The richness of Giuseppe Castiglione's bird-and-flower painting is marked by its difference from traditional Chinese methods. Forms often consist of shapes gradually built up with very few of the outlines normally seen in Chinese painting. "Immortal Blossoms in an Everlasting Spring" in the National Palace Museum collection is a typical example of such. In this album of paintings in ink and colors on silk, eight of them deal with flowers and the other eight bird-and-flower combina-tions. The last leaf is signed, "Reverently painted by Your Servitor, Lang Shining (Giuseppe Castiglione)." The precise forms rendered from life with bright and beautiful colors make this rep-resentative of a new model for academic painting that Castiglione formulated at the Qing court.
Giuseppe Castiglione's solid foundation in Western methods of painting from life can be found throughout this album, such as the delicate gradations for the peony petals and the attention placed on treating areas of color. The petals of white magnolia and cockscomb twist and turn in shades of color, the details fully revealing shadows that demonstrate the artist's focus with a source of light. The birds depicted in these album leaves are also quite varied and animated, their eyes spirited and highlighted with white pigment. White coloring was also used for the rocks and branches to suggest brightness and a sense of volume. The depictions of birds and flowers find comparison with those on imperial painted-enamel porcelains, testifying to the circulation and application of designs in dif-ferent art forms at the Qing court.
Lang Shining (Giuseppe Castiglione, 1688-1766), Qing dynasty
Immortal Blossoms in an Everlasting Spring
- Album leaf, ink and colors on silk
- 33.3 x 27.8 cm
This set of sixteen album leaves includes the following flowers, fruit, or plants: tree peony, peach blossom, herbaceous peony, flowering crab apple and magnolia, corn poppy and fringed iris, yellow prickly rose, carnation, cherry, poppy, purple and white lilacs, tiger lily and peony blossom, bamboo and morning glory, lotus and arrowhead, pea blossom and millet, cockscomb, and chrysanthemum. Eight of the leaves also include birds, the contents corresponding to a record of a painting entitled "Album of Flowers" by Giuseppe Castiglione in Third Edition of Treasured Boxes from the Stone Moat, one of the Qing court catalogues. The opposing leaves for each painting here are blank, the last one signed in "Song-script" as "Respectfully painted by Your Servitor, Lang Shining." Judging from the painting style, it would appear to be a masterpiece from the Yongzheng reign (1723-1735). Castiglione not only painted the sixteen leaves in this album with meticulous care and coloring, the compositions are also quite innovative. In particular, he was able to reach beyond the traditional portrayal of birds in Chinese painting to achieve fantastic results in Western perspective and shading as well. Many places in the depiction of the birds and flowers reveal touches of light and shadow, the artist showing adept skill at using white pigment to highlight bright areas. The style throughout again relates to Castiglione's early Yongzheng manner.
Qing dynasty, Yongzheng reign
Porcelain bowl with willow and swallow in falangcai painted enamels
A pair of swallows is perched on branches singing to each other in this animated and en-dearing scene fully reflecting a similar one of birds among peach blossoms in Giuseppe Castiglione's "Immortal Blossoms in an Everlasting Spring." As such, it portrays in con-crete terms the relationship between court painting and the decoration of painted enamelware at the time.
Qing dynasty, Qianlong reign
Porcelain teacup with flowers and golden fish on a red ground in falangcai painted enamels
Although the fish in Giuseppe Castiglione's "Fish and Aquatic Plants" differ from the goldfish and plants seen inside the bowl here, the subject of goldfish and water plants is commonly seen in the yangcai and falangcai painted enamelware produced at the Qi-anlong court, making it undoubtedly a form of "court-style" decoration. It is interesting to note that starting in 1745, bowls and dishes with goldfish became must-order products by the Dutch East India Company. Based on specimens recovered from the wreck of the Geldermalsen, bowls and dishes with goldfish and water plants indeed were among the vessels with this type of decoration. Therefore, the official porcelains of the Qianlong court fired with goldfish-and-plant decoration not only testify to the popularity of this theme spanning both official and civilian wares circulating at court and in local areas, it also mainly was supplied to Western markets, revealing a previously overlooked Western aspect.
Qing dynasty, Qianlong reign
Metal-body plate with European shepherds on a black ground in falangcai painted enamels
This dish with a black background and gold painting also has a twisting ribbon pattern and decoration in the middle. Without exception, it is done in imitation of decorative French Limoges enamelware from the sixteenth century, but with Chinese-style bats and spirit fungus added to give it a unique Sino-Western fusion style. A painted enamel porcelain depicting the Judgment of Paris in the Eisei Bunko Museum in Japan can be related to this work, helping to explain how Western-style decoration passed silently through the Yongzheng reign before being reinvented and enjoying popularity in the Qianlong era. The rise of this trend perhaps was closely connected to the Qianlong emperor's tacit acceptance of Western culture.
