Through Lang, on the second day of the third month of 1709, Pere d'Entrecolles sent the Kangxi Emperor sixty-six bottles of wine 'and other imported Western rarities'. The Emperor was very pleased and told Lang that in future all offerings should be recorded in detail. This was noted in hs vermillion endorsements.
The Emperor got a lot of presents, delicate scientific instruments and grand artefacts, inlaid and gilded and resplendent. It took a French priest in the provinces to send the Emperor of China some wine.
E. de Waal, The white road (2015), 103-4
No comments:
Post a Comment