The Yuanmingyuan Artefact Index is a digital repository of artefacts linked to the Yuanmingyuan, the Qing imperial estate looted by French and British troops at the conclusion of the final opium war in 1860. Many of the entries on the site are drawn from 19th-century British newspapers and are evidence for the movement of objects through the United Kingdom and France after the war. Other entries cover objects currently located in various public collections or recently sold in the public marketplace.

This project comes out of my researches since 2008, when I began studying the Yuanmingyuan for my master’s degree at Christie’s Education. Since then, I have been searching for artefacts in collections and archives.

My hope in putting this information together in one place online is to contribute to the worldwide Yuanmingyuan provenance research effort underway.  A comprehensive view of the dispersed collections from the estate [which sadly must underrepresent the many documents and paintings lost], will give us a better idea of Qing collecting and patronage, along with the site itself.

Yuanmingyuan Artefacts at the Surrey Infantry Museum

Before 29 April 2015 two important ceramics linked with the Yuanmingyuan were displayed in the Surrey Infantry Museum. The museum was situated in Clandon Park, a renowned 18th-c. mansion.

The first piece was a large section of a Qing Dynasty revolving vase, a rare type of vessel produced in imperial workshops expressly for emperors. Surviving specimens date primarily to the reign of the Qianlong Emperor and are composed of an inner vase and an outer reticulated vase that would reveal a changing scene when the vase was turned. The unique fragment at the Surrey museum was the inner portion of a revolving vase, preserved whole. It was painted in polychrome enamels with the eight daoist immortals floating on a turbulent sea among many red bats. The plaque read: ‘Part of a china vase taken at Pekin, 1860. Donated to the officers of the 2nd Queen’s Royal Regiment by their Colonel Thomas Addison CB.’

The other item was a ceramic Guanyin head. The label stated: ‘Head of a Chinese Joss Taken from the Summer Palace’, Pekin, March 1872 presented by Lt. Comdr A.S. Hamilton, R.N. Oct. 1923.’ The Guanyin wears a lotus crown, and has a ceramic pin at the bottom. On the crown, each petal shows Amitabha Buddha sitting on a lotus in relief. The head is glazed in yellow and turquoise; the pin is unglazed. The top of the crown has a large round opening. The character “臣” is incised roughly on the nape of its neck. The British Museum holds three identical heads. (inv. nos Franks.459.a, Franks.1614) One of them is inserted in the torso of a matching seated bodhisattva sculpture. The other two were included in the A.W. Franks’ Oriental Porcelain and Pottery exhibition at Bethnal Green, 1878, and catalogued as: ‘TWO HEADS FROM STATUES, probably of the goddess Kwanyin . . . portions of figures in the Wan Show Shan, or pleasure grounds attached to the Yuen Ming Yuen. ’ (A. W. Franks, Catalogue of a Collection of Oriental Porcelain and Pottery Lent for Exhibition, 2nd Edition, London: 1878, p. 64. See also: K. Hill, ‘Chinese Ceramics in UK Military Museums,’ Oriental Ceramic Society Newsletter, no. 20, May 2012.) The Guanyin head was taken from the Hall of the Sea of Wisdom in the adjacent Yiheyuan, which was photographed by Felice Beato in 1860 during the occupation of the Yuanmingyuan. (McGhee, R.J.L., 1862. How we got to Pekin. A narrative of the campaign in China of 1860, London: Richard Bentley. Frontispiece. Available at www.archive.org) Sadly, on 29 April 2015, Clandon Park caught fire and the Surrey Infantry Museum was destroyed. The fate of these artefacts is still unknown, but archaeologists are currently searching for them.

2015 年 4月 29日 之前 两 仵 重要 的 瓷砖 文物 在 萨里 步兵 博物馆 被 展出. 该博物馆 位于克兰登公园， 一个 十八世纪 公馆. 一 个 皇家 特 制 转 心 瓶 的 组 件， 这个 组 件 是 转 心 瓶 的 全部 内瓶. 它 的 标签 写 着: “一 个 1860 年 取 — 北京 的 花瓶 的 部分. 它是 被 王后 的 皇家 二 军团 陆军上校 Thomas Addison CB 捐 赠 给 他 的 军官 们.” 另一个 是 瓷砖 观音 头. 它 的 标签 写 着: “来 自  中国  北京 圆明园 的 佛像 头, 1872 年  3月. 1923 年 10月, 由 皇家 海军少校  A.S. Hamilton 捐献.”  这个 观音 头 戴 莲 冠, 并且 有 瓷砖 榫 在 底部. 在 冠 上，每 个 单瓣 都 有 一 个 浅浮雕 阿弥陀佛 坐 莲. 那 个 头 有  金黄  璃 和 绿松石色 璃. 榫 子 没有 琉 璃 装 饰. 冠 顶  有 一 个 大 圆 窦. ‘臣’  被 镌 了 在  脖颈儿. 大英博物馆 也 藏 有 三 个 相 同 的 观音 头. (博 物 编号：Franks.459.a; Franks.1614)  其中 一 个 观音 头 插在 一 个 坐 佛像  的   躯干 上 . 其它两个 观音 头 是 其内 1878 年 在 Bethnal Green 陶艺展.* 不幸的是, 2015年 4月 29日, 克兰登公园 失火了.  而 萨里 步兵 博物馆 被摧毁. 而 萨里 步兵 博物馆 被摧毁.  这些 文物 的 时运 是 未知, 但是 现下 考古家 们 寻. 

(翻譯: Zhang Xiaolei 和 Kate Hill)

* A.W. Franks, Catalogue of a Collection of Oriental Porcelain and Pottery Lent for Exhibition, 2nd Edition, London: 1878, p. 64. K. Hill, ‘Chinese Ceramics in UK Military Museums,’ Oriental Ceramic Society Newsletter, no. 20, May 2012.

Updated 21.02.2016.  ‘All material on this page, unless otherwise credited, was produced by Kate Hill, who asserts her authorship of the work. © Kate Hill, Yuanmingyuan Artefact Index, 2016.’