This is another version of the Qing portrait. I call this digital photo, also taken in September 2011:

"Qing Dynasty Nobleman - 2."

(Sept. 22 2011) Of the 16 portraits on view, only the men are from life. The females are post-mortem portraits.

This is not my area of expertise, but subjectively, I find it odd that after more than 3,000 years, the world of Chinese royalty just disappeared in 1912. As with older deposed dynasties, the Qing probably moved into other areas like art and monastic life. I am constantly seeing samples of art from deposed Chinese royalty at the Sackler. I have even seen samples of calligraphy by Pu Yi - the last emperor. But it's more than Pu Yi, it's an entire lost world - and lost treasure. ...

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(Dec. 30, 2011) This is a pair of photos of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the de facto Empress of China from the death of the Xianfeng Emperor in 1861 (the 9th Qing sovereign) until 1908. She selected Pu Yi as her successor.

They are part of the current Sackler show "Power|Play: China's Empress Dowager" and were taken in 1903 by a Chinese photographer named Xunling as part of a public relations campaign.

- I call this digital photo, taken in October 2011: "Empress Dowager Cixi." The 2 men in the photo are probably Eunuchs. There was a Qing tradition of poor Chinese families castrating one of their pre-pubescent sons and sending them into imperial service in the hope of future financial security. See: NY Times: "The Death of the Last Emperor's Last Eunuch" and Reuters " China's last Eunuch spills sex secrets"

- I call this digital photo, also taken in October 2011: "Empress Dowager Cixi - 2." Empress Cixi is in her dragon robes.

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