TWO COPPER-PLATE ENGRAVINGS OF THE CONQUESTS OF THE EMPEROR QIANLONG DATED 1765 AND 1774

the first depicting the surrender of the Arcul, from a drawing by Jean-Denis Attiret, engraved by Jacques Aliamet under the direction of C.N. Cochin, the lower edge inscribed Js. Dios. Attiret Soc. Jesu, del. 1765, C.N. Cochin filius Dirrex. and J. Aliamet Sculp.; the second depicting the victory of Khorgos, from a drawing by Jean-Denis Attiret, engraved by Jacques-Philippe Le Bas, the lower right corner inscribed Grave par J. P. Le Bas Graveur du Cabinet du Roi en 1774 (2)

Having been shown prints done after the battle paintings by the German artist Rugendas (1666-1742), the Qianlong emperor was inspired to celebrate his own victories by having them commemorated in prints. He commissioned the original set of sixteen engravings of his conquests on 13th July 1765 for the central hall of the Palace of Beijing. The drawings were prepared in China by Jesuit missionaries and sent to France, where the engravings were executed in Paris by eight artists under the direction of Charles-Nicolas Cochin of the Académie Royale at the Court of Louis XVI. The individual engravers included Le Bas, Aliamet, Prevost, Saint-Aubin, Masquelier, Choffard and De Launay. 

The series is a remarkable fusion of European and Chinese aesthetics and European technique. 

A set of twelve engravings commissioned by Qianlong to commemorate later victories was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 27th April 2003, lot 35; and two tinted engravings were sold in these rooms 17th and 18th March 2015, lot 224.