The Qianlong Emperor Hunting Hare: from the Qing esthetics of Nature to an end of European exceptionalism
Résumé
The Qianlong Emperor Hunting Hare” proposes an enlargement of the definition of European baroque to account for transfers, exchanges, and interactions in early modern Asia. Chinese baroque, the place of nature in this baroque, and the representation of nature in China would be legitimate research topics in environmental history, but until now the notion of baroque has been rarely associated to China. This article on a more inclusive vision of baroque is grounded empirically in the portrait and landscape paintings, garden architecture, and cultural landscape of the Qing dynasty.