When the very first Chinese porcelains found their way to Europe, the beauty and fragility of the material led to their being mounted with precious metal and treasured alongside other rare and exotic objects such as ostrich eggs and rock crystal vessels. They were housed in cabinets of curiosities and exchanged as diplomatic gifts between great European rulers. This early and exclusive ownership of Chinese porcelain spread enormously in the 17th century with the opening up of trading routes between Europe and the Far East and led to a widespread fashion for housing and displaying collections of Chinese ‘blue-and-white’; and spawned a whole range of European imitations.

This lecture will examine the enormous and long-lasting influence that these Chinese porcelains had on European taste and culture and the whole history of interior design.