A black-and-white engraved portrait of the Kangxi Emperor in a dragon robe, enclosed by an ornate oval frame of dragons and clouds with a French caption below.

1697 · Engraving

Cam-Hy, Emperor of China and Eastern Tartary

Franz Ertinger; published with text by Louis Le Comte

Why it matters

The engraving translates Kangxi into the visual language of a European royal portrait while retaining dragons and Qing court dress. Published alongside Le Comte’s praise of the emperor’s learning, it helped make the ruler legible as a philosopher-king.

Publication
Illustrations de Nouveaux mémoires sur l'état présent de la Chine
Holding institution
Médiathèque du musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac; digitized by Bibliothèque nationale de France
Shelfmark
ark:/12148/btv1b2300608z, plate 1
Rights
Public-domain work; digital image reused under Gallica’s terms

Ertinger, Franz. Cam-Hy, Empereur de la Chine et de la Tartarie orientale. In Illustrations de Nouveaux mémoires sur l'état présent de la Chine, 1697. Médiathèque du musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, ark:/12148/btv1b2300608z.