1745

Imperial Poems on Forty Views of the Yuanming Garden (the Old Summer Palace): Title Slip of Volume One

Artist/maker unknown

Combining the arts of poetry, landscape painting, architecture and garden design the Imperial Poems on Forty Views of the Yuanming Garden, contain illustrated verses composed by the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736–1795). Each poem is paired with extensive annotations written by eminent scholar-officials that elucidate their meaning as well as images of the site rendered in a European inspired one-point perspective.

Situated in the western suburbs of Beijing, the Yuanming Garden, also known as the Garden of Perfect Brightness or the Old Summer Palace, occupies an area of more than eight hundred acres. Construction on this vast site began in 1709 and continued into the next century. In addition to natural sceneries, it features man-made gardens modeled on celebrated examples in southern China, as well as European palaces. The emperors were so fond of this imperial estate that they often took long-term residence in the extensive palaces situated throughout its landscape. This set of printed books is especially valuable in revealing the original elegance and splendor of the Yuanming Garden, which suffered substantial damage by fire and pillaging by foreign troops in 1860 and 1900.