Painting

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).

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.