Battle Scenes of the Quelling of Rebellions in the Western Regions, with Imperial Poems (c. 1765–74): Art, History and Details

Battle Scenes of the Quelling of Rebellions in the Western Regions, with Imperial Poems (c. 1765–74) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Giuseppe Castiglione (Italian, 1688–1766); Jean Damascene Sallusti (Italian, d. 1781); Jean Denis Attiret (French, 1702–1768).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This set of etchings was commissioned by Emperor Qianlong to record in pictorial terms the courage of his generals and soldiers in quelling the rebellions in the Western Regions. Qianlong added his own poem to each of the etchings, indicating his appreciation and pride in this demonstration of military might. "Western Regions" refers to the present-day Xingjiang province, often described in Western writing as "Central Asia."

Object facts

• Title: Battle Scenes of the Quelling of Rebellions in the Western Regions, with Imperial Poems
• Date: c. 1765–74
• Creator attribution: Giuseppe Castiglione (Italian, 1688–1766); Jean Damascene Sallusti (Italian, d. 1781); Jean Denis Attiret (French, 1702–1768)
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)
• Type: Print
• Technique: Etchings, mounted in album form, 16 leaves plus two additional leaves of inscriptions
• Dimensions: Each leaf: 51 x 87 cm (20 1/16 x 34 1/4 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Album leaf
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1998.103

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Cleveland Acquires Major New Sculpture, Rare Chinese Prints, Contemporary Prints, Drawings & Photographs,” October 30, 1998, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• Ma, Yazhen. Images of War: The Cultural Construction of Qing Martial Prowess. Translated by Elizabeth Smithrosser. Singapore: National University of Singapore, 2025.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.