Photography Copperplate of the Original Empress’s Palace in the Old Summer Palace

A black-and-white photograph showing a printed image of the eastern façade of the Empress Palace (Haiyantang 海晏堂) in the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan 圓明園) in Beijing, called the “European Pavilions” (Xiyanglou 西洋楼). The palace was designed by the Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766).

It is one of a series of twenty copperplate engravings commissioned in 1783 by Emperor Qianlong (reigned 1735–1796) and printed three years later. The engravings, gathered in European Pavilions in the Old Summer Palace: Twenty Views, were designed and probably produced by court artist Yi Lantai 伊兰泰 (lived 1749–1786), a student of Castiglione. The inscription in the upper right-hand corner indicates that this is the twelfth image in the album, showing the east façade of the Haiyantang Imperial Hall. These depictions are an important visual record of the European pavilions in the Old Summer Palace. The pavilion was destroyed by English and French troops in 1860 during the Second Opium War along with the rest of the Old Summer Palace.

The photograph is the 347th of 449 photographs of Beijing and its surroundings in the album of Ivan Skušek Jr., purchased during his stay in Beijing (1914–1920). In the handwritten inventory of the album, the photograph is referred to as Yüen-Ming-Yüen: Palais der Kaiserin (nach orig. Bild) . (DZ, MV)