Desire for Chinese Goods
(13th–16th Century)
Initial European Encounters
- Early European travelers like William of Rubruck already linked China’s identity to luxury production, noting exquisite craftsmanship in silk and porcelain, laying the groundwork for later desire (Gerritsen and McDowall 87–89).
- Marco Polo’s travels and early European accounts fostered curiosity and a mystified view of Asia as wealthy and culturally sophisticated.
(17th Century)
- The establishment and growth of Dutch East India Company (VOC, 1602) and the British East India Company (1600) expanded maritime trade routes, significantly increasing the import of Chinese porcelain into Europe.
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Porcelain shipments became systematic and were highly desired luxury commodities, alongside silks and lacquerware, initially reserved for royalty and aristocracy (Gerritsen and McDowall 91).
- Porcelain and Chinese-inspired luxury items became status symbols for European elites, reflecting both wealth and cultural refinement. The taste for these objects gradually filtered down from aristocracy to wealthy merchants and middle-class buyers (Leath 49–52).
- Dutch and Portuguese traders intensified European demand for customized Chinese porcelain, leading to special commissions combining European heraldic motifs and Chinese craftsmanship (Armorial wares) (Glaister 7).
(18th Century)
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Chinoiserie reaches its peak, with European designers like Jean Pillement, Thomas Chippendale, and Sir William Chambers widely disseminating Chinese-inspired designs (Leath 56).
- Chinese export porcelain becomes pervasive in wealthy colonial centers, such as Charleston, South Carolina, where owning elaborate Chinese porcelain signified high social status (Leath 53).
- The European fascination with Chinoiserie turns into cultural appropriation; objects become hybrid creations blending European and Asian motifs, often detached from their original meanings (Baghdiantz McCabe 165).
- Chinoiserie objects were widely displayed as a statement of refinement, wealth, and European cosmopolitanism, aligning themselves more closely with European than Chinese identities (Gerritsen and McDowall 102).
(Mid-to-late 18th Century)
- European interest in Chinese objects was coupled with broader economic and colonial ambitions, including attempts to dominate Asian trade and establish colonial supremacy. European interest in Chinese luxury goods was intertwined with larger geopolitical competition and colonial dominance, as evident in the Opium Wars and other trade-related conflicts (Gerritsen and McDowall 106).
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Chinese aesthetics were stripped of their original contexts, simplified, and repackaged for European consumers, exemplifying colonial power dynamics where the colonizer selectively consumed and reshaped the colonized culture (Gerritsen and McDowall 109).
Reinterpretation of Chinoiserie
(Late 18th–Early 19th Century)
- The European imitation of porcelain (e.g., Meissen porcelain in Germany, English porcelain factories) diminished demand for authentic Chinese imports, signaling a shift from admiration to competition (Gerritsen and McDowall 110).
- As Europeans produced porcelain domestically, original Chinese imports declined in prestige, further complicating the cultural valuation of authentic versus imitated items.