Portrayals of Qing Battles : Two Famous Chinese Paintings Orphaned during the Tumultuous 20th Century

Pejčochová, Michaela (author)

The collection of the National Gallery in Prague includes two depictions of Qing dynasty battles during the Nian rebellion (1851–1868). These paintings have been studied by researchers, but the complex historical background of their acquisition and movement among Western collections was never clarified. Also, the sad process of how the paintings became orphaned from the matching inscriptions, which were still with them in the mid-20th century, has not been described before. After making new discoveries in the archives of institutions and individual collectors in the Czech Republic and Germany, this article discusses in detail the movements of the paintings among collections and their place in the collecting discourse throughout the 20th century. Their biography is a vital testimony to the complex processes of looting, appropriation, confiscation, damage and rediscovery, which affected numerous artworks and their collections in the tumultuous period of the last century.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Chinese painting, imperial battles, collecting Chinese art, loss and looting of artwork
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 15.01.2025
• Number of pages: Str. 249-261
• Numbering: Vol. 13, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-178212
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• eISSN: 2350-4226
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2025.13.1.249-261
• Publication date in RUL: 21.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies
• Publisher: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Upodobitve bitk dinastije Qing : dve slavni kitajski sliki, osiroteli v burnem 20. stoletju

Abstract

Zbirka Narodne galerije v Pragi vključuje dve upodobitvi bitk dinastije Qing v času upora Nian (1851–1868). Sliki so že proučevali raziskovalci, vendar zapleteno zgodovinsko ozadje pridobitve slik in prehajanje med zahodnimi zbirkami nista bila nikoli pojasnjena. Tudi proces »osirotenja« slik, ko so bili napisi ločeni od slik – sredi 20. stoletja so bili še skupaj s slikama – še ni bil prestavljen. Prispevek na osnovi novih odkritij v arhivih institucij ter pri individualnih zbirateljih na Češkem in v Nemčiji podrobno obravnava premike slik med zbirkami in njihovo mesto v zbirateljskem diskurzu skozi 20. stoletje. Njuna biografija je pomembno pričevanje o zapletenih procesih plenjenja, prilaščanja, zaplemb, poškodovanja in ponovnih odkritij številnih umetniških del in zbirk v burnem obdobju prejšnjega stoletja.

• Keywords: kitajsko slikarstvo, cesarske bitke, zbirateljstvo kitajske umetnosti, izguba in plenjenje umetniških del