Let the Screen Fall and Listen to Politics of the Empress Dowager
| Artist | Dai Yanxing (Chinese, b. 1950) |
|---|---|
| Title | Let the Screen Fall and Listen to Politics of the Empress Dowager (Pu Yi) |
| Date | 2000 |
| Medium | Ink and color on silk |
| Dimensions | Image: 34 1/4 x 21 7/8 in. (87 x 55.6 cm) Scroll: 70 1/2 x 25 1/8 in. (179.1 x 63.8 cm) |
| Credit Line | Museum purchase with the funds from the Thomas T. Solley Endowed Fund for the Curator of Asian Art, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 2007.10 |
| This artwork is currently off display. You may be able to see this artwork by filling out an art viewing room request. | |
A boy in court clothes stands in the center and a female figure sits in the background.
This painting refers to the time when the Empress Dowager Cixi, seen looming over the boy emperor, unofficially but effectively assumed power after her son, Emperor Tongzhi, ascended the throne in 1861 at the age of five. When Tonzhi died in 1875, Cixi, ignoring the rules of dynastic succession, installed her nephew, who was known as the Guangxu Emperor. She was, as this painting suggests, as imposing figure.
Although often portrayed as a despot and blamed for the fall of the Qing dynasty, Cixi did support some reforms. She ruled during difficult and turbulent times, as China faced internal unrest and foreign pressures. Three years after her death in 1908, the Qing Dynasty fell, and China entered a period of reinvention and turmoil with the establishment of the Republic in 1912.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Let the Screen Fall and Listen to Politics of the Empress Dowager | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2007.10