Veiled world of Chinese empresses on display in the United States

“Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, 1644–1912” was held at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in the year 2019. This major international exhibition explored empresses’ lives during the emperor-centric Qing dynasty. Despite the empresses’ accomplishments and status, they are largely missing from Qing court history. Through imperial portraits, narrative paintings, furnishings, attire (jewelry and costume), and religious art, the exhibition reveals and fills in the little-known details about the world of these women and how they were able to influence court history in many spheres, including religion, art, and politics. Nearly 135 objects made for, by, and about the empresses were on display, bringing these women out of the silence that history imposed upon them.

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the establishment of U.S.–China diplomatic relations, the exhibition was organized by three institutions, the Smithsonian’s Freer|Sackler, the Palace Museum in Beijing, and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The majority of the objects came from the Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, and included rare treasures that have never been on display in the U.S.