Visual sources of the Qing Empire about the Oirats of the 18th century in Russian and foreign museum and private collections

Abstract

In this scientific article, for the first time in Russian and foreign historiography, information on paintings, drawings, and scrolls from Qing China depicting the Oirats (Dzhungars and Kalmyks) of the 18th century has been collected and systematized. The main Chinese, French, German, and Russian museums that hold these materials have been identified. The composition of these works has been clarified. It has been established that the total number of works depicting the Dzhungars and Kalmyks exceeds 50. They depict more than two thousand Oirats, as well as their Muslim neighbors. It is concluded that different types and sources of images are unevenly distributed between museum and private collections. The main part of the canvases depicting battles, large wall paintings, as well as all the portraits of horses and dogs that were presented to the Qing Emperor by the Dzungar and Kalmyk aristocrats, are kept in Chinese museums (mainly in Beijing and Taipei). The works of Huang Qing zhigongtu, which depict representatives of the Dzungar and Kalmyk nobility, as well as ordinary nomads, are divided between Chinese and French museums. Large full-length portraits of Qing dignitaries and military leaders, which were intended to be displayed in the Purple Brilliance Pavilion (Zeguangge), are mostly located in Russia and in private collections. Portraits of Dzungar and Kalmyk aristocrats, which are depicted from the chest up, are stored in German and Russian museums, as well as in various private collections. Small horizontal scrolls with full-length portraits of Qing dignitaries and military leaders (including ethnic Oirats) currently belong to private individuals. The introduction of these materials into scientific circulation will significantly expand the source base on the material culture of the Oirats and open up new perspectives in the study of the costume, weapons, equipment, and military-political symbolism of the Dzungars and Kalmyks of the 18th century.