Anonymous Artist of the Court: Audience of Foreign Ambassadors

These scrolls present detailed painting from life. The perspective composition shows identifiable real buildings, and the ceremonial details are consistent with records in the Qin ding da qing hui dian. The result is a painting that seems almost like a documentary recording, made on the spot as the emperor sat in state in the Hall of Supreme Harmony on his birthday or some other national event. Of course it cannot be a real recording: nowhere in the records can we find mention of so many foreign ambassadors visiting the palace at the same time. There are other indications of artificiality. Some of the tributes carried by the ambassadors are in fact mythical animals taken from the tradition of tribute paintings. This artwork is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing.