Hong Kong Palace Museum | Entering the Forbidden City: Architecture, Collection, and Heritage

1101. “Yingyue” sword with scabbard

At the bottom of this display case lies a red sword called the “Yingyue” sword. Pay attention to the red scabbard with a spotted pattern, and guess what material it is made of. This scabbard was said to be made of coloured “shark” skin. But people in the 18th century probably had a limited understanding of marine animals and used various names interchangeably. The skin used here may come from a kind of stingray that has pearl-like spots on the back.

In 1748, the Qianlong Emperor commissioned 30 sabres and 30 swords. The emperor himself directly supervised and modified the design details, showing how much he valued these weapons. It took ten years to complete the production. The 60 sabres and swords were given serial numbers related to the characters of Heaven (tian), Earth (di), or Man (ren). The “Yingyue” sword was given the number of “Man (ren), 3”.

While sabres were the standard weapon used in the Manchu military, swords were more prevalent among the Han-Chinese—not only as weapons, but also as waist accessories. However, the sword was not listed as an official weapon in Qing court regulations. The Qianlong Emperor’s personal fondness for swords reflected the coexistence of the Manchu and Han-Chinese cultures in the Qing dynasty.

1102. Chime (teqing) with stand

Here is a huge exhibit that appears to be a golden gateway. It was a musical instrument used in major activities including ceremonies in the imperial court and was held in high esteem. How does this colossal object produce sound?

The instrument is called teqing, a type of chime. It is played by striking the piece of Xinjiang nephrite that is hung on the wooden stand.

This teqing was made in a set of twelve, corresponding to the twelve lunar months and the twelve-tone scale. Chinese people have had a good understanding of pitches and tonal scales since the Shang dynasty, when the ritual and music system was established. The pitches of teqing were determined by the sizes of the chimes. The larger the chime, the lower the sound. This teqing before you, produces the huangzhong or the “yellow bell” pitch. It plays the first and the lowest of the twelve pitches.

This instrument was solely used to play Zhonghe Shaoyue, the most formal ritual music of the Qing dynasty. This reflects how the Qianlong Emperor honoured the Confucian philosophy of using rites and music as the means of shaping moral standards.

1103. Records of the Pavilion of Literary Profundity

A happy and significant event occurred, and the Qianlong Emperor was moved to write this essay titled “Records of the Pavilion of Literary Profundity”. He then ordered to have the essay engraved in gold on jade tablets. In addition to the elegant handwriting of the emperor, the pattern of two dragons chasing a pearl carved on the last tablet is also impressive. Based on the grains of the jade tablets, it can be inferred that the tablets were made from a single piece of pale celadon jade. So, what was the event that inspired the Qianlong Emperor to create this work?

The Pavilion of Literary Profundity was built in 1776 to store two encyclopaedias Complete Library of the Four Treasuries and Imperially Endorsed Complete Collection of Graphs and Writings of Ancient and Modern Times compiled under the auspices of Qing emperors. Six years after the Pavilion was built, the manuscript of the first set of Complete Library of the Four Treasuries was finally completed. The Qianlong Emperor, who had been looking forward to this moment for years, was so pleased that he hosted a banquet for all officials who had contributed to the compilation project and generously rewarded them. To commemorate this event, he ordered his essay to be engraved on ten jade tablets. Through the essay, the Emperor expressed his aspirations for compiling the encyclopaedia and building the pavilion for it, testifying his respect for Confucianism and classical texts.

1104. Cong and liner with poem by the Qianlong Emperor

In the display case are two yellowish-brown, square-shaped exhibits with a large hollow. Made in jade, they have been interpreted as ritual objects called cong from the Neolithic period, and were used in rituals and funerals around four to five thousand years ago.

The blue object in front of the cong is a cloisonné liner made in the Qing dynasty. On the top surface are five round openings, and, on its exterior, a poem composed by the Qianlong Emperor. The word wangtou in the poem refers to a decorative piece for a cart’s pole in ancient times. In the absence of modern archaeology, the Qianlong Emperor, who loved studying ancient jades, speculated that this jade cong was a wangtou. He added the blue liner and used it as an incense burner, endowing the jade cong with new functions. The inner wall of the jade cong was also inscribed with this poem about wangtou. But, the poem was carved upside down, against the outer wall’s carvings that were identified as human faces only in recent archaeological studies.

According to the needs of the moment, ancient objects were upcycled to fulfil new functions. What are your thoughts on this?

1105. Lantern-shaped vase

This porcelain, shaped like lanterns that are often seen in Chinese festivals, was made during the Qianlong period. Note how similar the colour of the glaze is to that of the rouge used by the ladies. This is how the pigment got its name “rouge-red”. Since the pigment originally came from Europe, it was also known as “Western-red” in China.

During the Kangxi period, the Governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces presented the emperor with imported enamel pigments. Since then, imperial and folk kilns emulated the production of enamelled porcelain and learned the Western techniques, which had a significant influence on the development of coloured porcelain. In addition to rouge-red, the imported enamel pigments at that time also included certain hues of yellow, white, and green. The technique of producing rouge-red was intricate. Craftsmen would add a minute amount of gold, at a ratio of one-to-ten-thousand, to the glaze as a colouring agent. The glazed vessel would then be fired at a relatively low temperature of 800 degrees Celsius.

In 1728, during the Yongzheng period, the Imperial Porcelain Factory at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province already had the skills to produce their own enamels of various colours. At its peak, the Factory could produce up to 57 kinds of coloured glazes. The amount of rouge-red glaze porcelain produced as well as the quality of the glaze reached new heights during the Yongzheng and Qianlong period.

1106. Gramophone

The Fourth Son Visits His Mother by Peking opera artist Tan Xinpei