"Commemorating His Majesty" Exhibition
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This event has ended.
Complementing the exhibition "The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City," this installation features imperially commissioned paintings and calligraphies from the Qianlong era.
Self-conscious of his place in Chinese history, the Qianlong Emperor made extraordinary efforts to perpetuate his legacy by commissioning works of art that commemorated his achievements and enhanced his image as an ideal "sage-king." To demonstrate his command of China's elite cultural heritage, the emperor had select calligraphic masterpieces from the imperial collection copied and carved into stone tablets, from which sets of rubbings were produced and compiled into a thirty-two volume compendium of canonical models.
[Image: Portrait of the Imperial Bodyguard Zhanyinbao (Qianlong toudeng shiwei Zhanyinbao) (detail), 1760. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk; 74 1/4 x 37 7/16 in.]
Media
Schedule
from February 01, 2011 to May 01, 2011