View Item
3. Awnsham Churchill and John Churchill, A collection of voyages and travels, some now first printed from original manuscripts. Others translated out of foreign languages, and now first publish’d in English (London, 1704)
The engraving seen here shows the splendour of ‘the Emperor of China’s retinue or train when he appears in Publick’. The Italian traveller Giovanni Francesco Gemelli (1651–1725) described the procession as including twenty-four trumpeters and four hundred great lanterns. The emperor was carried in an open chair by thirty-two men, supported by four others.
Gemelli became famous for his travels around the world. He did admit that in some cases he used other writers’ accounts, such as this description of the emperor’s procession, but claimed to have witnessed another occasion on which the emperor appeared on horseback.
Citation:
3. Awnsham Churchill and John Churchill, A collection of voyages and travels, some now first printed from original manuscripts. Others translated out of foreign languages, and now first publish’d in English (London, 1704),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
accessed May 7, 2025,
https://www.marshlibrary.ie/digi/items/show/557
Connect On Social
