On the Trail of Treasure from China’s Lost Summer Palace

The Emperor’s Summer Palace was taken and looted on the 6th of October. The quantity of spoil was enormous.
(The Illustrated London News, 13 October 1860)

Situated five miles northwest of the ancient walled city of Beijing, the Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) was the principal Chinese imperial residence from 1725 until 1860 (fig. 1). Designed for the exclusive enjoyment of the emperor, its 860 enclosed acres, five times the size of the Forbidden City, comprised hundreds of buildings: public audience halls, private apartments, studios, libraries, temples, theatres, pavilions, and even a series of European-styled palaces, placed in their own landscape settings. The palace was filled with fine artworks (fig. 2). ‘Nothing in our Europe can give an idea of equal luxury, and it is impossible for me in these few lines to describe the splendour ofit, especially under the impression of bewilderment caused by my view of these marvels’, said General Sir James Hope Grant (1808–75).

In October 1860, as the final act in the Second Opium War, the palace was captured and systematically looted by an invading army of British and French soldiers; the wonderful collection was dispersed, the palace destroyed.

Understanding and uncovering where these artworks went after the looting is a fascinating exercise in detective work that runs through libraries, palaces, auction archives, museums, and private houses around Europe and the United States. The investigative trail is often cold and frequently circuitous, from the original accounts of looting, through multiple hands, to collections and auctions today.

There are at least twenty contemporary accounts of the China Campaign written by the leading protagonists, including the generals of the French and British armies, the leading diplomats, and many important officers. These accounts are vital starting points for further investigation. They provide details of collections acquired in China and identify prominent families who may still have artworks in their possession. Sometimes the accounts describe the artworks in some detail, how the officers acquired them, and how loot was exchanged between the French and British armies in China. They can also be used to begin to develop a comprehensive list of the officers of both armies who were present in Beijing in October 1860, which is invaluable in assessing claims by families and in tracking the path of loot down to modern times.

One collection assembled in China that has remained intact is the immense trove of the finest artworks, which was given to the French empress, Eugénie. General Montauban, commander of the French troops in China, noted:

[We gathered] . . . all the riches contained in the Summer Palace and . . . we decided that they would be equally divided between the
two armies . . . The army then spontaneously expressed the wish that all valuable objects from the imperial palace were sent as a gift to Her Majesty the Empress . . . An artillery officer was instructed to accompany them to Paris; the gift of the army.

3
Vase
China; Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong period (1736–95)
Rock crystal
Taken from the Summer Palace, gift to Empress Eugénie, 1861 Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau, France
Photo courtesy of Vassil

This grand French set-aside, consisting of hundreds of pieces, was exhibited in Paris in 1861 before being installed in the Palace of Fontainebleau. The collection is now on display in the obscure, shuttered rooms that compose the palace’s Musée Chinois (fig. 3). Inside the archives of the museum, the inner sanctum, are ledgers that record in beautiful cursive the treasures brought back by the soldiers, along with objects acquired by Napoleon III on the open market (fig. 4). This rich detail provides a complete picture of the Fontainebleau collection: documenting all the individual artworks, beyond those on display, how they were perceived and valued in 1860, and how each one was acquired.

The English monarch, Queen Victoria (r. 1837– 1901), was not as favoured as her French counterpart. The only piece of Summer Palace loot that was preserved for her enjoyment by the British army was a beautiful gold and jade sceptre (ruyi) (fig. 5) presented to her by Colonel Crealock, the private secretary to Lord Elgin, the diplomatic leader of the expedition. (The balance of the British set-aside was, rather shockingly, sold off to the soldiers in the field to raise money for the troops, the so-called ‘prize sale’.) I was invited to the Royal Archives in 2016 to view the object, amongst considerable security and secrecy. The archivists were diligent and interested in the history of the ruyi that had once belonged to the Chinese emperor. This and another sceptre—a gift from the queen of Norway to Queen Mary in the 1920s—are not the only pieces from the Yuanmingyuan in the British Royal Collection, but they are the principal ones.

Mostly the soldiers looted for profit, not for collecting fine art. When they returned to Europe, they typically sold off their collections through auction houses, antique shops, curio dealers, and other venues. Beginning in 1861 there was a clear divide between artworks that were retained by the officers, their families, and curators in military museums—who collectively saw these pieces as mementos—and the larger quantity that was put into the open market. Those in the market have been exchanged, often many times, until they reached their present locations.

