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Lot Essay
This 19th century painting is based on a court painting, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, which depicts a lady in precisely the same pose and wearing exactly the same style of clothes. This painting has rarely been illustrated but appears in black and white in Michael Sullivan's The Meeting of Eastern and Western Art From the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day, Thames and Hudson, London, 1973, fig. 42, where it is described as an anonymous portrait of Xiang Fei dressed en paysanne, and is dated to the mid-18th century. The painting is also discussed in a small number of Chinese publications, including 'Shi quan lao ren yu Xiang Fei', by Liu Jiaju in Gugong Wenwu yuekan, 2003, no. 6, p. 50.
Relatively little is known about the painting on which this figure is based, but it appears to be described in a book, originally published in 1932, by the biographer, literary historian, essayist and travel writer Peter Quennell (1905-1993). In this the writer describes a visit in 1930 to Beijing and the Forbidden City, and, in his discussion of the employment of Western missionaries by the Qianlong Emperor, Quennell appears to describe this painting and where it was placed within the palace at that time. He notes: 'Far away in a remote corner of the palace, he [Qianlong] built his barbarian concubine [Xiang Fei] a little bath-house, employing for this work the Jesuit missionaries who then lived on their wits at the Chinese court ... A tiny vaulted chamber and a paved ante-room; but in the ante-room there are two pictures on the wall, portraits of the concubine herself, painted by a Western artist in the Western manner. Father Castiglione was his name ... [the]Turki bed-fellow of the great king is upon a knoll, wearing a wide shady hat and a laced bodice, her blue over-skirt disposed around her as she reclines, holding the slender shaft of a long hoe.' (see Peter Quennell, A Superficial Journey Through Tokyo and Peking, Oxford University Press, 1986 edition, pp. 173-4). Quennell goes on to say that the other painting in the room (now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei), which he describes as being less skilfully rendered, was the famous oil-painting of a young woman (purportedly Xiang Fei) dressed as a classical goddess of war with cuirass and feather-plumed helmet (see Emperor Ch'ien-lung's Grand Cultural Enterprise, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2002, p. 31, no. I-II).
Although Quennell attributes the painting of the lady portrayed en jardiniere to Giuseppe Castiglione, it is by no means proved. However it does seem certain that the picture was painted by a Western artist - undoubtedly one of the European missionary artists at the Chinese court. The romantic approach to the subject is reminiscent of contemporary English artists such as Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) and Joshua Reynolds (1723-92), as well as the French artist Francois Boucher (1703-77). Interestingly the latter artist also provided designs for Beauvais tapestries, some of which were presented to the Chinese court and were much admired by the Qianlong Emperor. The inclusion of a hoe in the delicate hands of a lady dressed only for leisurely pursuits also recalls the fondness of the French Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-93) for bucolic imagery and her playful pursuit of pastoral life in the grounds of le Petit Trianon.
Both the painting of the lady in a garden with a hoe and the oil painting of the lady in armour have traditionally been thought to represent Emperor Qianlong's famously beautiful concubine Xiang Fei - the 'Fragrant Concubine'. Many legends have grown up about Xiang Fei, most of them coming to prominence in the early twentieth century, and these have inspired a wealth of romantic literature and drama. Current scholarship suggests that Xiang Fei may most probably be identified as the historical figure Rong Fei, Qianlong's only Uighur Muslim concubine, whose family were a branch the Khoja line. As members of the family had aided Qianlong's armies in their conquest of modern day Xinjiang, they were given noble titles and moved to Beijing. Rong Fei entered Qianlong's palace as a sixth rank guiren when she was twenty-seven, in 1760. Although she did not bear Qianlong any children, she and her brother were honoured with imperial gifts, and after her death in 1788 the Emperor ordered that she be buried at the Imperial Eastern Tombs in a coffin which bears Arabic inscriptions appropriate to her Muslim religion.
Relatively little is known about the painting on which this figure is based, but it appears to be described in a book, originally published in 1932, by the biographer, literary historian, essayist and travel writer Peter Quennell (1905-1993). In this the writer describes a visit in 1930 to Beijing and the Forbidden City, and, in his discussion of the employment of Western missionaries by the Qianlong Emperor, Quennell appears to describe this painting and where it was placed within the palace at that time. He notes: 'Far away in a remote corner of the palace, he [Qianlong] built his barbarian concubine [Xiang Fei] a little bath-house, employing for this work the Jesuit missionaries who then lived on their wits at the Chinese court ... A tiny vaulted chamber and a paved ante-room; but in the ante-room there are two pictures on the wall, portraits of the concubine herself, painted by a Western artist in the Western manner. Father Castiglione was his name ... [the]Turki bed-fellow of the great king is upon a knoll, wearing a wide shady hat and a laced bodice, her blue over-skirt disposed around her as she reclines, holding the slender shaft of a long hoe.' (see Peter Quennell, A Superficial Journey Through Tokyo and Peking, Oxford University Press, 1986 edition, pp. 173-4). Quennell goes on to say that the other painting in the room (now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei), which he describes as being less skilfully rendered, was the famous oil-painting of a young woman (purportedly Xiang Fei) dressed as a classical goddess of war with cuirass and feather-plumed helmet (see Emperor Ch'ien-lung's Grand Cultural Enterprise, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2002, p. 31, no. I-II).
Although Quennell attributes the painting of the lady portrayed en jardiniere to Giuseppe Castiglione, it is by no means proved. However it does seem certain that the picture was painted by a Western artist - undoubtedly one of the European missionary artists at the Chinese court. The romantic approach to the subject is reminiscent of contemporary English artists such as Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) and Joshua Reynolds (1723-92), as well as the French artist Francois Boucher (1703-77). Interestingly the latter artist also provided designs for Beauvais tapestries, some of which were presented to the Chinese court and were much admired by the Qianlong Emperor. The inclusion of a hoe in the delicate hands of a lady dressed only for leisurely pursuits also recalls the fondness of the French Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-93) for bucolic imagery and her playful pursuit of pastoral life in the grounds of le Petit Trianon.
Both the painting of the lady in a garden with a hoe and the oil painting of the lady in armour have traditionally been thought to represent Emperor Qianlong's famously beautiful concubine Xiang Fei - the 'Fragrant Concubine'. Many legends have grown up about Xiang Fei, most of them coming to prominence in the early twentieth century, and these have inspired a wealth of romantic literature and drama. Current scholarship suggests that Xiang Fei may most probably be identified as the historical figure Rong Fei, Qianlong's only Uighur Muslim concubine, whose family were a branch the Khoja line. As members of the family had aided Qianlong's armies in their conquest of modern day Xinjiang, they were given noble titles and moved to Beijing. Rong Fei entered Qianlong's palace as a sixth rank guiren when she was twenty-seven, in 1760. Although she did not bear Qianlong any children, she and her brother were honoured with imperial gifts, and after her death in 1788 the Emperor ordered that she be buried at the Imperial Eastern Tombs in a coffin which bears Arabic inscriptions appropriate to her Muslim religion.