Victory Memorialized: An Imperial Guangxu Period Battle Painting

Victory Memorialized: An Imperial Guangxu Period Battle Painting

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  An Important Imperial Nian Rebellion Battle Painting 'Siege of Pingyu', from a set of Eighteen Paintings Commemorating the Campaign of the Victories over the Nian, 1853-1868, By Qingkuang (Fl. Late 19th Century) et. al. Qing Dynasty, Guangxu Period. Estimate $300,000–500,000.

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  An Important Imperial Nian Rebellion Battle Painting 'Siege of Pingyu', from a set of Eighteen Paintings Commemorating the Campaign of the Victories over the Nian, 1853-1868, By Qingkuang (Fl. Late 19th Century) et. al. Qing Dynasty, Guangxu Period. Estimate $300,000–500,000.

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  A Resilient Rebellion

  The Nian Rebellion was an armed uprising that took place from 1853 to 1868, contemporaneous to the Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) in the south. Inspired by the White Lotus secret societies and unencumbered by a government preoccupied faced with the Taiping Rebellion in the south, the Nian quickly overran seven or eight provinces in north and central China. The surprisingly resilient rebellion was not suppressed until 1868 under the command of Li Hongzhang.

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  Leaders of the Siege

  This painting is the seventh in the set of eighteen depicting the Qing military’s victory over the Nian. It shows the siege and subsequent recapture of the city of Pingyu in western Henan province, in 1862, under the leadership of several important Qing military and civil officials. A number are pictured and named in this painting, among them Wu Yuanbing, Zheng Yuanshan and Zhang Yao, who looks out towards the viewer.

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  The Fortified City

  The Nian rebels are pictured behind the high walls built around the city, fortified with a deep moat. They sport distinctive orange-red headscarves, waving flags of yellow, white, red, blue and black high above the gates.

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  Military Regalia

  The Qing Imperial army ride on stocky horses, the locally recruited infantry wearing uniforms of red, blue and white corresponding with their banners, all armed with swords, spears, muskets, bows and arrows charging toward the city walls.

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  Imperial Artistry

  The subject matter, along with the fine and detailed workmanship reflects that these were Imperial commissions. Although the painters of these works are not named in the archives, they were almost certainly under the direction of Qingkuan (1848-1927), Director of the Three Agencies in the Neiwufu (Imperial Household Department) and an accomplished painter himself.

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  A Rare Record

  Only a very small number of the original Guangxu battle paintings have survived. Of the eighteen commemorating the campaign against the Nian rebels, only the exact whereabouts of only two are known, and both are in the National Gallery, Prague.

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