It is illuminating to look at the original 1860s French and English records from the leading auction houses detailing Summer Palace artworks for sale. There were as many as 155 auctions held in the 19th century in France and Britain featuring Summer Palace loot. Generally these accounts, though sometimes moving and often fascinating, do not provide direct evidence as to where these objects reside today. One notable exception is the group of objects sold at the 1862 Paris auction of Colonel Du Pin, one of three French officers appointed to evaluate Summer Palace treasures in China. Auction buyers were a diverse group that included many dealers. However, four objects from the Du Pin sale were acquired by the French collector M. Poinsot: two fantastic gold chalices and a pair of ornate enamel censers (fig. 6). Poinsot later sold his collection at auction in 1872. The works described were purchased by the marquess of Hertford, who subsequently donated his collection to found a museum, the Wallace Collection in London, and the four marvelous Du Pin pieces in question can be found there.

Newspaper accounts offer invaluable clues and insights into displays of Summer Palace loot in museums and at exhibitions in the decades following the China Campaign. One example of this is from the collection of Sir James Ashby.

The public will be interested to hear that Mr Ashby, C. B., of Little Park, Battle, will lend
an interesting collection of enamels and embroidery, from the Summer Palace, Pekin, to the Museum. Mr Ashby, C. B., was in the staff of Admiral Sir James Grant, at the taking of Pekin, in 1860. (Hastings and St. Leonards Observer, 12 October 1895)

A letter to the museum, inquiring if these artworks had by some chance been donated, revealed that they had not. A letter to a local historian who knew of the family, the Ashbys of the village of Ninby in East Sussex, led to researching the family history. Through this investigation I was able to piece together much of the Ashby family tree and identify a great- granddaughter, still living, in Ireland. In contacting her, information was gleaned about the location of these treasures. Wills and family trees can thus be very helpful in linking officers to their descendants and potentially their artworks.

It is not untypical for families of officers and soldiers to have held onto objects from China out of memory of their loved ones, perhaps perceiving them of little monetary value. John Hart Dunne (fig. 7) was a captain with the 99th Regiment. His loot is recorded in his account of the war:

Saw every one clearing off, loaded with booty; and, in despair, took to buying pearls in the French camp, and a few jade-stone trifles. Sir Hope Grant, in a very good general order, put it entirely to the honour of the officers that they should give up everything; so, of course, there was nothing for it but to produce all. An exception was made as regarded those things purchased in the French camp. I have been able to retain a good many trifles that I bought there.

Dunne’s collection came to prominence when it was stolen by thieves in 2010, along with his medals and other objects from China. A descendent had retained all of the artworks in her house, but when she had to move into a retirement home, the house was burgled and all the Summer Palace items taken. The police were able to recover some objects, but the majority went to auction. A niece of the elderly lady was able to buy some of the pieces back, but most were dispersed. The recovered artworks were taken by the niece to New Zealand, where they are today.

8
Three tripod censers
China; Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong period (1736–95) Porcelain; various dimensions
Taken from the Summer Palace by Captain Ely of the 99th Regiment
The Wardrobe, Salisbury, England Photo by the author, 2017

Dunne’s comrade, Captain Henry Ely, also of the 99th Regiment in China, donated his collection of loot to the regimental mess. Some museums were the direct beneficiaries of loot in the immediate aftermath of the campaign; other institutions, recognizing the quality of the looted objects, acquired them in the century-and-a-half that has followed. Captain Ely’s beautiful porcelain censers (fig. 8), which were photographed in China by the campaign photographer, can currently be seen alongside rifles, uniforms, and drums in the museum of the Wiltshire Regiment, at the Wardrobe, in Salisbury, England.

As much as traditional research, chance encounters can play a part in tracking down treasures. In 2017, I met a BBC journalist, in China, who was producing a documentary about the Summer Palace. He introduced me to a British lord whose ancestor was prominent in the China Campaign. The lord invited me to visit, on three occasions, and this was a marvelous opportunity to gather information about the campaign and the 19th century protagonist and to examine the loot that he gathered in China, which was part of a larger collection (the other items having been sold off by the family in past decades) (fig. 9).

