China unveiled the retirement studio of Emperor Qianlong after five years of restoration,
showing an architectural masterpiece that sheds light on the philosophy and taste of the
Qing Dynasty's second-longest serving ruler.
The Palace Museum, the state custodian of China's 600-year- old Forbidden City, may
open Juanqinzhai (the Studio of Exhaustion From Diligent Service, Lodge of Retirement),
refurbished at $3 million by the New York- based World Monuments Fund, to the public for
the first time ``on a limited basis,'' said Director Zheng Xinmiao.
``This studio was designed for one man to enjoy his peace and solitude away from the
heavy duties of emperorship, and not for hordes of modern-day tourists,'' said Zheng,
after a Beijing press conference yesterday. ``So, we will have to be very selective in how
we open this to the world.''
Built in 1776 -- the 41st year of Qianlong's 60-year reign -- Juanqinzhai was part of a two-
acre complex of ornate gardens and pavilions the emperor designed for himself as a
retirement villa.
Restoring Juanqinzhai is part of a broader government project to refurbish Qianlong's two-
acre retirement grounds Ningshougong (the Palace of Tranquility and Longevity) by 2017,
said Nancy Berliner, curator of Chinese art at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem,
Massachusetts, who contributed to the pavilion's restoration. The total cost, involving
another 26 pavilions and gardens, is estimated at between $12 million and $15 million,
said World Monuments Fund President Bonnie Burnham.
Wisteria Pattern
The ceiling of Juanqinzhai's theater room (view theater's pre-restoration panorama) was
covered in silk with an intricate wisteria pattern. In an adjoining room where Qianlong
received visitors, walls were lined with double-sided silk embroidery atop zitan wooden
panels inlaid with the inner skin of bamboo.
The emperor, who ordered a trade route built from the jade mines of modern-day
Myanmar to southern China for carrying jadeite to the imperial capital, would display his
favorite gems, ceramics and artworks in the studio.
Qianlong was deeply interested and involved in every aspect of the Juanqinzhai's design
and construction, said Berliner. The studio was the first time the technique of embroidering
on both sides of a silk screen was used in an interior decor.
The monarch commissioned an indoor theater in the studio, covering the entire room with
silk murals depicting Beijing's verdant hills, palace buildings and exotic fowls using the
perspective of trompe l'oeil, an unusual technique in 18th-century China, she said.
``He was the kind of connoisseur who probably derived as much pleasure from designing it
and conceiving it as actually using it,'' Berliner said.
Unused, Unoccupied
Qianlong never actually used Juanqinzhai. He abdicated in 1795 as a filial act to avoid
surpassing the 61-year record reign held by his grandfather, the Emperor Kangxi.
He never moved out of his formal abode at Qianqinggong even after ceding his throne to
Emperor Jiaqing, and continued to wield influence till his death in 1799.
On his death bed, Qianlong issued an edict for Juanqinzhai to be used as the retirement
house for his successors, establishing perhaps one of China's first preservation laws, said
World Monuments Fund Executive Vice President Henry Ng, after a press conference
yesterday at the former imperial palace. The studio remained mostly unused and
untouched until the last of the Manchu emperors Puyi was driven out of the palace in 1924.
``It was like a wedding day'' when the veils were lifted off the restoration for the first time,
Ng said. ``We can't believe how stunning and beautiful everything is'' once they're all put
together, he said.
Mulberry Paper
Restoration work involved the use of painting and adhesion techniques that are no longer
employed. Restorers also had to reproduce a high-cellulose paper made from the fibers of
mulberry trees -- no longer made in China when conservation began in 2003 - - for
holding up the murals.
``Based on historical records, we know the palace used paper made in Anhui, and after
some searching, we found an artisan who was able to reproduce the material using the
traditional technique,'' said T.K. McClintock, founder of Studio TKM Ltd., a Somerville,
Massachusetts-based paper specialist who advised on the restoration work.
Working according to McClintock's specification, the Anhui artisan laid stone slabs on a
riverbed where he washed his mulberry fiber, to avoid stirring up silt. The artisan, in his
30s, is now the exclusive supplier of high-grade paper to the conservation project's
remaining pavilions.
``He's young enough to last us through the project,'' McClintock said.
Bloomberg
Nov 12, 2008
作为故宫乾隆花园十年修复工程的第一部分，倦勤斋保护工程昨日宣告竣工，预计将在明年对公众有限度开放。
倦勤斋，顾名思义就是倦于勤务、倦于朝政之地，是乾隆皇帝为自己1795年退位后“颐养天年”而预建的，汇聚了最重要、最精美、最奢华的室内装饰。
自从末代皇帝溥仪1924年离开紫禁城后，倦勤斋和乾隆花园内的其它26座建筑内的重要内装饰基本上保存下来。尽管紫禁城许多地方都陆续对外开放，倦勤斋和乾隆花园里的部分建筑从未对外开放过。
http://www.meiguoxing.com/Attractions/Juanqinzhai.html
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