Author: YANG Chen (Correspondent)

The first time when I walked in the Palace Museum, I was too young to have a conception of what a museum was. The vast square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony was like ‘a desert jungle’, meaning a feeling ‘full of flat and open’. That white three-tiered marble terrace, long and continuous, led straight to the Hall up high. I did not know where the treasures might be lying; it was just this grand spaciousness which could bring a rising fear and emptiness.

But the Forbidden City had its own glamour. When I was led by the grayish blue bricks and vermilion walls to different palaces, the feeling of being haunted by the void was all gone, but only left me with growing curiosity that seemingly never ended. Before I met Marie-Laure DE ROCHEBRUNE in Hong Kong, I had not been to the Palace of Versailles, therefore could not tell what might be brought to me by this another grandness of the magnificent baroque architectural group.

When I saw Marie, she was standing in the dimness of a gallery at Hong Kong Palace Museum; lights shone on the walls beside her. Louis XIV’s letter to the Kangxi Emperor was projected by modern techniques on the wall, circling a bright rectangular spot. I seemed to see how people from China and France imagined and depicted each other in their minds back to the 17th century, as what I was doing right at that moment.

From Those Who Initiated & Being Dispatched

Narrator: I never knew that the Kangxi Emperor was so obsessed with western sciences—I mean the degree, but the lure of prediction of a potential future world was shared by me. With armillary spheres they knew the Celestial, with calculators they figured out Numbers in nature, with clocks they told Time… all in a discourse that had not happened before. Louis XIV led the founding of the French Academy of Science; further the knowledge was passed to the ‘Far East’- What was the birth of such a vault of enlightenment like?

Marie-Laure:

The French Academy of Sciences (Académie des sciences) was not the first Academy being created. The first one which we now call the French Academy was for writers. Académie des sciences was created in 1666. It was a great idea of his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert who was very conscious of the importance of scientific knowledge for a good government and for France’s progress. The founding was quite a success. In the 17th century, it had about 70 members, including mathematicians, astronomers, physicians, chemists, geographers etc.—these members were very specialized in their fields. It was stimulating to have meetings with them.

Louis XIV was very ambitious, so was Colbert. They wanted France to be the most important country in Europe at this time. They realized the need for the knowledge from the members to make progress, for different reasons: military and geographical ones… The help from these scientists was important for the King and his minister.

In 1670, a few years after the creation of Académie des sciences, Louis XIV ordered the construction of the Paris Observatory, which still exists today and is a beautiful building built by Claude Perrault. He was an architect and a brother of Charles Perrault, the writer of many modern fairy tales. The founding of the Observatory meant that astronomy was quite important for the King of France, which was also a significant discipline in Europe at this time. The fathers in their formation had lessons of astronomy which built them a very solid scientific formation. Notably in the school where they studied, they had the permission of astronomy, mathematics, and so on.

Narrator: I bet both palaces in Paris and Beijing still possess traces of this exploration and development…

Marie-Laure:

True. What fascinated me when I started to work on the first exhibition in Versailles was this common interest of the Kangxi Emperor and Louis XIV. Before this exhibition, we had another exhibition in Beijing, in which we presented a beautiful painting which could not come here for its fragileness. It showed Louis XIV as a protector of arts and sciences. I was very sorry that it couldn’t come here, but for sure it perfectly introduced the topic of the current exhibition: the common interest of the two sovereigns. They were apart for 8,000 kilometers and never met with each other, but both were interested in the fields and the development of arts and sciences.

In the exhibition in Beijing, we had a beautiful French tapestry which could not come here either, showing the Shunzhi Emperor, the father of Kangxi, and a small boy who was Kangxi. They were accompanied by father Verbiest (Flemish) and father Schall (German). Verbiest was an imperial astronomer and was in charge of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau, which was a very important department in China. We see that the Kangxi Emperor was already interested in astronomy when he was a little boy. It was a French tapestry, but showed the history of the emperors in China. The tapestry is one of the first manifestations of the French tastes in arts of China. It was done in about the 1690s in France. There is a series of the nine tapestries in total and we call it “the Chinese series”, from which we can have a glance of the manufacturing of tapestry.

A Two-Way ‘Addiction’: Enamel & Porcelain

Guangdong, the Province which had one of the only four Maritime Customs back to Qing period, later became the only place which possessed the opportunity to retain foreign trade. To some extent, this uniqueness more or less converted to a feeling of imagination; nothing to be surprised to know its ability to produce enamels.

