The scroll of hunting pictures of Emperor Giuseppe Castiglione and other Qianlong emperors

[Picture axis of Emperor Giuseppe Castiglione and other emperors of Qianlong shooting]
Courtesy: “Chen Giuseppe Castiglione respectfully painted.” The next seal is “Chen Shining” in white and “respectfully painted” in Zhu. Emperor Qianlong wrote three poems with the following inscription: “Three poems were written on the occasion of the Southern Garden’s encirclement, and three poems were written on the occasion of the late spring of Yihai.” The seal was “Qianlong’s Chen Han” with a white text square seal, “De Xiang Wai Yi” with a Zhu text square seal, and “Yan Lu” with a Zhu text rectangular seal. “Yihai” is the 20th year of Qianlong (1755), when Emperor Qianlong was 45 years old
This picture shows the dynamic moment of Emperor Qianlong and his close relatives, princes and ministers catching and shooting wild rabbits at the Nanyuan hunting ground. The author successfully demonstrates the creative theme of Emperor Qianlong’s skillful riding skills and martial arts riding and shooting through the accurate and vivid portrayal of powerful characters riding on horses and wild rabbits running for their lives. From Emperor Qianlong’s poems, it can be seen that his hunting in Nanyuan this time was “the eight rabbits in the sun”, which can be described as a remarkable achievement. From the perspective of brushwork, the portrait of Emperor Qianlong and his horse in the picture should undoubtedly be the hand of Giuseppe Castiglione, and the scenery such as mountains, rocks and trees should be the brush of Chinese court painters
Emperor Qianlong, as a descendant of the Manchu people who mainly engaged in animal husbandry and hunting, strictly adhered to the martial law system of riding and archery, which was regarded as the “root of Manchu” and “legacy of Xianzheng” by the previous emperors of the Qing Dynasty. Through recreational hunting activities, he carried forward the traditional custom of bow bending and archery of the Manchu people. In order to promote this martial spirit, Emperor Qianlong ordered the court Western painter Giuseppe Castiglione and the Chinese court painters to create dozens of paintings specifically showing his hunting scenes. This picture is one of them. They truly record the intense and enthusiastic hunting scenes of Emperor Qianlong in different historical periods. At the same time, it displays various weapons used by Emperor Qianlong during hunting, such as guns, halberds, and arrows, which undoubtedly provides a rare image for studying the imperial military equipment of the Qianlong Dynasty

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