From Wikipedia:
Chinoiserie entered European art and decoration in the mid-to-late 17th century; the work of Athanasius Kircher influenced the study of orientalism. The popularity of chinoiserie peaked around the middle of the 18th century when it was associated with the rococo style and with works by François Boucher, Thomas Chippendale, and Jean-Baptist Pillement. It was also popularized by the influx of Chinese and Indian goods brought annually to Europe aboard English, Dutch, French, and Swedish East India Companies.Though chinoiserie never fully went out of fashion, it declined in Europe by the 1760s when the neoclassical style gained popularity, though remained popular in the newly formed United States through the early 19th century. There was a revival of popularity for chinoiserie in Europe and the United States from mid-19th Century through the 1920s, and today in elite interior design and fashion.
There were many reasons why chinoiserie gained such popularity in Europe in the 18th century. Europeans had a fascination with the exotic East due to their increased, but still restricted, access to new cultures through expanded trade with East Asia, especially China. The limited number of European first-hand experiences of East Asia and their restricted circulation created a level of mystification and misinformation that contributed to the mystification of East Asian cultures.
While Europeans frequently held inaccurate ideas about East Asian, this did not necessarily preclude their fascination and respect. In particular, the Chinese who had "exquisitely finished art... [and] whose court ceremonial was even more elaborate than that of Versailles" were viewed as highly civilized.[4] According to Voltaire in his Art de la Chine, "The fact remains that four thousand years ago, when we did not know how to read, they [the Chinese] knew everything essentially useful of which we boast today."[5] In other words, somewhere, on the other side of the world, there existed a culture so rich that it rivaled the civilizations of Rome and Greece. Chinoiserie created a juxtaposition between something new and exotic for Europeans while at the same time reflecting the values of the 4,000 year old culture from which these objects came.
Various European monarchs, such as Louis XV of France, gave special favor to chinoiserie, as it blended well with the rococo style. Entire rooms, such as those at Château de Chantilly, were painted with chinoiserie compositions, and artists such as Antoine Watteau and others brought expert craftsmanship to the style.[12] Pleasure pavilions in "Chinese taste" appeared in the formal parterres of late Baroque and Rococo German and Russian palaces, and in tile panels at Aranjuez near Madrid. Chinese Villageswere built in Drottningholm, Sweden and Tsarskoe Selo, Russia. Thomas Chippendale's mahogany tea tables and china cabinets, especially, were embellished with fretwork glazing and railings, c. 1753 - 70, but sober homages to early Qing scholars' furnishings were also naturalized, as the tang evolved into a mid-Georgian side table and squared slat-back armchairs suited English gentlemen as well as Chinese scholars. Not every adaptation of Chinese design principles falls within mainstream chinoiserie. Chinoiserie media included "japanned" ware imitations of lacquer and painted tin (tôle) ware that imitatedjapanning, early painted wallpapers in sheets, after engravings by Jean-Baptiste Pillement, and ceramic figurines and table ornaments.
In the 17th and 18th centuries Europeans began to manufacture furniture that imitated Chinese lacquer furniture.[citation needed] It was frequently decorated with ebony and ivory or Chinese motifs such as pagodas. Thomas Chippendale helped to popularize the production of Chinoiserie furniture with the publication of his design book The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker’s Director: Being a large Collection of the Most Elegant and Useful Designs of Household Furniture, In the Most Fashionable Taste. His designs provided a guide for intricate chinoiserie furniture and its decoration. His chairs and cabinets were often decorated with scenes of colorful birds, flowers, or images of exotic imaginary places. The compositions of this decoration were often asymmetrical.
The increased use wallpaper in European homes in the 18th century also reflects the general the fascination with Chinoiserie motifs. With the rise of the villa and a growing taste for sunlit interiors the popularity of wallpaper grew. John Cornforth notes[citation needed] that previously the "light-absorbing textures of tapestry, velvet, and damask" were preferred but now the general interest was in light-reflecting decoration. The demand for wallpaper created by Chinese artists began first with European aristocrats between 1740 and 1790.[13] The luxurious wallpaper available to them would have been unique, handmade, and expensive.[13] Later wallpaper with chinoiserie motifs became accessible to the middle class when it could be printed and thus produced in a range of grades and prices.[14]
The patterns on Chinoiserie wallpaper are similar to the pagodas, floral designs, and exotic imaginary scenes found on chinoiserie furniture and porcelain. Like chinoiserie furniture and other decorative art forms, chinoiserie wallpaper was typically placed in bedrooms, closets, and other private rooms of a house. The patterns on wallpaper were expected to complement the decorative objects and furniture in a room, creating a complementary backdrop.