But the truth of at least one piece remained different: the discovery of the true maker of the Chrysanthemum pot was as intriguing as the revelation of porcelain in France:

Narrator: So we had Chinese-made enamels and French-made enamels, but with different colour effects. Was it due to the different soil elements or natural environments?

Marie-Laure:

It was because of the technique and the materials which were used so that we had different clay. The technique of enamel in France has a long history. At first, the use of enamel existed in antiquity in Europe—not in France, but in Europe—especially in regions of East Europe, which are now known as parts of Istanbul of Turkey and the old Byzantine Empire. Then it was developed in France in the beginning of the Middle Ages—very early—further became a great specialty of France in the 13th and 14th centuries. The development was very successful.

There are more than several techniques of enamel, which was a great tradition in France in the 16th and 17th century. The most well-known workshops in a great number were in Limoges. Enamel in France has a very old tradition, as porcelain in China has its own.

The type of enamel of the Chrysanthemum pot is painted enamel. In France, we use gold to do it. What I have understood is that the Qianlong Emperor ordered a few pieces in Paris made by Coteau who was a very famous enameller in Paris in the 18th century. He worked for the King of France and very important people.

This time he was asked to do pieces in Chinese shapes. When I first saw this small teapot in Beijing, I thought it was Chinese-made. Mr. Guo (Research Fellow of the Palace Museum) showed me the bottom part of the teapot with the inscription read as “Coteau”, and I was very astonished. They bought a few pieces from Paris to give models of the enamel for the Qing Court and tried to imitate the French technique.

Narrator: Maybe that was how we had these two baskets, made respectively in Paris and Guangdong, with the exact same pattern but different colour effects…

Marie-Laure:

For the basket, they managed to do the shape, but the colours were not exact. I imagine it was due to chemical reasons—the elements of the materials for the colours were not exactly the same. I’m not a chemist and not completely sure about that—I guess it was due to technical reasons that these teapots did not have the exact same colour, but it was very interesting to observe it anyway.

Narrator: As the Qing Court was obsessed with French enamels, there was a fascination with China at the Court of Versailles.

Marie-Laure:

It was not just French people; it was all European people, looking for ways to do porcelain. Marco Polo, the Venetian merchant, was sent from Europe to China. He was the first one who took some porcelain back to Europe at the beginning of the 13th century. The European people were amazed by the porcelain. Therefore, several countries tried to imitate it from China. The first successful experience was at the Court of the Medici in Florence in Italy. It was in the middle of the 16th century during the end of the Renaissance. They made something that looked like porcelain, but it was not true porcelain as Chinese ones with kaolin, but a very complex mixture. What was nice was that in any way they managed to have something a little bit alike to the Chinese porcelain that they received. It was very white and beautiful, and had a glaze like the Chinese porcelain, but the materials were not the same.

In France, there were many attempts to make porcelain. The first successful attempt was at the end of the 17th century, in 1670 a man made a very similar object as it in Florence, which was what we call the soft-paste porcelain in France without kaolin. There were other items in France for Saint-Cloud near Paris and also in Chantilly. Each time there was a very important person who manufactured the production. There were tries of different items in different places. Finally, the most successful production became wide manufacturing and was transformed for sale.

It was only in 1769, some chemists found kaolin in the region of Limoges in France. Immediately they tried to make kaolinic porcelain. They managed the first pieces in 1770. After that, they made hard-paste porcelain. They continued to make soft-paste porcelain but the amount was very little. The advantage of hard-paste porcelain is the possibility for bigger pieces. Soft-paste porcelain is very fragile; during the firing process, it can collapse.

Narrator: Because with kaolin, the porcelain can become firmer and bear high temperature.

Marie-Laure:

Yes, it is more solid and can be put in a higher temperature. Also the glaze can be fired at a higher temperature. You cannot scratch it. The glaze of soft-paste porcelain is very fragile.

There were also other countries attempting to do kaolinic porcelain. For example, in Saxony in Germany, they started to make hard-paste porcelain with kaolin in 1710. They found kaolin in Saxony.

In France, it took a longer way. Until 1730, a great scientist did an analysis of Chinese porcelain and discovered the presence of kaolin, but he thought that there was no kaolin in France. In fact we have kaolin and now we know that; whereas back in the 18th century, people were not aware of it.

Reciprocal Aesthetics: To Transfer or to Display - An Exotic

Narrator: This exhibit,“Barrel-shaped vase with lotus scrolls and lion head handles”, has that kind of haunting，intriguing appeal to me. It was interesting that the fragile porcelain was covered by metals such as gold and bronze. I read the introduction saying that these parts were to protect the porcelain.

