An Imperial Imagination

Join Dr. Nancy Berliner, Wu Tung Curator of Chinese Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, for a talk that explores the Forbidden City’s Qianlong Garden. Designed inside and out by the Qianlong Emperor, the garden contains 26 buildings and pavilions, and is a thrilling manifestation of this emperor’s visual imagination. 

One of the world’s greatest art connoisseurs, the 18th century Qianlong Emperor collected a myriad of ancient masterpieces but also relished his privileged opportunity to work with the finest artists and artisans to design and create all manner of inspired objects. With a deep knowledge of Chinese artistic traditions and a hungry interest in European aesthetics and styles, he and his workers produced extraordinary porcelains, trompe-l’oeil murals, and fantastical garden estates, the likes of which had never before been seen in China.