Chinoiserie

A detailed Summary of Chinoiserie

As early as the 1100's, traders brought Chinese exports to Europe, where it became greatly admired. As European trade with the Orient grew during the 1600's, many of these products and their styles became popular with the European public. Thus, the Chinese had a growing influence on European aesthetics, and the art style known as Chinoiserie arose.

The term Chinoiserie refers to the seventeenth and eighteenth century style in European art characterized by forms and motifs derived from Chinese art. Chinoiserie, used mainly in conjunction with Baroque and Rococo styles, featured extensive gilding and lacquering, use of blue-and- white, asymmetrical forms, disruptions of orthodox perspective, and Oriental figures and motifs. Variety and multiplicity best describe the style of Chinoiserie. It favored light, springing forms. Chinoiserie sought to diffuse its decoration in continuous growth without stiffness or emphasis. Luster, brilliance of surface effect, freshness, and brightness were all characteristics of the Chinoiserie style.

As stated in his book, "Europe and China: A Survey of their Relations from the Earliest Times to 1800," Geoffrey Francis Hudson writes,

The painted silks and embroideries, the p

It was in interior decoration, and furniture that the Chinoiserie style was most evident. The earliest appearance of a major chinoiserie interior scheme was in Louis Le Vau's Trianon de porcelaine, built for Louis XIV at Versailles. The fad spread rapidly, and soon houses had a "Chinese room," in which everything was Chinese, and whatever was not the real thing was made up with imitations. 3 In the mid eighteenth century, the rectangular lines of chest of drawers were often modified, and beveled corners with chinoiserie fretwork (decoration consisting of small straight bars intersecting one another at right or oblique angles) were introduced.4

Chinese silks, and imitations of them were used for panels, hangings and covers. Elaborate chimneypieces and door cases were set against the background of imported or imitation Chinese wallpapers, and the beds and windows were hung with Eastern textiles.

Chinoiserie also appeared in several painted works. French artists Francois Boucher and Jean-Antoine Watteau were painters of such works. Hudson writes of Watteau,

The Chinese also developed a great variety of patterns and colors, and exported porcelain objects to Europe in increasing numbers. As trade with the O

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Approximate Word count = 821
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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