Chinoiserie

Fables?

China closed its borders to all foreigners in the year 878. It was not until the 13th century that Europeans became reacquainted with China through the stories of the Italian explorer Marco Polo (Venice 1254-1324). He told, for example, of Chinese women who had their feet bound so that they would not grow bigger. Such images seemed so unbelievable to his countrymen that his stories were dismissed as fabrications.

On his deathbed Marco Polo was asked if he wanted to confess his lies, to which he answered that he had described less than half of what he had actually seen. In the second half of the 17th century there was a European craze for all things Chinese. The wealthy designed special rooms to display their Chinese porcelain and even dressed in the Chinese style at parties.

Do you want to know more about Marco Polo? Watch the video ‘Marco Polo: Journey to the East’.

Chinese porcelain

Chinese porcelain was introduced to Europe at the end of the 15th century. This ‘white gold’ was initially sold sporadically in the Netherlands by Italian and later also Portuguese and Spanish merchants. It was so expensive that only the very wealthiest could afford it.

In 1602 two Dutch East India Company (VOC) ships from Zeeland seized the cargo of the Portuguese ship St. Jago. The booty, which included Chinese porcelain, was sold for an enormous sum at auction in Middelburg. As a result Chinese porcelain became better known in the Netherlands and was admired by a broader public. Thereafter the VOC began to import porcelain directly from China on a large scale.

A good example is this tulip vase in the form of a Chinese pagoda but decorated with a classical European allegorical scene.

Rococo-chinoiserie

In the 18th-century artists working in the rococo style, an outgrowth of the baroque, looked to nature rather than classical Greek and Roman examples. They introduced playful asymmetry and irregular forms and patterns. Artists such as the Frenchman François Boucher combined these innovative elements with Chinese motifs. The rococo style was especially popular with the French monarchy. European models and scenes were transported to a Chinese-looking setting, including pagodas, silk kimonos and rice-paper parasols. However, the theme was always European with a central role for the so-called ‘fêtes galantes’: parties of elegantly dressed people amusing themselves in the countryside.

Chinoiserie’s popularity dwindled in the 19th century. The political relationship between East and West worsened, partly due to the Opium Wars between England and China. The more Europeans learned about China, the less it inspired them. As the mystique faded, the spell was broken. Interest now shifted to the primitive visual cultures of Africa and Oceania, where technological development appeared to be less developed.

Chinoiserie today

China is now a major player on the world stage and so the relationship between East and West has changed. Today it is Chinese artists who are world-famous. Buddhist beliefs and Eastern practices such as yoga and meditation are becoming increasingly popular in Europe and America. Many contemporary artists explore the complexities of globalisation.

In 2009/2010 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen exhibited the work ‘ten to one’ by artists Sylvie Zijlmans and Hewald Jongenelis, which revealed the connection between the West and clothing production in the East.

The land of dragons, porcelain and pagodas continues to inspire Rotterdam-based artist Harmen Brethouwer. In 2008 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen organised a retrospective exhibition of his work entitled ‘On Superfluous Things’.

Want to know more?

You can read more about this subject in the book ‘Chinoiserie’ by Dawn Jacobson. There is a copy in the museum’s library.