Imaging Diplomacy: The Meridian Gate and the Making of European Perspectives on China (1655–1795)
Lecture by Sylvia Tongyan Qiu, Ph.D. Student in Art History, UCLA, and recipient of the 2023–24 Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Graduate Research Fellowship In 1692, Evert Ysbrants Ides, a Danish merchant living in the German quarters of Moscow, was sent to the Kangxi Emperor by Peter the Great as his ambassador. An account of his journey, Three Years of Travel from Moscow to China: thro’ Great Ustiga, Siriania, Permia, Sibiria, Daour, Great Tartary, &c. to Peking was published in 1706 together with fascinating illustrations. Ides wrote: “coming to the outer Gate of the Castle, there is a Pillar, with some Characters...