K.S. Lo Memorial Lecture: Jades in the Palace of Heavenly Purity by Dr Tsai Ching-Liang

The Oriental Ceramic Society is delighted to announce that the 2023/ 2024 K.S. Lo Memorial lecture was delivered by Dr Tsai Ching-Liang of the National Palace Museum on Jades in the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
The Palace of Heavenly Purity (乾清宫 Qianqing gong), once the sleeping quarters of Ming and Qing emperors, lies deep within the Forbidden City’s inner court. From the reign of Emperor Yongzheng (r. 1722-1735) onwards, it housed the imperial succession edicts and was the emperor’s audience hall, putting it at the heart of imperial authority.
Because of its special status, the Qianqing Palace held a trove of the most important imperial cultural artefacts. Among these were jades spanning millennia: from the late Neolithic, symbolizing divine power, through to ritual artefacts from Shang and Zhou dynasties, and literati and decorative treasures from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
Dr. Tsai uses an archaeologist’s approach to gain deeper insight into the meaning of this collection. The Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735-1796) left plenty of clues in the way that he catalogued his jades and in the profusion of new jades he commissioned. In treating the Palace of Heavenly Purity as an archaeologist would treat an excavation site, it becomes possible to recover the original context of these artefacts, the most heavenly of jade wares in the imperial collection.
This lecture is made available to the public through the generous support of the Lo Kwee Seong Foundation in honour of Dr KS Lo, one of the Society’s founding members.