Under Emperor Qianlong’s rule, China expanded and prospered. The successes of his reign gave way to internal rebellions and external pressures during the rule of Emperor Daoguang. The Daoguang era saw the onset of the Taiping Civil War, one of the bloodiest conflicts in history, and the First Chinese-British Opium War. Emperor Daoguang’s reign was a turning point: the stability of the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns was lost forever.
These portraits, most likely made as ‘export art’ for foreign customers, illustrate how the Qing fused Chinese and Manchu styles. The emperor wears the iconic Chinese dragon robe, his empress the corresponding phoenix robe. Both also wear Manchu-style court hats.