Sichuan Abstracts | Qianlong Emperor

Abstract #1: Qianlong Field of Accumulation Paintings
Sichuan University, October 20th, 2026

There are likely to be more than a dozen paintings of the Qianlong Emperor where he is depicted in the garb and clothing of a religious teacher and wearing the yellow hat styled after the Panchen Lama. There are a number of painting examples with a total of eight currently on the HAR website. All of the examples are complex because they have many groups of secondary figures, above and below, in the large composition.

These Qianlong paintings are based on the Gelug traditional field of accumulation visual compositions, also called refuge field paintings. All of these examples have a very clear and distinctive orthodox hierarchy as to how the figures are arranged in the composition. The most important figure in the painting, of course, is the Qianlong Emperor at the center. He's the largest figure and the largest figure is always the most important. After the largest figure, we have the smaller figures at the top, descending down the right and left sides. At the bottom there are a number of what appear to be very wrathful or fearsome figures occupying the lower part of the foreground.

These paintings appear quite complicated with reference to the number of figures, but they can be organized and understood quite easily from the levels, top to bottom, that the groups of figures belong to, how they are placed (their physical placement within the composition), and the abstract linear hierarchy based on textual literature. All of these paintings, more than eight identified, can all be explained quite easily based on a detailed understanding of just one of these examples.

Field for the Accumulation of Merit Paintings:
- Emperor & Deities: HAR #9924
- Qianlong & Famous Teachers: #9913,
- Qianlong & Famous Teachers (Circular Format): #9914, 9915, 9925, 9926, 9927, 34733

Study Topics:
- Painting Examples
- Field of Accumulation
--- Gelug Field
- Reading the Composition
- Iconographic Groupings
- Anomolies

Jeff Watt, 10-2026

(The images below are only a selection of examples from the links above).

King/Chogyal/Emperor
Qianlong Emperor