圖像帝國：乾隆朝《職貢圖》的製作與帝都呈現

Picturing Empire: Illustrations of “Official Tribute” at the Qianlong Court and the Making of the Imperial Capital

本文以乾隆朝《職貢圖》之圖像生產為中心，試圖透過此個案研究，探討乾隆朝之圖像與統治的關係。文中以釐清乾隆朝《職貢圖》各版本間的複雜關係為始，重建其規模龐大的製作過程，顯現此計畫在執行上以作為中央政治權力核心之軍機處來統整，動員具有全國網絡的官僚體系，產出的圖像超過數千計，其成果則作為外交禮物分送給來朝使節。文中並透過仔細排比其製作過程中的增補，推敲各圖像順序的構成原則，推論第一卷即為帝都意像的組合，顯現《職貢圖》乃是一個呈現由中心到邊緣、以地理為順序安排的帝國圖像；而透過分送此圖像給予「帝國」內成員，乾隆不但賦予來朝各國一個帝國的集體意識，且定義個別成員於帝國中的位置。值得注意的是，此帝國秩序的呈現，在內容與形式上，有許多別於傳統的創新，其中最重要的特徵之一，就是以一男一女標示一個地方或國家之歐洲根源形式的採用，以及代表天子所在位置之第一卷中「西洋」比例的大幅提高。配合其他文獻資料，本文進一步論證，現代意義下的「西洋」如何成為乾隆形象帝都與結構帝國不可或缺的成員。

This article focuses on the production of illustrations of ”Official Tribute” to explore the relationship between imagery and rule at the Qianlong court. An examination of the various editions of ”Official Tribute” from the Qianlong period reveals the integrative powers of the Grand Council, the center of political power at the time. It mobilized an entire bureaucratic network to produce images numbering in the thousands. These pictorial achievements were used as diplomatic gifts for emissaries to the court. This study also arranges and compares later additions to the original images, highlighting their compositional principles and order. The first scroll discussed here, therefore, is a composite representing the notion ofthe imperial capital, indicating that ”Official Tribute” is also an imperial image arranged sequentially by geography from the political center of the country outwards to its borders. By giving away these images to members of the ”empire,” the Qianlong Emperor not only endowed emissaries to the court with a collective consciousness of the Qing Empire, he also defined the individual status of each member within the empire. Furthermore, the presentation of this imperial order, in terms of both content and format, reveals many innovations. For example, the pairing of a man and woman to represent a particular place or country, a method that originated in Europe, and a much greater emphasis on ”Western” proportion in representing the image of the imperial capital in the first scroll. Other documentary evidence confirms that modern concepts of the ”West” became integral parts of Qianlong's image building and imperial construct.