Chest Of Drawers Lacquered Chinoiserie

Features

Style: Chinoiserie (1600-1800)

Age: 18th Century / 1701 - 1800

Origin: Piemonte, Italy

Main essence: Poplar

Material: Lacquer

Description

Mobile the piedmont dating back to the middle of the EIGHTEENTH century, in Baroque style, features the sides and the front moved back and the legs cabriolet; in poplar wood, with uprights in walnut. The door locks and the vents are consistent. The decoration in the chinoiserie with red lacquer and the figures in relief, gilded, dates back to the mid-NINETEENTH century. Scenes of rural life and the military, which recall, however, the exoticism of the east with river landscapes and architectures which recall the pagodas, and in fact can be found on the sides, on the two drawers of the front and also on the floor. Here, the scene is framed by a bezel, enhanced with floral motifs that recall those made on the posts. Lakes chinoiserie, in fact, were very popular in the mid-NINETEENTH century, as is demonstrated by the furniture of the famous “Sitting Japanese” (actually, of chinese inspiration) at the Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome, reconstructed in 1888 on the occasion of the first visit of the emperor William II.

Product Condition:
Product in good conditions, shows some signs of wear.

Maximum size (cm):
Height: 86
Width: 118
Depth: 52

Additional Information

Style: Chinoiserie (1600-1800)

The term Chinoiserie (Chinoiserie) comes from French and refers to a period of European art, starting from the 17th century, in which there was a notable influence of Chinese art, also in the wake of a growing interest that Europe had developed for everything that was exotic, in general.

This period was characterized by the use of fanciful images of an imaginary China, by asymmetry in formats and capricious contrasts of scale and by attempts to imitate Chinese porcelain as well as by the use of materials similar to lacquer.

Chinoiserie entered the European repertoire in the second half of the 17th century, when the work of Athanasius Kircher had a great influence on the study of Orientalism.

The popularity of chinoiserie reached its peak in the mid-18th century, when it was assimilated into the Rococo by the works of François Boucher.

They then declined when they appeared, in the eyes of Europeans, antithetical to neoclassicism.

They expressed themselves entirely in the decorative arts while their expression in architecture was realized entirely in the field of capricious "follies" (constructions made exclusively for decorative purposes, but whose form suggests another purpose).

On the other hand, the important transformations that Chinese models brought about in the 18th century on the style of early Georgian furniture and the naturalistic style of English garden landscapes were not considered chinoiserie.

Discover more about oriental influences in the history of the arts with our insights:

FineArt: Chinese mirror, last quarter of the 18th century
Oriental taste in late 19th century furnishings
The charm of the Orient in a Piedmontese manufacture
Presentation on FineArt of a Japanese armor of the 19th century

INSERT ADDITIONAL LINKS:

Oriental taste in Chinese and European furnishings
Oriental Art Collecting in the 18th Century
In-depth analysis of Oriental influences in European art

Age: 18th Century / 1701 - 1800

18th Century / 1701 - 1800

Main essence: Poplar

Essence considered "poor", it is a white wood, with yellowish or greyish shades, light and tender, which is easily damaged. It is used for rustic furniture or in the construction of furniture. The most valuable use it has had in the history of furniture is in Germany, in the 19th century, for veneers and inlays in the Biedermeier period.