A Flag Conferring a Royal Command

1736-1795 · Painting · 42.3 × 41.3 cm

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Victoria and Albert Museum

Londra, Regno Unito

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Verificato: 9 giorni fa
Ultimo cambio di stato: 25 set 2026
Fonte: I dati di collezione del museo stesso

Sulla mappa Pagina del museo

About the painting

The Illustrated Regulations for Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Present Dynasty is an illustrated manuscript commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor (reigned 1736-1795). The main body of the commission began in 1750 and was completed in 1759. It was a conclusion of the Emperor's decade-long efforts to regulate the ritual codes and procedures as a means of ruling since his enthronement.

The page shows a colour illustration of the flag conferring the Imperial Command with a caption written in regular script to its right. The caption reads: 'Drawing of the flag conferring the Imperial Command'.

As a major imperial commission, the book is of monumental scale. As many as 27 court painters and calligraphers were working on the commission under five editors-in-chief, Yilu (1695-1767), Jiang Pu (1708-1761), Wang Youdun (1692-1758), Guanbao (?-1776) and He Guozong (?-1766).

Read on

After editing and further expansion, the manuscript was printed by the Palace Publications Office in the Wuying Palace in 1766 It was finally included as part of the Four Treasures imperial library project in 1773. For that purpose seven copies were produced and stored in libraries across the empire.

The book consists of six parts - ceremonial vessels, scientific equipments, dress, musical instruments, insignia and weaponry. They contain more than 1300 leaves of illustrations and explanatory texts.

The V&A’s collection of the manuscript is incomplete. All its leaves, together with those in the British Library, in the National Museums of Scotland and in the National Museum of Ireland, may have been part of the version kept in the Wenyuan Pavilion library in the Yuanming yuan Summer Palace, Beijing.

Victoria and Albert Museum