Chinoiserie

[scw1217]

Okay, not perhaps a word we'd use every day, but somehow it is fun to say. This word came to me from my mother who was wondering about its meaning.

Dictionary.com states:

chi·noi·se·rie /ʃinˌwɑzəˈri, -ˈwɑzəri; Fr. ʃinwazəˈri/ [sheen-wah-zuh-ree, -wah-zuh-ree; Fr. shee-nwazuh-ree]

–noun, plural -ries /-ˈriz, -riz; Fr. -ˈri/ [-reez, -reez; Fr. -ree] for 2. (sometimes initial capital letter)

1. a style of ornamentation current chiefly in the 18th century in Europe, characterized by intricate patterns and an extensive use of motifs identified as Chinese.
2. an object decorated in this style or an example of this style: The clock was an interesting chinoiserie.
[Origin: 1880–85; < F, equiv. to chinois Chinese + -erie -ery]

The entire Wikipedia article is worth the read, but to paraphrase:

Chinoiserie refers to a European artistic style which reflects Chinese influence and is characterized through the use of fanciful imagery of an imaginary China, asymmetry and whimsical contrasts of scale, the use of lacquerlike materials and decoration. Chinoiserie entered the European repertory in the mid-to-late seventeenth century; its popularity peaked around the middle of the eighteenth century, when it was easily assimilated into rococo...

...The term is also used in literary criticism to describe a mannered "Chinese-esque" style of writing, such as that employed by Ernest Bramah in his Kai Lung stories, Barry Hughart in his Master LI & Number 10 Ox novels and Stephen Marley in his Chia Black Dragon series (it should however be noted that Marley rejects the chinoiserie label in favour of his own term "Chinese Gothic").

Plus check out the example from the link at Wikipedia.

[Bailey]

Chinoiserie was very popular in Victorian times just after they invented[sic] the Orient, Chinese art tends to be very vivid, very colorful and involved, nothing like Japanese art who's motto is less is more. For some reason the staid Victorians[nearly always dressed in black fom toe to chin, fingertip to fingertip] were titillated by the thought of lots of red and gold and "funny little characters" in the pots and urns, and Jewelry they brought back while they were trading tea/opium/and silks.

mark triangle-trade Bailey
The 18th and 19th Centuries saw the introduction of opium to China. This was a “triangle trade” across the Indian and Pacific oceans similar to the American slave trade across the Atlantic. The British imported opium into China from its colonies in India. Chinese silks, spices, tea, and other delicacies were also imported from China to England while British manufactured goods to India
Chinoiserie

[scw1217]

Interesting. Thanks. I like your examples as well.