Hong Kong Palace Museum | The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: YUAN MING YUAN — Art and Culture of an Imperial Garden-Palace

In the complex of Universal Peace, the primary structure stands in the water and takes the distinctive shape of a swastika, a sacred and auspicious symbol in Buddhism. The main Hall of Universal of Peace was accessible by boat from its south pier, or by land via bridges to the east and north. This model of the main hall is a restoration plan from the Tongzhi era, with a scale of approximately 1:100. The embankments around the main hall, bridges, culverts, and interior decoration are represented in detail in the model.

It became customary for the court during the Qianlong reign to move to Yuanming yuan after New Year’s Day. Around the time of the Lantern Festival, fireworks performances were staged at High-Reaching Mountain and Outstretched River, lantern dances took place at the Theatre of Shared Happiness, and a banquet was held at the Hall of Rectitude and Honour. This painting shows a scene probably at High-Reaching Mountain and Outstretched River. The Qianlong Emperor is seated on the veranda of a two-storey building, in front of which is a rack with a fireworks box. When lighted, the box will emit fireworks of different designs.

This painting once decorated a door in the east room of the Hall of Boundless Impartiality. It depicts a consort of the Qianlong Emperor, whose rank was equivalent or above the Imperial Conucbine. She rests her hand on the door as she tilts her head slightly to look at the viewer. Her gaze is gentle and engaging, delivering an “inviting” message. The Western perspectival and chiaroscuro painting techniques used by the painter to portray the beauty brings her to life within the doorframe.

Spring Everlasting on the Abode of the Immortals is a set of coloured paintings depicting the scenery of Yuanming yuan. Created in late Qing period, this album and the Forty Views of Yuanming yuan, made in the Qianlong period, are the most systematic and realistic paintings of the garden that have survived. The twenty leaves in this set show twenty scenes of Yuanming yuan. Located in the “Engraved Moon and Unfolding Clouds”, the Peony Terrace was the place where the Kangxi Emperor met for the first time his grandson, twelve-year-old Hongli, who would become the Qianlong Emperor. This place was later given the title “Hall of Commemorating Grace” by the Qianlong Emperor in 1766.

The painting depicts the Daoguang Emperor and his children enjoying leisure time in a garden. The seal impression reads “Seal of the Hall of Vigilance and Frugality”, which suggests that the painting was once placed in the hall bearing this name. The emperor is seated in a pavilion where a plaque inscribed “Clearing Mind and Rectifying Nature” is hung. The plaque was made in 1847 and hung at the Hall of Vigilance and Frugality. The presence of the plaque in the painting suggests that the setting represents Yuanming yuan.