TWO ENGRAVINGS OF THE YUANMINGYUAN WESTERN-STYLE PALACES QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

each copper-plate print of black ink on paper intricately depicting a scene of the palaces in the Eternal Spring Garden of the Yuanmingyuan utilising Western perspective and etching techniques, including the north elevation of the Haiyan Tang (Hall of the Calm Sea) and the main façade of the Fangwai Guan (The 'Belvedere' Palace), inscribed with the scene's name and number in Chinese characters

The Yuanmingyuan by the Qianlong period occupied over eight-hundred acres that included private imperial residence compounds and five gardens called the Yuanming Wu Yuan (Five Gardens of Round Brightness). According to Cary Y. Liu in 'The Yuanming Yuan Summer Palace', Splendors of China's Forbidden City, Chicago, 2004, p. 35, it was designed 'as microcosms of the empire and cosmos, focusing on the emperor surrounded by scenic spots copied from around the nation and beyond its borders. Amid landscaped lakes, plains, and hills, the more public formal palace halls were arranged in front, followed by more private informal imperial residence compounds, with the garden sanctuary at the back.'  Liu further explains that buildings in the Yuanmingyuan were designed by the special Design Office (yang fang) who worked with construction drawings and models. The present set of prints were possibly drawn for the Design Office and were considered innovative designs imitating rococo-style Western buildings. 

The complete set of prints comprise of 20 copper-plate scenes of various architectural structures in the Eternal Spring Garden located at the North-east wing of of the Yuanming Yuan.  It was built to be a place of relaxation and pleasure reserved for the Qianlong Emperor after his retirement although it was already completed in 1751. More information on the western portion of the Yuanming Yuan can be found in Yong-Tsu Wong, A Paradise Lost: The Imperial Garden Yuanming Yuan, Honolulu, 2001, pp. 59-65. As these buildings were burnt down, and only broken walls remain, these prints provide us with important information.

Another set of prints of the European buildings in the Yuanming Yuan was included in the exhibition Splendors of a Flourishing Age: Paintings and Antiques of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns from the Forbidden City, Museu de Arte de Macau, 2000, cat.no. 37; and five are illustrated in Cecile et Michel Beurdeley, Castiglione, Peintre Jesuite a la Cour de Chine, Fribourg, 1971, pp. 66, 67, 69, 70 and 71.  See a set of four copper-plate prints offered in these rooms, 23rd October 2005, lot 383.