A rare and important set of gilt lacquer panpipes (Paixiao), Mark and period of Qianlong

French Private Collection.

At the very core of recreational and religious music in China since at least the Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BCE) the paixiao or ‘pan flute’ is one of the most iconic instruments in the Chinese ensemble and is here fittingly represented by an extraordinary imperial example of its kind from the height of the Qianlong reign (1735-1795). 

While the range and timbre of the instruments included shifted over the centuries, the Imperial orchestra of the Qing dynasty was essentially a direct reproduction of assemblages found in antiquity. From sets of jade chimes and heavily cast bronze bells to vividly decorated flutes and panpipes, the ritual instruments of the Qianlong court followed in the path of those produced for Zhou dynasty kings and Song dynasty emperors alike and are detailed at length in the eighth juan of the Huangchao liqi tushi (Illustrated standards of ritual objects of Our August Dynasty, 1759).

Although imperial instruments of the period in bronze and jade are well attested, it is extremely rare to find a surviving example of an imperial paixiao, let alone one preserved with most of its original lacquer and gilt decoration. To date, only three other paixiao of related imperial design appear to survive, all preserved in public institutions in China: a closely related example preserved in the Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum, Shenyang, illustrated on the Museum’s website; another in the National Museum of China, Beijing, illustrated on its website; and a Kangxi mark and period prototype of very similar twin-dragon design, preserved from the Qing Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing (accession no. gu 00169650). 

Unlike the earliest examples which generally feature twelve or thirteen bamboo or bone pipes, by the Qing dynasty, paixiao almost invariably featured sixteen pipes, with which the player could play the twelve lü of the classical Chinese scale together with two additional beilü (‘double notes’) on each end to extend the player’s range. Conspicuously labeled on the present example to highlight the scholarly wisdom of the Emperor and his understanding of music and, by extension, cosmology, the notes of the present paixiao stand as a lasting tribute to the sights and sounds of the Qianlong court, preserved in private hands for almost three centuries.