1904年五、六月間，發生三件與慈禧太后（1835－1908）肖像有關的事情，若與當時重大的政治事件與議題相比，這些事情看似微不足道，也難有歷史效應。本文認為這三件事情不僅不是微塵泡沫，更啟示晚清歷史中重要的二大議題。其一關係著清朝轉變成國際社會中國家成員時，慈禧透過肖像的形象塑造成為國家代表；其二討論肖像成為統治者形象塑造最重要的媒介，並在新興的公共領域中塑造公眾輿論，成為具有影響實際政治的視覺資源。

這三件事情簡述如下。第一，1904年五月慈禧開始與外國統治者、貴族與使節交換照片，並且留下正式記錄，應為官方機制。第二，同年六月十二日到次年十二月二十九日，有正書局頻頻在同樣奠基於上海的《時報》上刊登廣告，販售慈禧的照片。第三，同年六月十三日，美國女畫家Katherine A. Carl（？－1938）所繪的慈禧油畫像運抵美國聖路易城，在揭幕儀式後，成為該城所辦世界博覽會的展示品。

本文主要分為四個部份，其中三個部份即分別討論上述三件事情，透過分析檔案報紙等文獻及慈禧的攝影照片與油畫像，建構這些肖像與慈禧自我形象塑造的關係，並探究當這些肖像擁有超越以往的國內外觀眾時，晚清政治所可能有的變化。除此之外，本文也討論並未在外交或公共領域流通的慈禧傳統肖像畫，因為慈禧自我形象的塑造並不始於1904年，從較早的傳統肖像畫可見相對於慈安太后（1837－1881），慈禧如何建立有利於自己的形象。

1904 was a year of significant political reforms in late Qing China. By contrast, three occurrences involving portraits of the Empress Dowager Cixi (Cixi taihou 慈禧太后) (1835-1908) appear trivial and irrelevant against the background of intense politicaldebate dominating elite life. Instead of dismissing these occurrences, this essay argues that they herald a new age in which the portraits of political figures started to feature prominently in shaping public image. These occurrences work as the prism through which we may perceive of a history that has largely been overlooked in the studies of modern China. This history examines the political and socio-cultural agency of portraits in the newly emergent realms of the public and international.

First of all, in May 1904, Cixi began to exchange photographs with foreign political leaders and diplomats; gestures of friendship that were transformed into an officially recorded diplomatic procedure. Second, from June 12 of 1904 to December 29 of 1905, Youzheng Publishers (Youzheng shuju 有正書局) placed advertisements in the newspaper Shibao 時報 offering for sale photographs of Cixi. Both Youzheng and Shibao were based in the Foreign Concessions of Shanghai. Three, on June 13 of 1904, an oil portrait of Cixi by Katherine A. Carl (?-1938), an American painter, arrived in St. Louis where it was exhibited at the World’s Fair.

Through an examination of both oil portraits and photographs of the Empress Dowager Cixi, this essay explores the visibility and publicity of the portraits of political figures in the last years of China’s imperial history. There are two main issues. First, the essay discusses how Cixi assumed the role as the head of state of the Great Qing State (Daqingguo 大清國) in international diplomacy by using portraits as her public representative. Second, the essay investigates a new form of political self-fashioning that was centered on portraiture, which emerged during an era of mass media and public opinion.

慈禧太后; 中國早期攝影; 慈禧肖像; 形象塑造; 政治形象

Empress Dowager Cixi; early Chinese photography; oil portraits in Qing China; political image; political self-fashioning