An extremely rare masterpiece
In the 1770s, Giuseppe Panzi, a Jesuit painter present at the Chinese court, painted a watercolor portrait of the Qianlong Emperor (1711 – 1799). This drawing, once returned to Europe, was notably the property of Henri-Léonard Bertin (1720 – 1792), minister of Louis XV and Louis XVI and a great lover of Chinese art.
Bertin, as Secretary of State, controlled numerous institutions and took very seriously his role as guardian of the royal porcelain factory of Sèvres. In particular, he increased efforts to develop the production of hard-paste porcelain in the Chinese way in Sèvres, that is to say with the addition of kaolin. His efforts enabled the marketing, from 1773, of hard dough.
Bertin also made Panzi's drawing available to the artists of the factory, which allowed the painter Charles-Eloi Asselin to imagine around 1776 a painted porcelain plaque representing the Qianlong Emperor in bust, wearing a fur cap topped of a large pearl. The portrait is today kept at the Palace of Versailles.
Panzi's watercolor drawing also allowed the modeler Josse-François-Joseph Le Riche, under the direction of Louis-Simon Boizot, to create at the factory, probably around 1775, the portrait of the Emperor, including the terracotta model is still kept at the Sèvres museum.
The first bisque copies of the portrait of the Emperor of China were sold in 1776 to Marie-Antoinette, the Duchess of Mazarin and Madame Adélaïde, daughter of Louis XV.
The following year, the Prince of Croÿ also purchased it, as did the Countess of Artois, sister-in-law of the king. Until 1779, several models were purchased by other amateurs, bringing the number of Qianlong portraits sold to thirteen, thus proving the success of this model among members of the royal family and the great nobility.
60 years of diplomatic relations between France and China
In 2024, France and China will celebrate 60 years since the establishment of their diplomatic relations. On this occasion, from April 1 to June 30, 2024, the Palace of Versailles and the Palace Museum of Beijing organized an exhibition at the Forbidden City exploring the privileged relations that the Kingdom of France and the Empire of China maintained under the Ancien Régime, from the sending of the first Jesuits by Louis XIV until the Revolution.
Through works from the collections of Versailles and Beijing, visitors were able to discover the breadth and depth of the artistic, technical and scientific links forged by the two countries for nearly 200 years, demonstrating mutual admiration.
Building on its success, the exhibition is currently on display at the Hong Kong Palace Museum until May 4, 2025.
The exhibition, presented in a different form, has just opened at the Hong Kong Palace Museum and will be on view until May 4, 2025.
Commissariat :
– Marie-Laure de Rochebrunegeneral curator of heritage, Palace of Versailles
– Guo FuxiangResearch Fellow, Palace Museum, Beijing
– Wenxin Wangassociate curator, associate curator, Palace Museum, Beijing
