TWO IMPERIALLY INSCRIBED COPPER ENGRAVINGS DEPICTING BATTLE SCENES

Description:

China, 1798-1803, the Qianlong poems dated 1795 and 1798
je 87 x 50 cm
Ink on paper, each als album leaf. Two of sixteen engravings depicting the quelling of the Miao Rebellion of 1795-1796: "The Battle of Simazhai" (no. 8) and "The Reconquest of Qianzhou" (no. 12). The artist for the original drawings was the court artist Feng Ning, who specialized in portraits and architectural scenes at the end of the Qianlong period.
From an Austrian private collection. since early 20th c. in family estate - Good condition with minor wear, minor creasing, minimal soiling, light foxing, and small tears
The Battle Copper Prints are a series of prints from copper engravings dating from the second half of the 18th century. They were commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor and depict his military campaigns in China’s inner provinces and along its frontier. The Miao rebellions were an anti-Qing uprisings in Hunan and Guizhou provinces. These rebellions took place during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor and continued into the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor. The Qing army retook Qianzhou three months after it was captured by the Manchu and Han armies. The rebellion was catalyzed by tensions between local populations and Han Chinese immigrants. The rebellion was bloodily suppressed, but it served as the antecedent to the much larger uprising of Miao rebellion between 1854 and 1873. The Battle of Simazhai, fought by the Qing generals Fu Kang'An and Helin, took place during Emperor Qianlong’s campaign to quell the Miao rebellion in the region of Hunan. The Reconquest of Qianzhou took place at the end of Emperor Qianlong’s reign after Miao rebels raided Qianzhou and the neighboring prefectures of Yongsui and Fenghuang. Qianzhou was the capital of the region and fell to the Miao in 1796