Exciting the empire: Gift giving and cultural exchange between Bourbon France and Qing China

The early modern period stands out for the impactful, unprecedented and rarely repeated exchange of diplomatic gifts. Presented to win favours or introduce the splendours of royal patronage and sophisticated domestic production, art object became influential cultural ambassadors fostering the appreciation of foreign customs, and their refined artistic talent and craftsmanship. This paper is based on archival and object studies to analyse important French gifts presented during Louis XIV and Louis XV\u27s times to East Asia. The iconography and material properties of the visual imagery produced ─ often as propaganda ─ for the court of the Sun King, and painted, printed or woven into series of artefacts displayed within the royal French chateaux, and gifted to French aristocrats and kingdoms abroad, present an important cultural phenomenon leading to marvel, as well as artistic interpretation and imitation. Case in point: The 1680s exchange of gifts between the French King and the Siamese embassy has been described for the novelty it presented. However, more critically observed, contemporary scholarship may conclude that the cultural and artistic impact remained limited. The excitement with the unknown outweighed the adoption or adaptation of a foreign material culture into ones own. By contrast, the textile gift presented by Louis XV to Qianlong in the 1760s was of lasting influence as it led to ─ so other commissions beautifully exemplify ─ a new appreciation and absolute fascination with French royal art and political propaganda