Chinoiserie - Hardcover

Jacobson, Dawn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0714828831 ISBN 13: 9780714828831

Publisher: Phaidon Inc Ltd, 2001

Synopsis

It was in the seventeenth century that myths of exotic "Cathay" began to be replaced by more definite knowledge of things Chinese, through the activities of English and Dutch traders. It was in the eighteenth century, however, that the taste for designs and architecture based on ideas of Chinese design - "Chinoiserie" - became highly fashionable in the French court, and in its many imitators throughout Europe. Ever since, Chinoiserie has been a factor in the decorative arts and interiors throughout Europe and America. This book celebrates the flowering of the style, and, through over two hundred images, shows its development through the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Packed with colour, the book creates a visual source for all those involved with interiors, collecting, architecture and design.

About this title

Review:

The late-'90s fascination with China in the political and business realms is reflected in fashion as well, and Chinoiserie explores a mix of 14th- to 20th-century decorative styles based on European fantasies of "Cathay." Emphatically not historically correct, chinoiserie is a style that grew out of a mélange of travelers' tales, exaggerations, odd lots from India to Japan, and the European imagination of the exotic. This book is peopled with characters ranging from Marco Polo to Madame de Pompadour to P.T. Barnum. Profuse illustrations conjure the visions of Watteau and Boucher, pot painters in Delft and Minton, garden and kiosk designers from England to Poland, and creators of 1920s movie palaces--the style's final incarnation. Tracing the history of commerce as well as the image, chapters cover the time when intercontinental travel and trade were difficult if not impossible, the flowering of French rococo chinoiserie and its spread across 18th-century Europe. It also looks at the jardin anglo-chinois, the descendants of originally aristocratic styles in middle-class English and American homes, and finally the withering of the fantastic Cathay as more reliable information and objects arrived in the West from China in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Should you be curious about the intricately carved dragon on a theater ceiling or wallpaper peopled with "monkeys dressed as Chinamen," this smartly designed book written with verve, a love of the subject, and an insider's point of view provides a jumping-off point for further study and includes a list of places to visit. --Alex Lawrence

From the Publisher:

It was in the 17th century that myths of exotic "Cathay" began to be replaced by more definite knowledge of things Chinese, through the activities of English and Dutch traders. In the 18th century, however, the taste for designs and architecture based on ideas of Chinese design - "Chinoiserie" - became highly fashionable in the French court, and in its many imitators throughout Europe. Ever since, Chinoiserie has been a factor in the decorative arts and interiors throughout Europe and America. This book celebrates the flowering of the style, and, through over 200 images, shows its development through the 19th and into the 20th century. Packed with colour, the book creates a visual source for all those involved with interiors, collecting, architecture and design.

About this edition

• Publisher: Phaidon Inc Ltd
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0714828831
• ISBN 13: 9780714828831
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240