By contrast, auction and newspaper accounts from the past fifty years provide revelations of works that have appeared, often very unexpectedly, in dusty attics, living rooms, and sundry collections. In 2012 the prominent auction house Bonhams published an account of its sale of some incredible imperial jades (fig. 10):

Two rare Imperial jade carvings retrieved in October 1860 from the Summer Palace outside Beijing by Captain Arthur Forbes-Robertson, an officer in the 67th Regiment of Foot, will be sold at Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Sale on 8 November. These items come directly from his descendants in this Scots family.

It is an amazing story. While Forbes-Robertson (fig. 11) was still in China, he sent the jades he found at the Summer Palace back by ship to his mother in England. It turns out that the captain was indeed with the 67th Regiment, which was involved in the campaign and present at the sacking of the palace. Evidently, he acquired two special pieces of imperial celadon jade. Further research revealed that in the aftermath of the war, he was posted to Tientsin (now Tianjin) and then Shanghai after his exploits in Beijing. Through the help of specialist military historian Andrew Hillier, it became apparent that Forbes-Robertson died of cholera in Shanghai, and records were found demonstrating the circumstances of his death and the location of his grave. He never saw his loot or his relatives again, but the artworks were retained by the family until 2012, in his memory.

At the other end of the collecting spectrum, visits to large museums can provide direct evidence of where imperial Chinese works are to be found today, although at times it takes some deciphering to determine which artworks actually came from the Summer Palace. Major museums are often shy about declaring imperial artworks in their collection, or their collections may be so large that such information has not been researched. For example, on the top floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) is a fantastic collection of Chinese jades, including quite a number of imperial pieces. These items bear witness to the sizable transfer of European and Chinese artworks that took place at the end of the 19th century, when wealthy Americans took their dollars to Europe and built amazing collections to rival the best of European ones. In this case, I worked back from these finds to the original collector who donated the items to the museum.

11
Photograph of officers of the 67th Regiment, Shanghai, 1861; Arthur Forbes-Robertson is seated, second from the right
Photo courtesy of Dr Timothy Connor and Special Collections, University of Bristol Library

Heber Bishop (fig. 12) was a wealthy American who made his fortune in Cuba. He fell in love with Chinese jade, and in the last years of the 19th century he sailed to Europe frequently to seek out the best examples. His interest began with his 1878 purchase of the outstanding Hurd Vase (described as ‘one of the finest objects in jade that ever left China’) from Tiffany and Company. The item had been brought back from China by a Boston tea merchant named Hurd.

[It is] part of the loot obtained by the armies of the Anglo-French expedition in 1860 . . . No finer example of jade ware existed among all this loot. It is elaborately carved in lantern shape, with foliage and garden scenes.

The object was described as a cylinder measuring about nine-by-nine inches. Based on these dimensions, and its appearance, it is almost certainly a brush pot and not a vase. Item 679 in the 1903 Met catalogue describes the brush pot (fig. 13) as follows:

Artist’s Brush Holder (Pi T’ung), of imposing size and highly finished design, fashioned in the form of a wide cylinder carved in the boldest relief and pierced with openwork, representing the Lan T’ing or ‘Orchid Pavilion’ . . . This is one of the finest examples of Chinese lapidary work in existence. From the Imperial Summer Palace.

From Europe, Bishop bought back pieces to decorate his Fifth Avenue home. Upon his death in 1904 his collection was donated to the Met, where it has found a home in its own secluded gallery.

Identifying and locating Summer Palace artworks is a substantial quest that diverges in many directions, and the major collections in Europe and America can take considerably more exploration as part of this venture. But the journey has the potential to be as interesting and rewarding as the discovery of these precious objects, whether they are in large museums or in private hands. In the years to come, hopefully clearer provenance can be established for the disparate parts of this monumental collection.

John A. Roote is the author of Destruction of Paradise and the upcoming book, Loot: On the Trail of Treasure from China’s Lost Summer Palace.

Quick View

JUL/AUG 2024

$35.00

Quantity:

Add To Cart

This article featured in our July/August 2024 print issue. To read more, purchase the full issue here.

To read more of our online content, return to our Home page.

On the Trail of Treasure from China’s Lost Summer Palace

Japanese Gift Covers from the Chris Hall Collection

‘東海道 Tōkaidō: Dreamscapes by Andō Hiroshige’ at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts