by innerspace
photo from The San Francisco Fall Antiques Show catalog
A colonnade of six lacquer red pagodas with gilt eaves and fretwork panels created not only a dramatic entrance to The 2010 San Francisco Fall Antiques Show, but also a theatrical background for Chinoiserie: Rococo to Eco, the 2010 exhibition.
Colonnade of Six Lacquer Red Pagodas
photo by innerspace
Have you ever fantasized about traveling to an exotic location, or dreamed of building a remarkable collection?
According to historian Holland Lynch, who co-curated Chinoiserie: Rococo to Eco along with Maria Santangelo of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 'Chinoiserie's popularity through the centuries is due, in large part, to its residing in the realm of fantasy, for it is evocative rather than innovative in its approach to style.'
The furniture, ceramics, and textiles filling the display cases of the exhibition featured fantastic Asian designs, including exotic buildings, flowers, or birds, and imitated rare Asian materials, such as lacquer, silk, or porcelain.
Chinoiserie: Rococo to Eco
The Introduction of Chinoiserie
photo by innerspace
Pair of Chinese Chippendale Armchairs | Parcel-Gilt Wood and White Japanning | English, Circa 1760 | Courtesy of Ann Getty and Associates
Textile with Chinoiserie-Style Buildings in a Landscape | Watered Silk with a Damask Pattern | Spitalfield's, English, Circa 1760 | Courtesy of Kathleen Taylor-The Lotus Collection
The Taste for Chinoiserie
photo by innerspace
Pair of Chinese Chippendale Armchairs | Parcel-Gilt Wood and Black Japanning | English, Circa 1760 | Courtesy of Ann Getty and Associates
Dressing Table for the Chinese Bedroom at Badminton House | Carved Mahogany | Gloucestershire, English, Circa 1760 | Courtesy of Malcolm D. Gutter
The Golden Age of Chinoiserie
photo by innerspace
Side Cabinet | Chinoiserie Painted | English, Circa 1800 | Courtesy of Carlton Hobbs LLC
Chinoiserie: Past, Present, Future
photo by innerspace
Even though the visual presentation, text panels, exhibition labels, and exhibition catalog were of museum quality, I wish that one of the most important pieces in the exhibition, the table from the Chinese Bedroom at Badminton House, on loan from the San Francisco collection of Malcolm D. Gutter, was displayed in context, under The Golden Age of Chinoiserie text panel, which described this famous 18th century Chinese bedroom.
Dressing Table for the Chinese Bedroom at Badminton House | Carved Mahogany | Gloucestershire, English, Circa 1760 | Courtesy of Malcolm D. Gutter
photo from The San Francisco Fall Antiques Show catalog
English furniture lovers could hardly imagine a finer provenance.
Or, a more renowned London workshop than that of William and John Linnell, whose furniture designs, according to the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, rival those of Thomas Chippendale.
Even though Ann Getty and Associates loaned two outstanding pairs of Chinese Chippendale chairs to the exhibition, wouldn't it have also been amazing to reunite the table with the pair of chairs from the Chinese Bedroom at Badminton House that are also part of the Getty collection?
Chair from the Chinese Bedroom at Badminton House | Beechwood Frame, Gilt and Japanned, Modern Upholstery | English, Circa 1754
photo from The San Francisco Fall Antiques Show catalog, courtesy of Ann Getty and Associates
And, wouldn't it have been interesting to show how John Linnell's 18th century Chinoiserie chair design inspired architect Andrew Skurman's fretwork panel design for the pagodas?
photo by innerspace
Western designs influenced Eastern aesthetics as well.
A verre eglomise tea caddy in the exhibition, also on loan from the San Francisco collection of Ann Getty and Associates, features 32 reverse painted glass panels of beauties.
Tea Caddy | Mahogany, Ebony, and Verre Eglomise | English, Circa 1770 | Courtesy of Ann Getty and Associates
photo by innerspace
Reverse Painted Glass Panel of a Beauty
photo by innerspace
I have an Asian art background, so I immediately associated the verre eglomise beauties with the Screen of 12 Beauties, commissioned by Chinese emperor Yongzheng (r. 1722-1735) for his study in the private quarters of the Old Summer Palace (Yuan Ming Yuan) in Beijing while he was still a prince. The 12 panels of the screen portray imaginary beauties at leisure, drinking tea, enjoying nature, reading, or appreciating antiquities.
Beauty Watching Butterflies in Summer
photo by the Palace Museum, Beijing
Beauty with Distant Thoughts Among Antiquities
photo by the Palace Museum, Beijing
The Screen of 12 Beauties is not only an important visual and historical document of Qing dynasty (1644-1911) court costumes, but also of the architecture of the Old Summer Palace, before it was redesigned by Jesuit missionaries in the style of 18th century European palaces for the Qianlong emperor (r. 1735-1796), who was fascinated by Western science, art, and architecture.
Rococo to Chinoiserie!
What cross-cultural design influences have you noticed lately?
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