![QIANLONG -- Recueil de Vases Antiques. Et Piéces, Tirés des Cabinets Chinois de l'Empereur Kien-Long. [China, mid 18th century].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2013/NYR/2013_NYR_02706_0060_000(qianlong_--_recueil_de_vases_antiques_et_pieces_tires_des_cabinets_chi082350).jpg?w=1)
Details
QIANLONG -- Recueil de Vases Antiques. Et Piéces, Tirés des Cabinets Chinois de l'Empereur Kien-Long. [China, mid 18th century].
Manuscript title in French, French captions in black-ruled border on versos facing illustrations. 100 Chinese watercolor and gouache drawings on rice paper, mounted on laid paper. Chinese captions in margins on verso of some leaves. Drawings measure 9¾ x 9¾ inches; sheets 13½ x 14½ inches. Bound in an oblong 4o French album of the 1760s, French calf gilt, with the arms of Henri Bertin, Minister of State under Louis XV, on the sides (rebacked preserving original spine panels). Provenance: Henri Léonard Jean Baptiste Bertin (1720-1792), Minister and Secretary of State under Louis XV (binding, inscription on rear endleaf noting this was sold at the sale of his collection in 1811) -- Acquired from Ars Libri, 1981.
A SUPERB COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL WATERCOLORS, DOCUMENTING MASTERPIECES IN THE IMPERIAL COLLECTION OF QIANLONG (1711-1799), one of the greatest preservers and restorers of Chinese culture. More than any other Manchu emperor, Qianlong lavished the imperial collection with his attention: "The imperial collection had its origins in the first century B.C., and had gone through many vicissitudes of fire, civil wars and foreign invasions in the centuries that followed. But it was Qianlong who lavished the greatest attention on it, certainly of any of the Manchu rulers.... One of the many roles played by Qianlong, with his customary diligence, was that of the emperor as collector and curator....how carefully Qianlong followed the art market in rare paintings and antiquities, using a team of cultural advisers, from elderly Chinese literati to newly fledged Manchu connoisseurs. These men would help the emperor spot which great private collections might be coming up for sale, either because the fortunes of some previously rich merchant family were unraveling or because the precious objects acquired by Manchu or Chinese grandees during the chaos of the conquest period were no longer valued by those families' surviving heirs. Sometimes, too, Qianlong would pressure or even force wealthy courtiers into yielding up choice art objects: he did this by pointing out failings in their work, which might be excused if they made a certain "gift," or, in a couple of celebrated cases, by persuading the current owners that only the secure walls of the forbidden City and its guardians could save some precious painting from theft or from fire" (Jonathan Spence, "Portrait of an Emperor, Qianlong: Ruler, Connoisseur, Scholar", ICON Magazine, Winter 2003/4).
Henri Léonard Jean Baptiste Bertin amassed one of the largest collections of Chinese and Japanese art in Europe, and part of it he donated to the Cabinet des Estampes at the Biblothèque nationale in 1795. He initiated the "Mémoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences, les arts, les mouers, les usages des chinois," which contributed to the fashion for Chinese textiles and furniture so popular in the period under Louis XV. Fostering his early fascination with China, Bertin allowed two young Chinese Catholics to spend several years studying in France. Information gained from them regarding manufacturing was particularly useful, and Bertin provided the men with a tour of the Sèvres porcelain factory in order to compare French methods with those in China. After their return to China in 1766 (with a pension from Louis XVI) they began to send reports and materials to Bertin on China's scientific and artistic riches -- initiating a correspondence that would last until Bertin's emigration at the time of the French Revolution. By the time the last shipment was dispatched in 1789, more than 400 books, reports, objects and collections of drawings and prints had been sent to France. The material collection resulted in the publication of the 15-volume Mémoires concernant les Chinois between 1776 and 1791.
Manuscript title in French, French captions in black-ruled border on versos facing illustrations. 100 Chinese watercolor and gouache drawings on rice paper, mounted on laid paper. Chinese captions in margins on verso of some leaves. Drawings measure 9¾ x 9¾ inches; sheets 13½ x 14½ inches. Bound in an oblong 4o French album of the 1760s, French calf gilt, with the arms of Henri Bertin, Minister of State under Louis XV, on the sides (rebacked preserving original spine panels). Provenance: Henri Léonard Jean Baptiste Bertin (1720-1792), Minister and Secretary of State under Louis XV (binding, inscription on rear endleaf noting this was sold at the sale of his collection in 1811) -- Acquired from Ars Libri, 1981.
A SUPERB COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL WATERCOLORS, DOCUMENTING MASTERPIECES IN THE IMPERIAL COLLECTION OF QIANLONG (1711-1799), one of the greatest preservers and restorers of Chinese culture. More than any other Manchu emperor, Qianlong lavished the imperial collection with his attention: "The imperial collection had its origins in the first century B.C., and had gone through many vicissitudes of fire, civil wars and foreign invasions in the centuries that followed. But it was Qianlong who lavished the greatest attention on it, certainly of any of the Manchu rulers.... One of the many roles played by Qianlong, with his customary diligence, was that of the emperor as collector and curator....how carefully Qianlong followed the art market in rare paintings and antiquities, using a team of cultural advisers, from elderly Chinese literati to newly fledged Manchu connoisseurs. These men would help the emperor spot which great private collections might be coming up for sale, either because the fortunes of some previously rich merchant family were unraveling or because the precious objects acquired by Manchu or Chinese grandees during the chaos of the conquest period were no longer valued by those families' surviving heirs. Sometimes, too, Qianlong would pressure or even force wealthy courtiers into yielding up choice art objects: he did this by pointing out failings in their work, which might be excused if they made a certain "gift," or, in a couple of celebrated cases, by persuading the current owners that only the secure walls of the forbidden City and its guardians could save some precious painting from theft or from fire" (Jonathan Spence, "Portrait of an Emperor, Qianlong: Ruler, Connoisseur, Scholar", ICON Magazine, Winter 2003/4).
Henri Léonard Jean Baptiste Bertin amassed one of the largest collections of Chinese and Japanese art in Europe, and part of it he donated to the Cabinet des Estampes at the Biblothèque nationale in 1795. He initiated the "Mémoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences, les arts, les mouers, les usages des chinois," which contributed to the fashion for Chinese textiles and furniture so popular in the period under Louis XV. Fostering his early fascination with China, Bertin allowed two young Chinese Catholics to spend several years studying in France. Information gained from them regarding manufacturing was particularly useful, and Bertin provided the men with a tour of the Sèvres porcelain factory in order to compare French methods with those in China. After their return to China in 1766 (with a pension from Louis XVI) they began to send reports and materials to Bertin on China's scientific and artistic riches -- initiating a correspondence that would last until Bertin's emigration at the time of the French Revolution. By the time the last shipment was dispatched in 1789, more than 400 books, reports, objects and collections of drawings and prints had been sent to France. The material collection resulted in the publication of the 15-volume Mémoires concernant les Chinois between 1776 and 1791.