Nearly 200 spectacular objects from the Palace Museum tell the little-known stories of how imperial women influenced court politics, art and religion.

Timed to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of U.S.-China diplomatic relations, Empresses of China's Forbidden City is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum; the Smithsonian's Freer|Sackler, Washington, D.C.; and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Explore sumptuous treasures from the Palace Museum that tell the little-known stories of empresses whose contributions had remained largely silent — until now.

Share your impressions with us on social media using #PEMempresses.

Empresses of China’s Forbidden City is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum; Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; and the Palace Museum, Beijing, China.

The exhibition is made possible by generous support from Liu Dan; the Henry Luce Foundation; the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Bei Shan Tang Foundation; Carolyn and Peter S. Lynch and the Lynch Foundation; Shirley Z. Johnson and Charles Rumph; the Richard C. von Hess Foundation; Anonymous; the AMG Foundation; the Coby Foundation, Ltd.; Eaton Vance; American Friends of the Shanghai Museum; the Blakemore Foundation; Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo; Quan Zhou and Dr. Xiaohua Zhang; Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund; Skinner, Inc.; the Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation; Robert N. Shapiro; Sandra Urie and Frank Herron; and Dr. Young Yang Chung. We also recognize the generosity of the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum. James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes have generously supported additional exhibition programming.

Exhibition support provided by:

Liu Dan

E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation

Carolyn and Peter S. Lynch and the Lynch Foundation
Shirley Z. Johnson and Charles Rumph
The Richard C. von Hess Foundation
Anonymous

American Friends of the Shanghai Museum

Blakemore Foundation; Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo; Quan Zhou and Dr. Xiaohua Zhang; Furthermore: a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund; Skinner, Inc.; Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation; Sandra Urie and Frank Herron; Robert N. Shapiro

Mr. & Mrs. James B. Hawkes for support of seminar programming around the exhibition.

We also recognize the generosity of the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum.

Media partners:
The Boston Globe

Social Media Sponsor:

Peabody Essex Museum is proud to be a partner of the MassFashion Collaborative.