PORTRAIT OF LADY WANYAN, WIFE OF HONGMING (1705--1767)
1767 or later copy

Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)

PORTRAIT OF PRINCE HONGMING (1705--1767)
1767 or later

Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)

PORTRAIT OF BOGGODO, PRINCE ZHUANG (1650-1723)
18th century

Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)

POSTHUMOUS PORTRAIT OF YU CHENGLONG (1617-1684)
1706 - 19th century

Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)

PORTRAIT OF THE QIANLONG EMPEROR (R. 1736-1796) AS THE BODHISATTVA MANJUSRI

mid-18th Century

Emperor's face painted by Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining) , (Italian, 1688-1766)

Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911)
Qianlong reign (1736--1796)

Chinese Ancestors Portraits

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When facing an altar with a pair of ancestor portraits hanging above it, the woman's image always appears to the left of her husband's. Altars were supposed to be placed on the north side of a hall, and Chinese ritual regulations dictated that the eastward position was higher in status than the west. In traditional China, men were considered superior to women. Chinese families traced descent through the male line, so it was important to commission portraits of male forebears. Women were honored as mothers. Since most sons were deeply emotionally attached to their mothers, they routinely had portraits of both parents made for ritual veneration.
Although Lady Wanyan's elaborate costume is not full court dress, she wears the jewelry appropriate for formal court occasions. The princess's coronet is decorated with five gold-and-pearl phoenix ornaments that signify her high rank. Touches of blue in her headdress represent jewelry adorned with brilliant blue kingfisher feathers, which was in vogue during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911).

This ancestor portrait of Prince Hongming and the one of his wife (see first picture) bear inscriptions in Chinese and Manchu (right and left, respectively) written by a devoted son. The texts are dated to 1767, the year of the prince's death. Most ancestor portraits were created around the time of the subject's death, and they were often painted as a matched pair, with the same carpet, chair, and brocade chair cover. Sometimes creation of a pair of ancestor portraits was delayed until both spouses had died, or two portraits were painted at once but the face of the still-living spouse was left blank. Also, the second portrait could have been painted much later with the setting copied from the first portrait.
Inscriptions are not always a firm guide for dating an ancestor portrait because many paintings were copied over the years, especially if they had become damaged. The strong highlights on the faces and clothing in this pair of portraits suggest they might have been painted in the second half of the nineteenth century rather than in 1767.
The prince wears semiformal, winter court dress. The dragon badge on his coat announces his court rank, and the open side vents reveal drawstring pouches and a white scarf hanging from his belt on both left and right. These are typical male costume accessories worn during the Qing dynasty.

The size of this scroll and its ornate red-gold brocade mounting well complement the sumptuousness of the elaborate furnishings. Boggodo's high cheekbones were signs of great authority in traditional Chinese conventions governing physiognomy (the reading of facial features). His rather meek expression contrasts with the magnificence of the setting, but the calm demeanor is typical of ancestor portraits. It may also be an accurate reflection of the man, who was not active in official life. Perhaps this was just as well, given the tumultuous court politics of his day.
Boggodo wears a winter chaofu, the court's formal attire, and the three-eyed peacock feather adorning his hat signifies high imperial favor. The emperor could award members of the court the right to wear a peacock feather with one, two, or three eyes, with three being the most prestigious.

Judging by the date of 1706 in the inscription above the portrait, this painting may have been created to commemorate Yu Chenglong's posthumous receipt of an imperial promotion. The style in which the face was rendered, however, suggests that this painting was actually produced in the nineteenth century, and the inscription may have been either copied from an earlier portrait or taken from it and remounted above this painting. Yu is depicted with a red nose. Was this a sign that he was fond of drinking, a fact cited in his biography? The treatment of Yu's nose stands out as an example of the realistic touches often found in Chinese portraits, whether posthumously executed or not.

This unusual portrait reflects upon the political strategy of the Qianlong emperor (reigned 1736–96) as well as his personal religious beliefs. Moreover, it is testimony to the multicultural nature of his court and empire. The emperor has had himself portrayed in the center of a thangka, a traditional Tibetan-style religious painting, but he called upon the Italian artist Giuseppe Castiglione, who was a Jesuit missionary serving at the Chinese court, to paint his face. By having himself depicted as the enlightened being Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, the Qianlong emperor positioned himself squarely in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy. The landscape surrounding him is filled with auspicious clouds and a representation of the five-peaked, Wutaishan sacred mountain in China.
The inscription on the painting proclaims Manjusri to be the ruler of the Buddhist faith. By assuming Manjusri's identity, the Qianlong emperor indirectly laid claim to that role for himself. This was politically significant because relations between the Qianlong court and the Mongol and Tibetan residents of the empire were couched in Buddhist, rather than Confucian, cultural rhetoric. The Qianlong emperor ordered thangkas, with himself as the central deity, displayed in the Tibetan Buddhist chapels that he erected in Peking (modern-day Beijing). One thangka that he sent to the Seventh Dalai Lama is currently displayed in the Potala, the Dalai Lama's residence in Lhasa, Tibet.

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