OBJECTS OF UNKNOWN OR MIXED MATERIALS
0037 When the Leicestershire Architectural and Archaeological Society opened a temporary museum in the autumn of 1861, the Rev. A. Pownall lent ‘Two ornaments from the Emperor’s Summer Palace’. (4 October 1861, Leicester Journal, p. 6.)
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0039 On 2 November 1861, Messrs. Debenham, Storr, and Sons offered at auction ‘an antique utensil from the Summer Palace’. (1 November 1861, Morning Post, p. 8.)
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0098 In November 1861 a conversazione was held in the Victoria Rooms, Southampton. On display were, from a Mr. R. Murray’s collection: ‘a number of items found in the Summer Palace at Pekin, which attracted great attention’. (23 November 1861, Hampshire Advertiser, p. 6.)
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0125 Army Chaplain Rev. MacGhee recalled that Dighton MacNaughton Probyn of the 2nd Punjab Cavalry, Indian Army, recipient of the Victoria Cross for his service during the Indian Mutiny and other honours, extracted vases from the Main Audience Hall for Queen Victoria:
At each end stood one of those enormous and splendid enamelled bowls, which the army has presented to Her Most Gracious Majesty, at Major Probyn’s request, who took them from the hall himself – minor spirits, being deterred from touching them by their vastness, were contented with some smaller and more suitable memento. But a difficulty is a just thing for Probyn; he contrived to get them away when no one else thought of attempting it. (R.J.L. MacGhee, How We Got to Pekin. A Narrative of the Campaign in China of 1860 (London: Richard Bentley, 1862), p. 204.)
See K. Hill, “Collecting on Campaign: British Soldiers in China During the Opium Wars,” Journal of the History of Collections, vol. 25, no. 2, 2013.
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0100 A Rifle Volunteer bazaar took place at Derby in the spring of 1862. At the bazaar, ‘Captain C.H. Cox, of the 60th Royal Rifles, exhibited some interesting historical pictures taken from the library of the Emperor’s Summer Palace; Chinese carving from Canton; Lotus Joss from the Summer Palace at Pekin; a lady’s dressing case taken from a harem of Hosi Who, China; seals, China lacquer. &c., &c.’ (15 April 1862, Nottinghamshire Guardian, p. 5.)
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0007 For a conversazione connected with the opening of a new national school at Horsforth, Mr. B.W. Sharp, a printer from Leeds, lent "four idols taken from the summer palace at Pekin’. (7 February 1863, Leeds Intelligencer, p. 7.)
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0095 In 1863 the Bradpole Bazaar was held at Bridport to fund the improvement of the church buildings: ‘Among other objects of attraction was a large vase taken from the Summer Palace at Pekin, and presented by the Rev. William Beach, late chaplain to the Bishop of Hong Kong.’ (30 July 1863, Dorset County Chronicle, p. 8.)
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0035 At Stowmarket in May 1864 the Literary Institution held a conversazione. Displayed among other items there was ‘a large collection of curiosities, including some of the spoils of the Summer Palace of Pekin.’ (23 May 1865, Bury and Norwich Post, p. 8.)
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0126 At the Yorkshire Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition in 1866 appeared ‘Chinese curiosities from the summer palace of the Emperor of China, furnished by Mr. J.P. Brown Westhead, of Lea Castle, Kidderminster’. (8 July 1866, Leeds Times, p. 3.)
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0092 At Barnstaple in 1868 a grand fancy bazaar was held to fund the restoration of the Trinity Church tower. One stall contained ‘some handsome screens and vase from the Summer Palace at Pekin’. (21 May 1868, North Devon Journal, p 8.)
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0148 A review of the Fine Arts and Industrial Exhibition, Derbyshire, remarked:
‘A kettle from the kitchen of the Emperor of China in the Summer Palace at Pekin (24), shows the kind of vessel employed in the preparation of tea for the delectation of the despotic head of the tea-producing empire.’ (30 September 1870, Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal, p. 7.) 26 February 2016.
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0149 For a soirée at the Inns of Court Lending Library in 1871, Major Wilmot Brooke lent ‘unique curiosities he had brought from Japan and China, including trophies from the “Summer Palace” at Pekin and the Taku Forts, where the gallant major had fought in the Chinese War’. (14 January 1871, London City Press, p. 3.) 26 February 2016.
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0162 In 1875, a bazaar for the Newland Congregational Church included among many ornamental objects: ‘a rich collection of Chinese porcelain, glass, and stone bottles (many of which are richly ornamented), some of them being from the summer palace at Pekin.’ (4 June 1875, Stamford Mercury, p. 4.) 26 February 2016.
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0166 On the 30th of December 1875, Messrs. Webbs and Brown offered for sale at the Middlesbrough Auction Mart ‘a most interesting and valuable collection of OLD CHINA and CHINESE FIGURES and CURIOSITIES, the greater part having come direct from the Summer Palace, Pekin.’ (28 December 1875, Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough, p. 4.) 26 February 2016.
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0176 In 1877 the Literary Institute of Thrapston, Northamptonshire, held an exhibition of ‘curiosities, antiquities, works of art, &c.’, which included ‘some Chinese trophies from the loot of the Summer Palace at Pekin’. (8 June 1877, Stamford Mercury, p. 4.) 26 February 2016.
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0181 In 1879 Messrs. Woodhams & Son offered for sale the effects of a ‘late captain in the Royal Navy’. The sale included: ‘Ornaments and Screens, being Loot taken from the Summer Palace, Pekin’. (11 January 1879, Hastings and St Leonards Observer, p. 4.) 26 February 2016.
