The original etchings were created for the Qianlong Emperor between 1783 and 1786 by Yi Lantai, who trained under the Jesuit missionary to the Chinese court, Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766; also known as Lang Shining). The Emperor Qianlong (1735-1796) had commissioned Castiglione to design and lay out the gardens and palaces according to the European model within the old Summer Palace Yu Yuan north of Beijing. The buildings and gardens were constructed there from 1737-1766.
Two hundred copies of the original copperplate engravings were made and given to imperial relatives, high officials and other guests; an album comprising one of these original 18th-century copies is now preserved in the Victoria & Albert Museum (Acc. no. 29452:13).