Swords of the Qianlong Emperor

[Scott M. Rodell]

The Qianlong Emperor (reigned 1735 to 1796) had made from himself 100 fine dao & jian. Not surprisingly, these pieces are quite ornate & many were given special names. What is surprising is the use of foreign design elements & unusual materials in their decorations. Below are several examples of Qianlong's swords, enjoy...

The Kouming Dao





The Kouming Dao was perhaps inspired by an Indian Mughal saber presented by British ambassador George Macartney's gift to Qianlong in 1793. (Bottom photo).

For more information about this emperor see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qianlong

[Scott M. Rodell]

There are several of the Qianlong Emperor's swords in the Musee De Armee in Paris, France. Again, the decoraion of these swords is not typical Chinese.

http://chineseswords2.freewebspace.com/ ... ian2x1.jpg

http://chineseswords2.freewebspace.com/ ... wjian2.jpg

[Scott M. Rodell]

Hilts of Qianlong Sabers in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

http://chineseswords2.freewebspace.com/images/xxx.jpg

[Scott M. Rodell]

Not all of Qianlong's sabers were of foreign inspired designs, here are examples with native Chinese decoration.*





*Compare these with those in the thread-
Beijing Military Museum - Two nice 18th cent. peidao
viewtopic.php?t=424

[Philip Tom]

I don't think it's correct to regard the Mughal-hilted saber presented to the Emperor by Geo. MacCartney in 1792. Those Mughal-style jade hilts of "pistol grip" form were known to the Qianlong court decades before. I've done a bit of checking and found that the Kouming saber was part of the first of four batches of dao and jian ordered by Q. This first group comprised 30 each of swords and sabers, the design work beginning in 1748 and with all of the weapons complete by 1757.

As regards to the saber presented by MacCartney, I've found a close up picture of the hilt in A JOURNEY INTO CHINA'S ANTIQUITY, VOL. 4 (Beijing: Morning Glory Publishers, 1997). The jade grip itself is most likely of Indian origin, but the photo clearly shows a Chinese pan hushou (plate guard of lobed form and circumferential rim). Below the guard is a shaped steel fitting that accommodates the space between the flat surface of the guard and the bifurcated scrolled outline of the front of the grip. It seems clear that the fitting-up of the hilt was done in China, on what was originally a typical presentation-grade English saber of the era.

[Philip Tom]

Hi, Scott
A comment on one of the two examples you posted showing typical Chinese (non Mughal) hilts. The saber with the fangshi fittings and the green scabbard still has one element of foreign influence, this time on the blade. Please look at the fullering and long back-edge of the blade. The dorsal fuller is short and wider, and the front terminates in a little "beak" or teat. The adjacent one is much longer and narrower. This whole set of design elements is Japanese in inspiration, derived from fullering and backedges on the blades of polearms called "naginata". In Japanese, this blade treatment is called "naginata-hi". "Hi" refers to the fullers or channels.

[Philip Tom]

Thanks to Scott for sharing all these pics! A lot of these weapons have toured the US, Australia, and Europe in recent years with travelling exhibitions of Qing court arts hosted by various overseas museums. I hope that forum members have the chance to see a few of these up close in the years to come.

The combo of foreign and native design elements in these weapons can teach us an important thing about China's civilization.
When compared with a similar blend of aesthetics in some other applied arts (such as ceramics, bronze and silverwork, textiles, etc) from the Tang Dynasty onward, one comes to doubt the stereotypical notion that Chinese civilization was an isolationist, self-absorbed entity which was great at showing its neighbors what culture was all about, but which was not enthusiastic about learning things from "barbarians". Mind you, there were probably enough individual Chinese, past and present, who held such attitudes, but the artistic record proves otherwise.

China's debt to surrounding cultures, particularly India, Inner Asia, and Central Asia/Near East is enormous. So many things we regard as "quintessentially Chinese" originated elsewhere -- Buddhism, mandarin oranges, cloisonne enamel ware, the er-hu fiddle, and even the rickshaw. And all stir-fried cuisine : the wok is thought to have come from Iran or a neighboring area where fuel is scarce and cooking has to be done quickly with the most efficient use of heat.

[Peter Dekker]

Depictions of sabers with hilts similar in shape to these jade hilted sabers of Qianlong appear in the Veritable Records of the Great Progenitor* (Nurhaci).