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0188 An exhibition of antiquities was held at Bishop Morley’s Palace to finance restoration of Sparsholt Church in 1882. Among the displays, ‘There were various ancient deeds, coins, and medals, jewellery, some good old Collegiate plate, Chinese loot, from the Summer Palace, at Pekin...’ (8 July 1882, Hampshire Advertiser, p. 8.) 26 February 2016.
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0194 When a loan exhibition took place at Southborough Parochial Hall in 1884, Mrs. Bourne sent ‘a cat headed serpent looted from the summer palace of Pekin in the Chinese war.’ (18 July 1884, Kent & Sussex Courier, p. 5.) [editor: this is presumably a carving or a cast, though the medium is not specified, nor apparent from the context] 26 February 2016.
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0195 In 1884 a bazaar was organized in tandem with a loan exhibition in the Assembly Rooms at Cheltenham to raise funds for St. Luke’s Parish. Among the displays ‘There were articles brought from the Summer Palace at Pekin.’ (19 November 1884, Gloucestershire Echo, p. 3.) 26 February 2016.
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0208 A review of the Lincolnshire fine art exhibition, 1887, noted ‘a scent vase, brought from the Summer Palace, Pekin, is exhibited by Major Kennedy,’ and mentioned further that it was ‘brought from Pekin by the late General Gordon, and presented by him to Mrs. Kennedy’s family’. (17 June 1887, Lincolnshire Chronicle, p. 8.) 26 February 2016.
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0211 When an industrial exhibition took place at Cheltenham in 1887, on display were ‘Sir Alexander Ramsay’s relics of the looting of the Summer Palace at Pekin.’ (19 September 1887, Gloucestershire Echo, p. 3.) 26 February 2016.
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0214 At Colchester in 1888 a loan exhibition was organized in connection with the Albert School of Art ‘to assist in the cultivation of the taste for art and science among the residents of the Borough’. Among the ‘Artistic China, Plate, etc.’ was ‘an imperial sceptre, taken from the Summer Palace at Pekin, lent by Mr. H. D. Palmer’. (14 April 1888, Essex Standard, p. 5.) 26 February 2016.
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0216 In 1889 James Grant published British Battles on Land and Sea and the Manchester Courier reprinted his account of the looting at the Yuanmingyuan, which made the following assessment:
‘Every French private had in his possession a vast store of gold watches, strings of jewels, jade ornaments, silks, and furs. Many of the officers amassed tolerable fortunes, and their men were rolling in dollars. The sale of plunder in our camp lasted three days; it included many bronzes, gold and silver statuettes; the State robes of the emperor, rich yellow silk, worked upon with dragons in gold and floss-silk, lined with ermine, and cuffed with sable. An officer bought one of these robes for £120. (5 January 1889, Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, p. 10.) 26 February 2016.
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0138 When Commissary-General George Ignatius Pirkis died in 1890, his home Penlee in Richmond was described in an obituary as “a perfect museum of Chinese ceramics, bronzes, paintings, and other works of art, many of them of the rarest description. Here is booty from the Summer Palace at Pekin, sacked by the British Army in ‘58.” The general had spent over twenty years in China and joined the “ever-victorious army” in its campaign to defeat the Taiping. (26 July 1890, Surrey Mirror, p. 7.) 14 January 2016
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0140 A newspaper notice of 1890 titled “Holiday Trips: The London and South Western Railway”, recommended a stop at Wilton House, Wiltshire, which housed “Oriental curiosities, including spoil from the Summer Palace of Pekin”, among other fabulous objects. (6 September 1890, London Daily News, p. 3.) 14 January 2016
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0228 In 1891 Christie, Manson, and Woods advertised their auction of:
‘The COLLECTION of CHINESE and other ORIENTAL OBJECTS of General John Hackett, deceased, formed during the campaign in the North of China, many of the objects having been in the Summer Palace of Pekin, and comprising Chinese whole-coloured and enamelled vases, cisterns, bottles, bowls, figures, & C., Japan vases, cloisonné enamels, bronzes, &c.’ (20 July 1891, Morning Post, p. 8.) 26 February 2016.
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0241 In 1894 the firm of Messrs. Bracket and Sons sold the household effects of a Mrs. Waters, deceased, which included ‘curios from the loot of the Summer Palace, Pekin... ’ (5 October 1894, Kent & Sussex Courier, p. 1.) 26 February 2016.
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0252 A column in The World titled ‘Celebrities at Home’ was reprinted in the Dublin Daily Nation in 1899. The item described in great detail the contents of Powerscourt House in Wicklow, the home of Viscount Powerscourt. In the drawing room:
‘The two pietra dura tables were bought at Florence, and the large quantity of Sevres turquoise china in one of the cabinets was collected by the fourth Marquis of Londonderry, while not a few of the Oriental ornaments were looted from the Summer Palace at Pekin.’ (4 January 1899, Dublin Daily Nation, p. 7.) 26 February 2016.
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0114 Two objects reportedly from the Yuanmingyuan appeared in the exhibition of John Hilditch’s collection in 1927.
‘118. Shou Lao, the Taoist god of longevity riding upon a deer, the animal having in its mouth a branch of the Peach of immortality
Height 13 inches. Ming Dynasty
Formerly in the Summer Palace at Pekin.’
and
‘113. Imperial lamp stand with spreading foot, circular tray and cylindrical column. The whole richly and minutely decorated in relief with five-clawed dragons chasing the gem of omnipotence amid cloud scrolls.
Height 12 1/2 inches. Ming Dynasty
Formerly in the Summer Palace at Pekin.’
(J. Hilditch, Illustrated catalogue of a Chinese exhibition lent by John Hilditch of bronzes, pottery, porcelain, wood carvings: from 4000 years B.C. to 1851 A.D., Manchester: B. Eastwood, 1927.)
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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.