Son of the Sky

30.06 → 30.06.2025
Chimère qilin

Chimère qilin Terre cuite polychrome Chine, dynastie Han, 206 av.-206 ap. J.C 19,8 x 29 x 9 cm Photo: Olivier Laffely, AN

Jacques-Édouard Berger Collection, China sector

Four hundred and seven emper­ors have ruled over all or part of China for more than 2000 years, from the found­ing of the Empire in 221 BCE to the proclam­a­tion of the Repub­lic in 1912. In the Chinese tradi­tion which desig­nates the emperor as “Son of the Sky”, he acts as a go-between between the sky and the earth. His mission is to guar­an­tee cosmic harmony, both through his good governance and through his scru­pu­lous respect for rites. In the absence of any depic­tion of the person of the sover­eign in the Jacques-Edou­ard Berger collec­tion, the fifty or so objects on view, a third of which date from the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), conjure up the emper­or’s vari­ous func­tions and his human envir­on­ment.