Collection Pop-Up: Rare East Asian Collection

In this week’s Collection Pop Up, curator Shiqiu Liu will focus on one of our star objects: the Palais, pavillons et jardins construits par Giuseppe Castiglione: dans le domaine impérial du Yuan Ming Yuan au Palais d'Été de Pékin.

Yuan Ming Yuan, the garden residence of the Qing emperors, contains a section that was designed by the Jesuits following the European style. It is the first grand architectural complex in built in China to have adopted Western design. This set of prints was commissioned by none other than the Qianlong Emperor. The session will also present a group of photos of the imperial palaces taken by the Japanese photographer, Ogawa Kazumasa in 1901. As a pioneer in photography in Japan, Ogawa introduced many new photography techniques to Japan and was later appointed as photographer to the Imperial family. He took these photos under the guidance of architecture historian Itō Chūta when Japan joined the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900.