The Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500–1800 by Mungello D. E.; Mungello D E ;

Author:Mungello, D. E.; Mungello, D E ; [Mungello, D. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 3.8. Water-driven clock on the west facade of the Hall of Peaceful Sea (Haiyantang ximian), in the Yuanming Yuan (Garden of Perfect Clarity), Beijing, painted by Yi Lantai (fl. 1749–1786) and Giuseppe Castiglione. This scene illustrates how the Sino-Western hybrid style at the Yuanming Yuan combined Chinese elements (Daoist pot as a symbolic source of water and the Twelve Earthly Branches of the Chinese zodiac) with European elements (Italian garden fountain, hydraulic techniques, and perspective). The water begins on the second floor with two dolphins gushing water that cascades down the balustrades of the twin stairways into the pool at the bottom. The statues of the twelve animals associated with the Earthly Branches and Chinese lunar new year (rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, fowl, dog, and boar) each sprout water at two-hour intervals and then all together at noon. All these elements were arranged into a cohesive picture on the principle of European perspective (line method). Number 10 in a suite of twenty engravings, mounted on heavy paper, each: 50 × 87.5 cm (19 3/4 × 34 1/2 in.), Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.

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