Portraits of Qing meritorious officers in the collection of the State Hermitage: scroll restoration and revised reading of the texts

The finished restoration of the portraits representing prominent Qing officers kept in the collection of the State Hermitage resulted in a possibility to not only prove their artistic value, but also to read the eulogies written by Emperor Qianlong in Manchu and Chinese. As a follow-up of our previous paper1 we are presently able to become certain that the State Hermitage has five portraits (of Yeotun, Fusil, Cebdenjab, Bolbunca and Guwandase), originally from the Ziguang-ge Pavilion (Hall of Purple Glaze), which made it to Germany in the early 20th c., and then, after 1945, to Russia. The analysis of the texts has revealed the peculiarities of Manchu and Chinese poetry at the same time proving that both versions of the eulogies were written in accordance with corresponding poetic rules thus becoming variations of the same topic.