Yuen-Min-Yuen c.1797

Title: Plan of the Hall of Audience and the Adjacent Courts in the Emperor's Gardens at Yuen-Min-Yuen
Origin: From Sir George Staunton’s An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China
Published: London, c. 1797
Technique: Large-scale copperplate engraving

Description: This detailed architectural plan documents the Hall of Audience within the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) in Beijing. It was produced following the Macartney Embassy of 1793, the first British diplomatic mission to China. As the embassy was granted rare access to the imperial grounds, this plan represents one of the earliest and most accurate Western technical records of the palace's layout before its destruction in 1860.

The engraving features a meticulously labeled ground plan of the "1st, 2nd, and 3rd Courts," including:

• The Hall of Audience: The central structure where the Emperor received official visitors.

• Imperial Ornamentation: Specific locations for the Emperor's throne, large musical clocks, and decorative screens are noted in the keys on either side of the plan.

• Landscape Elements: The plan shows the integration of formal architecture with the naturalistic "gardens of perfect brightness," including the surrounding rockwork and water features.

• Authenticity: Original late 18th-century copperplate engraving.

• Historical Significance: A vital primary source documenting the lost architecture of the Qing Dynasty.

• Format: Typically issued as a large-fold plate in the Macartney Embassy Atlas.