Treasures with a troubled past
MIXED emotions sit with me as as I write this. On the one hand, I marvel at an amazing antique object with a fascinating history. On the other, I shudder at the story of how it was taken as “spoils of war”, documented by a first-hand account by the Royal Marine captain who took it and brought it home. For spoils of war, read looted.
The object was a heavy, cloisonnédecorated imperial bronze censer, used to hold burning incense, a Chinese imperial treasure that doubtless once served the emperor in one of his palaces in Peking (now Beijing).
The war was the Second Opium War, which culminated in 1860 with the palaces being ransacked, first by French and then British troops.
The censer surfaced in an auction earlier this month, sent for sale by the family of Captain Harry L. Evans, RM, (1831-1883) who was part of the Royal Marine contingent serving aboard H.M.S James Watt.
It was decorated in the “Ming” style with a band of classic lotus scrolls against a turquoise ground, and had an incised four-character mark for 1736-1795, dating it to the reign of the Qianlong dynasty.
Collectors love objects with strong provenance and prices are boosted accordingly. If it’s the owner himself telling the history of an object, the story is incontrovertible and as a result, the censer sold for £37,000.
It had been estimated at £10,000£15,000. It was sold at The Canterbury Auction Galleries.
Captain Evans was born on Ascension Island, where his father, also a Royal Marine, was stationed. Harry served on a total of eight ships and prior to arriving in Peking, he had taken part in the capture of Canton in 1857.
He was wounded in the failed attack on the Taku Forts at the mouth of the Pei-ho River in 1859 and was present at the capture of the forts in 1860, all during the Second Opium War.
A letter to his mother records his part in the events later that year, dated October 17. It reads: “Pekin (sic) is now virtually ours, one of the gates having been surrendered to us several days ago, on the day on which we were to have opened fire…
“We halted about 12 o’clock about 2 miles from one of the gates of Pekin on the Eastern side, and remained there for the night…
“The following morning we started about half past seven, and kept moving to the right as we wanted to get round to the North-west side of the city to a summer residence of the Emperor…
“By the time all the baggage was up it was getting late, so the General (Sir Hope Grant) decided on halting and taking possession of the small portion of suburb situated about 1 mile from the walls, and the following day we were to have gone on to the Summer Palace.
“In the morning however news came in that the French (who had also mysteriously disappeared) had, together with our Cavalry, taken possession of the Summer Palace the previous evening without opposition, there being only about 300 servants left to look after the place, and a small guard of about 50 men, who of course did not attempt any resistance.
“The French got lots of valuable loot in the way of watches, clocks fur coats, silks etc. The General sent out for all the carts he could find, brought in as much as they could carry, and all the things were sold by auction for prize money for the force actually present on the 16th, and a considerable amount was realised as the things went at fabulous prices… I expect to get about five and forty pounds for my share.”
In another letter, he writes: “I went out on Thursday with a party to burn down the Summer Palace … and a portion of it is beautifully situated on a spur of the hills which form a magnificent background, it is very different from all European notions of a palace, and consists of ranges of buildings scattered over an immense extent of ground on the plain at the foot of the hills.
“The buildings on the spur of the hill were principally joss houses and Pagodas – some of the joss-houses were magnificent – the idols in them were enormous, one I saw must have been at least sixty feet in height.
“The temples were enriched with quantities of most beautiful bronzes and enamels, but were too large and heavy to be moved conveniently. From one of the pagodas on the hill there was a most magnificent view, one cannot describe it, it was certainly worth riding 50 miles to see.
“From the palace on the plain I succeeded in getting several bronzes and enamel vases that will, I hope, some day find their way to [his home in the UK], as well as some very fine porcelain cups and saucers of the Emperors imperial pattern (yellow with green dragons) but they are so dreadfully brittle that I quite despair ever being able to get them home in their present condition…”
Such treasures are in museums and private collections around the world, a fact much resented still by the Chinese.