清 慈禧 有福图立轴
纸本 “Full
of fortune: bats…” attributed to Cixi, Chinese scroll painting
Artist attribution: Empress Dowager Cixi, Qing
dynasty.
Blessed Picture Hanging Scroll on Paper.
For these Chinese characters on the painting, - they were written by famous litterateur Tang Yun, working in Forbidden City for royals.
These characters mean that Tang Yun was very honored and excited to write characters on Cixi's painting, praised Cixi for her kindness as a queen, for her beauty even at an old age, for her talent in arts.
Heart size: 93 cm x 45 cm;
Provenance: private collection in Tampa, FL, USA.
Empress Dowager Cixi (Chinese: 慈禧太后; pinyin: Cíxī Tàihòu [tsʰɨ̌.ɕì tʰâi.xôu]; Manchu: Tsysi taiheo; also romanised as Empress Dowager
T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan,
was a Chinese empress dowager and regent who effectively controlled the Chinese
government in the late Qing dynasty for 47 years, from 1861 until her death
in 1908.
Selected as a concubine of
the Xianfeng Emperor in her adolescence, she gave birth to a
son, Zaichun, in 1856. After the Xianfeng Emperor's
death in 1861, the young boy became the Tongzhi Emperor, and she became the Empress Dowager.
Cixi ousted a group of regents appointed by the late emperor and
assumed regency, which she shared with Empress Dowager Ci'an.
Cixi then consolidated control over the dynasty when she
installed her nephew as the Guangxu Emperor at the death of the Tongzhi Emperor in 1875, contrary to
the traditional rules of succession of the Qing dynasty that had ruled China
since 1644.
Cixi supervised the Tongzhi Restoration, a series of moderate reforms that helped the
regime survive until 1911. Although Cixi refused to adopt Western models of
government, she supported technological and military reforms and the Self-Strengthening Movement.
She supported the principles of the Hundred Days' Reforms of 1898, but feared that sudden
implementation, without bureaucratic support, would be disruptive and that the
Japanese and other foreign powers would take advantage of any weakness.
She placed the Guangxu Emperor, whom she thought had tried to
assassinate her, under virtual house arrest for supporting radical
reformers, publicly executing the main reformers.
After the Boxer Rebellion led to invasion by Allied armies, Cixi initially backed the Boxer groups and declared war on the
invaders.
The ensuing defeat was a stunning humiliation.
When Cixi returned to Beijing from Xi'an, where she had taken
the emperor, she became friendly to foreigners in the capital and began to
implement fiscal and
institutional reforms aimed to turn China into a constitutional monarchy.
The deaths of both Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor in November 1908
left the court in hands of Manchu conservatives, a child, Puyi, on the throne, and a restless, deeply
divided society.
Auction results:
Sold 12 paintings from
$5,247 to $405,170
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5876054
EMPRESS
DOWAGER CIXI (1835-1908), PLUM BLOSSOMS;
Price realized: USD 60,000;
Estimate: USD 10,000;