacts that embody such imagery. Examples include the double gourd, seen as a sign of many descendants, and peaches, a symbol of longevity. Moreover, many emblems depend upon puns; for instance, the word for ‘crane’ is a homonym for the word for ‘harmonious’. A significant group of gifts to the emperor, the ruyi sceptres made in exotic materials, will also be displayed here. These have rarely been seen outside Beijing.

In 1935 the Royal Academy of Arts held the first major Chinese art exhibition in the United Kingdom to great acclaim and remains one of our top 20 exhibitions. China: The Three Emperors, 1662–1795 continues the RA’s tradition of hosting outstanding exhibitions exploring great civilisations, which have recently included Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years (2005), Aztecs (2002) and Africa: The Art of a Continent (1995).

China: The Three Emperors, 1662–1795 has been organised by the Royal Academy of Arts. The exhibition has been made possible through a unique collaboration with the Palace Museum, Beijing. The exhibition has been curated by Professor Dame Jessica Rawson, Warden of Merton College, Oxford; Alfreda Murck, Adjunct Professor of History, Peking University; Regina Krahl, independent art historian; Hiromi Kinoshita, Somerville College, Oxford; and Cecilia Treves, Exhibitions Curator at the Royal Academy.