Set of 18th-century Chinoiserie Painted Panels
Item Description & Information
A set of 7 Chinoiserie Panels (18th century), oil on canvas in gilt frames. Painted in colours on a taupe ground and later framed, the panels depicting various scenes with figures, foliage, mytholigical birds large trees, foliage, rockwork, water bodies and rivers.
Strong European demand in the 17th-century led to the production of Chinese luxury goods specifically for the western market. Chinese porcelain, silk and lacquer began to make its way to western Europe, imported by the European trading companies. One of these products was pictorial Chinese wallpaper, which started being imported into Europe in about 1750. The first examples were probably woodblock-printed but from the 1760s onwards they were hand-painted.
Although wallpapers weren’t normally decorated with landscapes, the style and subject changed when Europeans began to use Chinese landscape paintings and prints as wall decoration, Chinese artisans responded by painting wallpapers with landscapes. such as the examples with a suburban landscape of mansions and gardens at Blickling.
It can be difficult to date early 17th century Chinese wallpapers but in some cases these can be identified by comparable examples and when these were hung in specific large European houses, which can then give us some indication as to the dating. For example the group of pictures at Erddig, depicting aspects of rice cultivation and silk production, was probably installed in the 1770s. Most of the great houses of Europe had at least one room decorated with a Chinese paper, either original or imitation and by the end of the 18th century they could be found in more modest houses.
Dimensions (approx):
4 Panels without frame: H: 167.5 cm (66 in) x W: 43.2 cm (17 in).
3 Panels without frame: H: 167.5 cm (66 in) x W: 67.3 (26.5 in).
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