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The Macartney Embassy: Gifts Exchanged between George III and the Qianlong Emperor

An eighteenth century diplomatic mission yielded exquisite gifts

FRANÇOIS-JUSTIN VULLIAMY (1712-98)

Bracket clock

c.1765

RCIN 3011

For the British, François-Justin Vulliamy’s (1712–98) clocks represented the apex of eighteenth-century technology.  Part of the Embassy’s intention was to showcase British technological and scientific achievement and as such Vulliamy’s clocks were among the gifts given to the emperor.

On arrival in China, the Embassy was split into two groups. One group, headed by Macartney and Staunton, travelled to Jahol to meet the emperor while a second group remained at the Great Hall of the Summer Palace outside Peking to assemble the larger presents. These included not only the Vulliamy clocks, but also a planetarium (refurbished by Vulliamy), an orrery, two eighteen-light lustres, microscopes, air pumps and various chemical and electrical apparatus.


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