UCLA

As ornithological studies took flight in seventeenth-century Italy, almost every notable villa in Rome included an aviary. A century later, between 1747-1759 in Qing China, an aviary was constructed as a part of the European palace complex at Yuanming Yuan (圓明園). The aviary served as an important portal that provided access to the east and west side of the complex. However, it is no longer extant. A component of my thesis reconstructs this aviary through a study of diverse forms of material evidence (archeological, photographic, and digital reconstructions of the site). By examining the migration and intertwining artistic practices, mediums, avian husbandry, and natural history, we see that the aviary requires moving beyond biographies and social life of objects to explore how a concept was translated into diverse forms and media. The story of the aviary at Yuanming Yuan is a critical instance of the global fascination with birds, and their captivity in elite spaces, which ultimately helps us reassess early modern connections across and between cultures.