Looty the Pekingese

Stolen from the Imperial Summer Palace, Gifted to Queen Victoria

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This post is a story about a little Pekingese dog. It is also, abstractly, about acts of looting—where did we learn this from?—and histories of colonization.

Writing has been slow and strange this past month. I hope you all take care of yourselves and your pets.

As always, thank you for reading. Please do forward this newsletter onto anyone who might be interested.


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“loot”

Attested 1788, a loan from Hindustani लूट (lūṭ)/لوٹ‎ (lūṭ, “spoil, booty”), from Sanskrit लुण्ट् (luṇṭ, “to rob, plunder”). The verb is from 1842. Fallows (1885) records both the noun and the verb as “Recent. Anglo-Indian.”

In origin only applicable to plundering in warfare.

—Wikipedia


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IMAGE: Friedrich Wilhelm Keyl, “Looty,” 1861, oil on canvas

In 1860, British and French troops invaded the Imperial Summer Palace in Beijing, looting everything in sight. In one chamber, according to unreliable reports, they found five little Pekingese dogs fiercely guarding the body of the emperor’s aunt, who had recently killed herself upon hearing the commotion outside.


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The five dogs were brought, along with masses of bounty, back to England. Captain Hart Dunne separated the five dogs, sending two to the Duchess of Wellington, and two to the Duchess of Richmond. And the last dog?


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“Leaving the smoldering ruins of their home behind, the five purloined Pekingese from Yuanmingyuan were taken to England, where the smallest, a fawn and white female with silver bells around her neck, was presented to Queen Victoria.”

—American Kennel Club


“ . . . was fawn and white in color and weighed but 3 lb. She was not heavily feathered and rather more resembled a Lo-sze, which was kind of a smooth-haired Pekingese.”

—“Pekingese: A Comprehensive Guide to Owning and Caring for Your Dog,” by Juliette Cunliffe


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The Queen, delighted with the little dog, renamed it “Looty,” in reference to the spoils of war.

IMAGE: William Bambridge, “Looty the Pekingese,” 1865, albumen print


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Was Looty male or female? There are conflicting reports.


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IMAGE: Danh Vō, “Looty,” 2013, color gravure

“The dogs were saved during the looting of the Summer Palace. He was adopted by Queen Victoria . . . she cleverly called him “Looty.””

—Harriet Thorpe’s review of “Danh Vō: Homosapiens” at Marian Goodman Gallery, London, for Studio International


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“One of five dogs, the first to be seen in the west, was given to Queen Victoria, who named it, with a certain wit, Looty. In the photograph the dog sprawls on a chair, looking dumbfounded, or just plain dumb.”

—Adrian Searle’s review of “Danh Vō: Homosapiens” at Marian Goodman Gallery, London, for The Guardian


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White reviewers, I noticed, tend to see renaming of the Pekingese dog as amusing. Writers of color don’t even mention Looty in their reviews of Danh Vō’s exhibitions. Myself included.


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Looty always looks sad. Or angry.

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“He was a very lonely little creature, the other dogs taking exception to his Oriental habits and appearance, and when the Prince and Princess of Wales returned from a Continental trip, the latter pleaded with her mother-in-law to be allowed to take Looty to Sandringham. About six months later Looty’s mate arrived from China, and the breeding of this species of dog became a diversion in fashionable society.”

—Harper’s Weekly, via The New York Times, 1912


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IMAGE: William Bambridge, The Queen’s Dogs.

“A unique album of Queen Victoria’s dogs featuring one of two extant photos of Looty the Pekingese, “the smallest and by far the most beautiful little animal [in the UK]" (London Illustrated News).”

—Christie’s catalog



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“When Looty died in 1872, she was buried in an unmarked grave at Windsor Castle.”

—American Kennel Club

“Upon his death in 1872, Looty received no ornate monument in the tradition of Eos and other favorite royal pets. The location of his grave is still unknown.”

—“The Pug Who Bit Napoleon: Animal Tales of the 18th & 19th Centuries,” Mimi Matthews


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RIP Looty.