Creating your own China. Chinoiserie lace as figurative art

Abstract

Chinoiserie as the quintessence of Europeans sensual expectations of the Far East, originated in the 17^th century, when Chinese and pseudo-Chinese styles were just beginning to come into fashion. Among the factors that influenced the development of that fashion, the economic success of the East India Companies trading activities needs to be highlighted first, thanks to which the European art market was soon filled with authentic Chinese art objects (primarily decorative and applied art). Nevertheless, Europeans actual knowledge of the real China was still limited. In Chinoiserie, “Chinese” did not refer to a specific historical and cultural reality, but rather to a romantic image formed more based on imaginary representations rather than a true understanding of the specifics of Chinese culture and art. In the early stages of the formation of chinoiserie, the trendsetters for the imaginary China came from the countries of the Franco-Flemish region: France (Paris/Versailles) as the recognized leader in artistic culture, and Flanders (Antwerp/Brussels) as the commercial and economic leader. One manifestation of the fashion for “Chinese” was lace from the Franco-Flemish region in the chinoiserie style. It appeared in the second quarter of the 18^th century, during the style’s peak popularity. Despite the variety of techniques used in creating such lace, the unifying factor was the attempt to represent the image of the “Other”. The figurative representation of characteristic iconographic motifs and types of compositions representing such a fancied image is the result of the research.