The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures From the Forbidden City April 21, 2011

This loan exhibition organized by the Peabody Essex Museum presents some ninety paintings, decorative works, architectural elements and religious works created for an elaborate two-acre private retreat built deep within the Forbidden City in 1771 as the retirement residence of one of China's most extravagant monarchs -- the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-95) -- who presided over China's last dynasty, the Qing, at the zenith of its power and wealth.