RH owns a Chinese Chinoiserie style coffee table. The top shows a startling scene of ancient Chinese Court life composed of six applied carved semi-precious stone figures. One figure wields a bamboo stick and another kneels, the other figures look on from an elegant pagoda. RH always wondered about this table, what it portrays, and why his British grandmother owned such a piece.
Throughout 18th, 19th, and 20th century history this style called Chinoiserie has been avidly collected, and, in turn, disliked. The reason for “dislike” is twofold. Often the style portrays stereotypes of the culture. Secondly, the style is ornate, glamourous, and whimsical. Not the LOOK today.
Chinoiserie’s History
In 1742 the British Ambassador to China, Lord Cathcart, returned with a shipload of furniture. By 1760, the style influenced architecture, porcelain design, furniture, colors, and wallpaper. As early as 1498, the Empire of China fascinated Europe. Vasco de Gama opened a sea route from the west coast of India through the Cape of Good Hope.
By 1672, The Dutch and East India Company established trade between Canton (Guangzhou), Beijing, and European ports. The Company sponsored Johan Nieuhof (1618-1672) on a 1,500 mile mission to China. He subsequently published an account of his years of travels in An Embassy from the East India Co.. The book, containing 150 copper plate etchings of “Pagan” Pagodas et al, was translated into German, French, and Latin. In 1672 the Company opened a trading post in Taiwan, holding a monopoly on all Chinese trade till 1833. They mainly traded in tea, but because of tea, Chinese porcelain became sought after. Europe didn’t have the ‘formula’ to make porcelain till Meissen’s discovery in 1710. With tea services in vogue, tea tables gain popularity as well. These objects designed in China for the European market, or in London for the English market, came in the Chinoiserie taste.
Melding Chinese and European Styles
Melding Chinese and European styles in design occurred as early as 1754 when Thomas Chippendale published his Gentleman’s and Cabinet Maker’s Director. This pattern book featured furniture in the Gothic, Chinese, and European Rococo tastes. We see the influence of such a mix on RH’s coffee table. First, RH’s table is in the form of a coffee table, NOT a Chinese style, and the scene portrayed is NOT in the European taste. The scene dates from the mid-19th century, likely cut from a Coromandel screen. The 20th century support armature and legs are Chinese-style made for the British market.
In three eras in decorative art and design history we find a rage for Chinoiserie. In the late 18th century society saw the apex of the style under the Prince Regent, the future George IV, who designed magnificent gardens and estate, the Royal Pavilion (1810-1820). The second era, the Aesthetic Movement, occurred in the late 19th century when Col. Perry ‘opened’ Japan. People began to covet Asian porcelain and design. Remember Oscar Wilde’s quote: “I hope to live up to my Blue and White china.”
Third Chinoiserie Renaissance
The third renaissance in the roaring 20s saw the birth of RH’s table. Fashionables, such as Coco Chanel (1883-1971), loved Chinese Coromandel screens. She owned thirty-two multipaneled screens at her rooms at 31 rue Cambon, Paris. A Coromandel screen is a type of lacquerware with many coats of lacquer applied, sculpture, or overlaid with figures created by “kuancai,” incised colored materials such as stone, gold, or mother of pearl in red or black lacquer. The screens are Coromandel because they were shipped from China past the coast of SE India.
Suddenly Art Deco Europe felt a need to paint rooms Chinese Red and Black, to hang huge gilded mirrors, to cover walls, and upholstery with dramatic Asian patterns, and to come for cocktails in Chinese silk embroidered coats with bowl-cut bobs worn by Flapper gals.
What does this scene of two men, one beaten with a bamboo rod, one taking the beating, MEAN? Under traditional Chinese law, going back to 907, whipping with a bamboo stick was one of the recommended punishments. The tradition of ten to fifty lashes, for a debt for example, was accepted practice into the late 19th century. As mentioned the scene is cut from a much older screen, which contained a narrative of upper class Chinese Court life. The value of the table is $400-500 as today, Chinoiserie style is NOT in favor.