Chinoiserie

Chinoiserie (French: chinoiserie) is a captivating style of the 18th century, when Europe literally fell in love with the mysterious East. In interiors, porcelain, silver, and painting, dragons, cranes, pagodas, fantastic trees, and pavilions appear. The aesthetics of chinoiserie is a whimsical mixture of European and Asian motifs, a bright palette, lacquered surfaces, inlays on furniture legs, and pictorial panels.

Palaces and mansions were decorated with silk wallpaper depicting Chinese scenes, and sometimes even the most famous porcelain manufactories counterfeited Eastern marks.

There was a case: English porcelain marks deliberately copied Chinese characters to sell items at a premium!

Today, chinoiserie is again relevant for collectors, and individual pieces often become brand-name lots at auctions.