Exhibition Overview

China’s Imperial Palace was the heart of an empire that, to the Chinese, was the center of the world. During each dynasty exceptional art was created to surround and celebrate the emperor and his imperial family, whose members lived within the protected walls of the Forbidden City. One of the emperor’s principal roles was that of arbiter of taste for the empire as a whole. Under the auspices of the Qing dynasty, the imperial collections and studios swelled to unprecedented proportions. Thousands of artists, the finest of their day, toiled in the studios creating magnificent works of art—portraits and paintings, porcelain, formal robes, armor, scepters, seals, and jewelry—to affirm the power and glory of the state and thus the legitimacy of the emperor, the “Son of Heaven.” Today, the collection of the Qing emperors forms a substantial portion of the works in the Palace Museum in Beijing. A spectacular ensemble of more than 300 of these historic treasures, Secret World of the Forbidden City: Splendors from China’s Imperial Palace invites visitors to experience the imperial world of dynastic China.

The Forbidden City

China’s Imperial Palace—known as the Forbidden City—was erected during the Ming dynasty. It took 100,000 artisans and one million workmen fourteen years to complete (1406–1420). This 2.3-million-square-foot architectural marvel was designed according to a Chinese cosmic diagram of the universe that clearly defined the north-south and east-west axes. Ten-foot-high walls, crowned by four observation towers and flanked by a deep moat, surround the palace. In auspicious reference to the emperor’s long life and rule, the palace contains 999 buildings and 9,999 rooms. (The word for nine in Chinese, jiu, is a homonym for “long, lengthy.”) Today the Forbidden City is one of the world’s foremost museums of Chinese art and culture, with collections including gifts of state, military campaign treasures, and furnishings and possessions of members of the imperial household.



The Imperial Studios

As early as 700 B.C.E., the emperors of China retained artists and craftsmen to manufacture works of the highest quality to please their senses and secure their legitimacy. Under the Qing dynasty, imperial porcelain makers from Jingdezhen introduced new glazes, shapes, and techniques. The imperial studios produced paintings with traditional themes such as portraiture, landscapes, birds and flowers, and religious subjects, as well as detailed representations of political ceremony, military conquests, and imperial processions. Unlike earlier dynasties, the Qing court also employed Jesuit artists from Europe, whose introduction of western painting techniques and aesthetics stamped the academy as a whole with a unique visual flavor.

Religious Art

The Qing emperors retained their sacred Manchurian traditions, performing shamanistic rituals within the seclusion of the Forbidden City. In addition, they became ardent supporters of tantric Buddhism, imported from Tibet and Mongolia. Tibetan monks—stationed at the Hall of Uprightness within the Forbidden City—swere employed as artists to produce religious objects for the emperor. One example of their fine handiwork is the gilded alms bowl laced with eight dragons and Buddhist symbols. In contrast to its inherent symbolism, the bowl is opulently lined with silk and threaded with gold brocade. Another example is the gold figure of Maitreya—the Buddha of the future who waits patiently in heaven, bestowing his limitless compassion on human beings until he is reborn on earth in 548 million years. Composed of solid gold and encrusted with pearls, the figure stands nearly twenty inches in height and weighs more than forty-two pounds.

Textiles and Apparel

Throughout their long reign, the Manchu leaders of the Qing dynasty strove to retain their own culture while adopting that of their subjects as well. This balance between cultural assimilation and isolationism is evident in the decrees issued for imperial apparel within the Forbidden City. Reflecting the nomadic heritage of the rulers, robes were close-fitting on top and slit on the sides to allow comfort in the saddle. Sleeves were tight around the arms to keep out the wind, and the “horse-hoof” cuffs flared out to protect the hands. Although the cut and style of the robes depicted Manchu style, the color and symbolism of court apparel followed the traditional Chinese pattern. Bright yellow was reserved for the emperor, empress, and empress dowager. Likewise the dragon, long a symbol of the emperor in China, was a principal motif not only for stately court robes but also for the emperor’s accoutrements. As Manchu women rejected the traditional Chinese practice of footbinding, their feet appeared large in the eyes of their Chinese subjects. To make their feet look less inelegant, they adopted a style of shoe with a high platform, which forced them to take the small steps characteristic of Chinese women whose feet had been bound.

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