The text and pictures were revised in 1740 but may date from an even earlier date. This would imply that hilts with this shape were even used on much simpler battlefield sabers some decennia before the Qianlong emperor commissioned his sabers to be made. Unfortunately nothing is clear about the materials and construction of these hilts but they may be of simple wood, such as an example I recall being sold from Scott Rodell's Seven Stars Trading.

Other examples of the Chinese adapting to foreign styles are their "native" dress, the cheongsam (Cantonese) or qipao (Mandarin). Qipao literally means "banner gown" because it used to be worn by bannermen and women, members of the ruling Manchu warrior class. It is remarkable that it was Sun Yat-Sen's wife, who were anti-Manchu, that popularized the design so that it became the classic Chinese women's dress in 20th cent. China. Qipao are characterized by not closing in front in the middle, but instead the opening goes to the right shoulder and then down. This style was developed and used by northern warrior tribes so that the buttons would not get in the way of their bow.


Manchu bannerman with typical Manchu outfit and equipment. Note how his riding coat closes on the side rather than in the middle. From the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York.

*The artwork in question appears in Philip Tom's article on Chinese sabers in the German magazine Cultura Martialis, Heft 03 April / May / June 2005.

-Peter

[josh stout]

Is anyone familiar with the later (19th c.) hilts that are somewhat similar to the Mogul styles, but with more of a right angle hook like a shamshir? I have seen this on village made weapons with wood or horn handle scales, and a small metal cap at the end. It does not appear to be a traditional Chinese style, but I have seen more than one example.
Josh

[Peter Dekker]

Hi,

Could you post an example of such a hilt? Perhaps it can be related to another culture close to the Chinese.

I've also lately seen a couple of saber blades with European influence, but it is yet unclear how these styles wound up in China in the era as they don't resemble the typical British sword of the time.

-Peter

[Scott M. Rodell]

For a product review by Philip Tom of a modern Qianlong era inspired Dao see the thread-
Huanuo's Qianlong Imperial Dao
viewtopic.php?t=760

[Scott M. Rodell]

Follow this link for Descriptions (in Chinese) & photos of Qianlong era swords & armor in the the Beijing Palace Museum Collection: http://chinaneast.xinhuanet.com/2006-11 ... 314482.htm



Qianlong's Jue Yun Jian (Dueling the Clouds Sword).

[alfanator]

Hi, Scott
A comment on one of the two examples you posted showing typical Chinese (non Mughal) hilts. The saber with the fangshi fittings and the green scabbard still has one element of foreign influence, this time on the blade. Please look at the fullering and long back-edge of the blade. The dorsal fuller is short and wider, and the front terminates in a little "beak" or teat. The adjacent one is much longer and narrower. This whole set of design elements is Japanese in inspiration, derived from fullering and backedges on the blades of polearms called "naginata". In Japanese, this blade treatment is called "naginata-hi". "Hi" refers to the fullers or channels.

Interesting observation Phil. The earliest example of 'naginata hi' for J-swords i know is actually on the Kogarasu Maru attributed to Amakuni, a sword that pre-dates the standard J-style (shinogi zukuri) and likely made by a Chinese/Korean smith or a local smith that was trained by contentinential smiths of the 8th century. It may very well have continential origins and took a round trip back after a nice stint in Japan.

But your point that the Chinese were quite ready to adopt foreign things is spot on. Very apparent today!

[Peter Dekker]

The earliest example of 'naginata hi' for J-swords i know is actually on the Kogarasu Maru attributed to Amakuni, a sword that pre-dates the standard J-style (shinogi zukuri) and likely made by a Chinese/Korean smith or a local smith that was trained by contentinential smiths of the 8th century. It may very well have continential origins and took a round trip back after a nice stint in Japan.

But your point that the Chinese were quite ready to adopt foreign things is spot on. Very apparent today!

This is fascinating! I had never guessed that this style was so old. Do you happen to know where pictures of this piece were published? I would love to see how it looks.

Funny to read that it may have went from China to Japan and back. It seems largely the case for those large two-handers as well. General Qi Jiguang commented in one of his writings on how his craftsmen should copy the style of the Japanese, something that the Japanese in turn had copied from the Chinese centuries before.

Like Vietnam and Korea, Japan has served as kind of a time-capsule where certain aspects of earlier Chinese craftsmanship that had gone lost in China itself survived largely intact. I've spotted this among others for rattan shields, some Vietnamese examples having Ming-style profiles, and the Korean bow that to me is a remnant of the Ming style bow preserved there while the Chinese adapted a foreign bow.

-Peter