世界上沒有任何一個公、私收藏，像國立故宮博物院的收藏歷史，經過千年的傳 承、分合、流轉、播遷，沿續至今，且更孳長茁壯。國立故宮博物院的藏品，絕大多數得自 清宮內府的收藏。清內府文物曾有部份移存奉天瀋陽故宮及熱河行宮兩處。一九一一年辛亥 革命成功，一九一二年中華民國成立，被推翻的滿清王室受到優遇，仍住在紫禁城的後半部 ，即明清皇宮的所謂內廷裡，享受中華民國對待外國君主之禮的待遇。 民國三年，內務部設立古物陳列所，將潘陽故宮、熱河行宮、頤和園、靜宜園的文物，包括 歷朝鼎彝、書畫、陶瓷、雕漆、織繡等，及南薰殿所藏的歷代帝王圖像，都移入故宮外廷的 文華殿及武英殿陳列展出，始具博物館的雛形。[ 註一 ] 民國十三年，攝政內閣開會，決議清廢帝即日遷出皇宮；並組織「辦理清室善後委員會」， 清查清宮文物。十四年十月十日國慶，在清宮原址成立故宮博物院，明清皇宮內廷的宮殿建 築、庋藏的珍貴文物，往日宮苑森嚴，私於皇室，於今開放給世人觀賞。內廷文物，再現世 間。[ 註二 ] （圖版一）本文主旨即在介述故宮收藏的源流。

　　　　　Among the great art collections of the world, the collection of the National Palace Museum is unique. For despite dynastic changes and military upheavals, it has managed not only to survive, indeed it has flourished for more than one thousand years. There is no other collection in the world, either private or public, that can boast such a long, albeit checkered history. The holdings of the National Place Museum are composed pirmarily of the imperial collections of the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1911). Most of the collection was housed within the imperial city, although works were also distributed to the Shenyang Palace in Mukden, Liaoning Province, and to the Summer Mountain Retreat in Jehol. In 1912, the Republic of China was founded after the collapse of the Ch'ing dynast dynasty in the Revolution of 1911. Despite their defeat, the members of the fallen Manchu ruling house received preferential treatment and continued to reside in the inner court of the Forbidden City. Indeed, they were treated like foreign dignitaries. In 1914, the Bureau of Internal Affairs established the Exhibition Office of Ancient Artifacts, which began to consolidate the collections in the Shenyang Palace, the Jehol Summer Mountain Retreat, the Summer Place, in Peking, and the Ch'ing-i Garden. The office organized the ancient bronzes, paintings, callingraphy, porcelans, textiles, and imperial portaits housed in the Nan-hsun Hall and moved the entire collection to the Wen-hsun Hall and moved the entire collection to the Wen-hua and Wu-ying Halls in the outer court of the Forbidden City. An exhibition was the mounted, marking the establishmment of a public museum. In 1924, the Secretariat, the executive governing body, ruled that the former Ch'ing emperor should vacate his quarters in the Forbidden City. The Committee for the Disposition of the Ch'ing Imperial Household Possessions was also established, its primary function being to examine and recored the cultural objects of the Ch'ing imperial collection. On National Day, October 10 1925, the Palace Museum was established inside the Forbidden City, and the art treasures that for centuries had been hidden in the halls and palaces of the inner court for the exclusive enjoyment of the emperors at last entered the public domain. The present collection is based on one thousand years of Imperial Collecting. However, a great portion owes much to the three Ch'ing dynasty emperors who ruled successively from the second half of the 17th cent. to the 18th cent. In shaped paper, I tried to trace how these three laearned and dynamic sovereigns' tastes this the collection.