January 20-April 21

Chinese Decorative Design (Chinoierie), 1736

The Skeletons from the Grotteschi, 1750

Design for a Paneled Wall (Boiserie)

"She took one of her serpents..."
in Le Temple de Gnide, 1772

FRANCOIS-ANTOINE AVELINE, French, 1691-1743;
after JEAN MONDON THE YOUNGER, French, active 1736-1745
"Chinese" Decorative Design (Chinoiserie)
from Cinquieme Livre de Figures et Ornements Chinois
etching, hand-colored, 1736 Ackland Fund, 63.43.8

In 1736 seven sets of prints appeared based on Mondon's rococo designs. These four plates come from the fourth and fifth sets, which are devoted to ornament in the "Chinese" style. The name rococo derives from the French words rocaille (a structure of irregular stones) and coquille (shell), and the arabesque is a linear expression of these forms. The rococo was adored by some and loathed by others because of its "frivolity"and lack of meaning.

This image associates the arabesque with the eighteenth-century leisured aristocrat. We see an arabesque cartouche to the left. It is distorted but still contains the basic elements of the rococo motif.

Within the same sphere is a couple sitting in a garden like those found in many eighteenth-century fêtes galantes, but this couple is Chinese. Such representations are not surprising as Europeans were fascinated with the Chinese culture at this time. The oriental umbrella, the tropical plants, and the pseudo-phoenix are confused signs of "otherness."

Deb Selinger and Masumi Ninomiya