Quick Answer: What Are Chinese Palace Lanterns?
Chinese palace lanterns (宫灯, gōngdēng) are decorated lights associated with court interiors and with regional lantern crafts. One familiar type has a wooden frame and painted glass sides. Some have textile-covered frames or other shapes. A lantern’s body, panels and hanging details help identify how it was made and used. [1][2][3][5][7]
- Frame: It holds the shape and supports the sides.
- Panels: Painted glass or translucent fabric can carry pictures and let light through.
- Fittings: Cords and decorative elements help define the hanging form. [1][2][3]
Look at the structure around the illuminated areas as well as at the picture on each side. [1][2][3]
The outline of a hanging lantern changes when you move around it. A wood corner interrupts one image and begins another. From below, the canopy, cords and tassels can be as apparent as the illuminated sides.
How the Frame and Panels Work Together
A Palace Museum study describes Qing court lanterns made with wood, carved lacquer or enameled metal. Panels of glass or silk gauze could be fitted to the frame and decorated. Each side gives the maker a field for a picture or a colored surface. A carved corner separates the panels and can carry decoration of its own. [1][3]
Rigid glass can be supported in separate sides. Fabric can also span a framework with a curved profile. These choices are part of the wider range of Chinese lanterns. On a framed glass lantern, the rigid panels have defined edges. On a round gauze lamp, the fabric follows the continuous curve of the ribs. [1][5][7]
How to Read a Hanging Lantern
A watercolor and gouache design attributed to Lamqua in the Met collection, dated about 1800 to 1810, shows a hexagonal hanging lamp. Slender cords connect an upper canopy to a body with tapering painted glass panels. Tassels hang from the outer tips of the canopy, so the top has its own outline beyond the sides of the lamp. [2]
A nineteenth-century object at the Museo Pedro del Río Zañartu in Chile has carved wooden rods, painted glass, metal and glass beads. The museum identifies dragons and phoenixes on the frame and figures and plants on the panels. When lit, the figures painted on the glass would be visible through the panels. The carved animals would still interrupt the outline from the side. [3]
Court Lighting in Qing China
Chen Yang’s Palace Museum study distinguishes lights for ordinary use from lamps displayed on festive occasions. Qing lanterns could be hung or placed on a table or stand. The imperial household workshop was involved in making and maintaining the lamps, including placing or replacing them for occasions. A lamp fixed to a wall lights a different area from one suspended in a hall. Chen’s classification reflects where the lamps were used as well as how they were made. [1]
A second Palace Museum study examined a yellow tassel associated with a lacquered wooden lantern from Changchun Palace. That lamp had painted glass with bat motifs and a frame joined by fitted wooden parts. The researchers identified the tassel fibers as mulberry silk and found a manufactured yellow dye. The dye gave the researchers evidence for the earliest possible date of the tassel itself. Such evidence can be specific to a fitting, even if it is displayed with a much larger object. [4]
Palace Lantern Craft in Beijing and Luoyang
The national heritage register includes palace lanterns within Beijing’s broader lantern tradition. Its profile of Ma Yuanliang documents his designs for six-sided, eight-sided and other lantern shapes, as well as work reproducing older styles. The profile records reproductions for Prince Gong’s Mansion, as well as designs for public buildings and ceremonial settings. The historical shape could be studied and used in new commissions. [5][6]
The Luoyang palace lantern tradition entered the national list as an extension in 2008. The entry describes a round form with a bamboo-strip framework and a silk-gauze covering. Its frame opens and closes, making it possible to store the lantern without keeping it at full size. That structure differs from the rigid sides in Lamqua’s drawing. That example helps explain why the name palace lantern can refer to a regional craft alongside objects associated with court rooms. [7]
FAQs About Chinese Palace Lanterns
Are all palace lanterns hexagonal?
Six-sided forms are well documented. Palace Museum research and the regional heritage records also describe round, eight-sided and other shapes. [1][2][6][7]
Were all palace lanterns made for the imperial court?
Palace lantern is also used for regional designs and later works in related styles. A museum’s provenance or workshop record can establish a connection to a particular court setting. [1][4][5][6][7]
What materials can form the sides of a palace lantern?
Surviving examples and craft records include painted glass and silk gauze. The construction varies with the design, the lantern’s use and the material of its frame. [1][3][7]
Sources
[1] Chen Yang, Palace Museum Journal. Conservation and Restoration of Qing Palace Lantern Accessories
[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Design for a Hall Lamp, Lamqua
[3] Museo Pedro del Río Zañartu. Palace Lantern
[4] Wei Le, Cui Zheng, Zhang Yun and Chen Yang, Journal of Gugong Studies. Research on the Yellow Palace Lantern Tassel in the Palace Museum
[5] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. Beijing Decorative Lanterns
[6] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. Representative Practitioner: Ma Yuanliang
[7] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. Luoyang Palace Lanterns