Genghis Khan’s True Likeness Revealed: The Palace Museum Unveils an Authentic Imperial Portrait

By MOOK Travel Life Network, Li Xinyi, compiled and reported

 

The National Palace Museum houses an exceptionally rare authentic portrait of the great Mongol hero Genghis Khan—Temüjin. This year marks the 850th anniversary of Genghis Khan’s birth, and the museum has specially arranged to display five imperial portraits in the main hall’s “Form and Beauty—A Selection of Chinese Paintings” exhibition from now until March 25. These include the , , , , and . For this occasion, Tumenjargal Magaadai, Deputy Minister of Mongolia’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, led a delegation to Taiwan yesterday (the 8th) specifically to visit the museum and pay tribute to the authentic portrait of Genghis Khan.

The collection of Yuan dynasty imperial and empress portraits housed in the museum consists of 8 portraits of emperors and 15 of empresses. Both volumes are from the former collection of the Nanxun Hall. The portraits are believed to be small-scale imperial likenesses commissioned by the court painters of the Yuan dynasty. With fine lines, the facial features—including brows, eyes, hair, and beard—are meticulously rendered. The eye sockets are subtly shaded to highlight the full, rounded visage typical of Mongol nobility. According to the images, Emperors Taizu, Shizu, and Wenzong all wore braided hairstyles and single-colored robes. Emperors Taizu and Shizu wore fur-lined warm hats, while Emperor Wenzong donned a seven-treasure layered crown. The lines of their garments show slight variations in thickness.

Empresses Shizu, Shunzong, Wuzong, and Renzong are depicted wearing the gugu crown (also called the gugu hat), typically formed by two birch bark cylinders wrapped in red silk, adorned with beads, and topped with a pheasant tail. Their robes feature brocaded borders made of the Yuan dynasty’s imperial “nasij” silk, an Islamic-style gold-woven fabric. The painting of Yuan imperial portraits blends traditional Central Plains styles with foreign influences. The rendering of facial features and detailed clothing elements—such as chiaroscuro shading techniques, the lines of brows, beards, and wrinkles, and slightly varied line weights in the drapery—creates vivid and distinct figures that are not confined to conventional painting methods.