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Small vase This slender vase has tall, flaring upper and lower sections divided by a slightly bulbous middle; the shape is patterned after that of an ancient Chinese bronze vessel known as a zun. It is decorated with potted plants on the upper part, a landscape with figures in the middle, and ladies on horseback on the lower register. An artemisia leaf with ribbons is painted in underglaze blue, with no encircling element, on the base.
Catalogue entry from Suzanne G. Valenstein. The Robert Collection. Decorative Arts, Volume XV. Wolfram Koeppe, et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 322.
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Hundred Horses This is an early painting by Giuseppe Castiglione, one of the most famous Europeans in the service of the Ch’ing dynasty court. This handscroll more than seven meters long depicts a scene of taking a herd of horses out to pasture in autumn. The hundred steeds are shown in a variety of poses and activities as they leisurely make their way around the pastures and trees. Castiglione, using refined gradations of light and shadow, has rendered an exceptionally realistic scene. Although the painting compositionally represents a continuation of traditional arrangements of herding horses in Chinese art, the placement and depiction of the trees and landscape elements clearly reveal the deep atmospheric effect often found in Western art. Even the sizes of the horses vary with the distance and are shown in relative proportion. Likewise, the painting method for the distant mountain rocks is distinct from that seen in traditional Chinese brushwork, with layered pigments also seen among the trees.
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Ten Horses Depiction, Thunderclap Lang Shih-ning is the Chinese name of Giuseppe Castiglione, an Italian Jesuit novitiate. In 1715, he arrived in China, where his training in art came to the attention of the court. He served as a painter under the K’ang-hsi, Yung-cheng, and Ch’ien-lung emperors. He excelled at painting figures, birds and flowers, and especially dogs and horses. Castiglione was ordered by the court to paint from life fine steeds sent from the western regions as tribute. Collectively known as “The Ten Steeds”, these large works are almost life-size renderings. He added Western painting techniques of shadow and perspective to Chinese traditional methods to create colorful yet realistic portrayals. This work is a portrait of the steeds known as Thunderclap.
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Xian'e Changchun Album - Peach Blossom This album consists of sixteen leaves divided among blossoms of the four seasons and scattered with rocks, birds, insects, and other plants. The subjects appear to have been taken from scenes in the imperial gardens, and all of them appear to have been meticulously arranged. The placement of the main and subsidiary subjects is also rendered perfectly and the coloring gorgeous, making this work a masterpiece synthesizing the best of Chinese and Western painting traditions.
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Ten Horses Depiction, Snow Scattered Eagle Castiglione was commissioned to create portraits of fine horses presented as tribute from vassal states to the west for the Ch’ing court. Painted almost life-size, his use of Chinese techniques also incorporates Western methods of chiaroscuro and perspective, making the life-like colors and forms convincing. The portrait of the Ch’ih-hua-ying horse is one of set of 10 from 1743.
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Ten Horses Depiction, Red Flower Eagle Castiglione was commissioned to create portraits of fine horses presented as tribute from vassal states to the west for the Ch’ing court. Painted almost life-size, his use of Chinese techniques also incorporates Western methods of chiaroscuro and perspective, making the life-like colors and forms convincing. The portrait of the Ch’ih-hua-ying horse is one of set of 10 from 1743.
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Shanshui Giuseppe Castiglione employed the techniques of Western painting in doing this landscape painting. As a result, the three-dimensional effect of the mountains, rocks, trees and houses is far more apparent here than in other traditional Chinese landscapes.
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Xian'e Changchun Album - Cherry Apple & Magnolia This album consists of sixteen leaves divided among blossoms of the four seasons and scattered with rocks, birds, insects, and other plants. The subjects appear to have been taken from scenes in the imperial gardens, and all of them appear to have been meticulously arranged. The placement of the main and subsidiary subjects is also rendered perfectly and the coloring gorgeous, making this work a masterpiece synthesizing the best of Chinese and Western painting traditions. Selected for exhibit here are the fourth leaf on the subject of crab apple and magnolia blossoms along with the sixth leaf rendering yellow rose and bleeding heart blossoms. The signature on this album done in Sung-script style suggests it was done by Giuseppe Castiglione sometime between his arrival in China around 1715 and the early Ch’ien-lung reign (1736-1795).