Photography Copper Etching of the Original Empress’s Palace in the Old Summer Palace

A black-and-white photograph showing a printed image of the Empress’s Palace (Haiyantang 海晏堂) in an area of the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan 圓明園) in Beijing called the “European Pavilions” (Xiyanglou 西洋楼). It 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 tenth image in the album, showing the west façade of the Haiyantang Empress Hall.

These depictions are an important visual record of the European pavilions in the Old Summer Palace. They were the greatest expression of Emperor Qianlong’s interest in Western art. The pavilion, along with the rest of the Summer Palace, was destroyed by English and French troops in 1860 during the Second Opium War.

The photograph is the 352nd 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 (Rückseite). (DZ, MV)