Marie-Laure:

It was not the case, no. It was not to have it protected but to magnify and emphasize the beauty of the porcelain.

Narrator: To decorate?

Marie-Laure:

Yes, yes, It was not for protection. This origin was medieval. In the Middle Ages, when the first porcelain arrived in Europe, they were so rare and so precious. People were fascinated by them so they added mounts, usually in gold the most precious metal, and enamels as decorations. For instance, there was a very famous celadon vase possessed by the Duke of Berry in France in the 14th century and is now in a museum in Dublin. In the past, it was equipped with beautiful mounts in gold and enamel, which were taken off later in the 19th century. A drawing in Paris shows the vase with mounts. It was not at all to protect, but to amplify its beauty for the wonderfulness and rareness of the pieces.

There was an evolution of mounts during this time. At first, Paris had its great specialty in golden mounts across Europe. In the 18th century, we did not use gold anymore, for its high price; instead people preferred bronze. At the same time, they would still like to provide and demonstrate more beauty to the pieces. I understand it may look a bit strange, but this is the case.

Some mounts change the first function of the object. This piece belonged to Louis XVI. It might look a bit strange or exotic as a vase with the mounts, but if you might recognize that this original part was a garden stool. The mounts completely transformed its function and made it a vase, which was put on a piece of furniture in a beautiful house or more in a garden of course.

What was funny was that before the exhibition in Beijing, we cleaned the bronze mounts and took them off. Under the lions’ heads in bronze, there were lions’ heads in porcelain. This showed that the bronze maker observed the shape and did not add anything more but was inspired by the original piece.

Narrator: This size, the relatively big one, reminds me of the ritual pieces of China in pure metals, being used for ceremonies in the pre-Qin period, and the decorative items in pure porcelain, appearing after the origination of the technique. People admired the direct display of the plainness on its own; the techniques such as gilding and mount, as a transformation to reshape the charm and vibe of a porcelain, belonged to creations in another dimension. To one of the typical aesthetic perspectives in China, the vase narrated an unacquainted but inviting surround.

Marie-Laure:

This piece is very important and very old from the 16th century. I know there is another similar one in the British Museum in London. This type of decoration is not frequent. For us, the mount was of a very high quality. This vase had one of the most beautiful mounts, and further the new style of mounts on it got developed in France in the second half of the 18th century, so it was in neoclassical style and a return to antiquity.

What is astonishing is that we see a lot of lions in Chinese arts. There are also a lot of lions in French arts and antique arts. Of course the lions are different, but they appear very frequently on both sides. I truly realize this point at this time. Sometimes we have lions like yours with a sphere as early as in the 16th or 17th century in France. China also has lions quite often in their arts.

As how Coteau and kaolin were discovered, Dr. Wenxin Wang, Associate Curator of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, led us to a conversation of a further exploration of the presence of lions in both cultures.

Dr. Wang: The interesting part is that lions are not native Chinese.

Marie-Laure: No, no, so was it exotic for you? Anyway lions in Europe since antiquity have been an image of strength. Is it the same for you? Are lions the king of animals in China? In Europe, we say lions are the king of animals because they’re stronger and more powerful. Would you say that?

Dr. Wang: I don’t think it’s really about strength, but since Western Han Dynasty, lions were imported to China. The conception of this animal has changed throughout the later centuries and become more like a protective animal.

Marie-Laure: Not exactly the same meaning, yes.

Dr. Wang: yes, yes, but that is very interesting.

Marie-Laure: For us, it was not the protective animal, rather it was a very powerful one so the King often referred to lions because he was a more powerful person in the kingdom. Lions represent an image of power quite often in France and in Europe, I think. It’s interesting to see the difference in meaning.

Dr. Wang: In Japan, they also have a more similar meaning to the Chinese one, which somehow relates to Buddhism.

Narrator: And maybe ‘royal’? Lions are also royal animals?

Dr. Wang: Dragons are more toward the royal conception. But in the French context, maybe lions are more loyal?

Marie-Laure: Yes, yes, yes, yes, because it’s the king of animals.

I would be always reluctant to close doors that guarded these treasures and unexplored stories, as I somehow refused to face the inexplicable void of the large square. Whereas this time, I have tangible traces to follow, from imagination to expedition, to disclose what is waiting to be found out from the opaque state. The symmetric layout design, showing the two great palaces, opening the exhibition The Forbidden City and the Palace of Versailles: China-France Cultural Encounters in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, can be the place where you start from.

（The article is collected by Bauhinia Magazine April 2025 Issue）