102-529: The Willow pattern is a distinctive and elaborate chinoiserie pattern used on ceramic tableware . It became popular at the end of the 18th century in England when, in its standard form, it was developed by English ceramic artists combining and adapting motifs inspired by fashionable hand-painted blue-and-white wares imported from Qing dynasty China . Its creation occurred at a time when mass-production of decorative tableware, at Stoke-on-Trent and elsewhere,
204-671: A bamboo tree for G8 wishes available in Roppongi during the summit. Protesting organizations in Sapporo during the G8 summit also tried to use the spirit of Tanabata to focus attention on a somewhat different set of wishes. Non-governmental organizations including Oxfam and CARE International set up an online wish petition campaign to coincide with the G8 Summit and Tanabata. Outside Japan, Fukuda's timely gesture had unanticipated consequences. For example,
306-500: A bridge, chased by the Mandarin, whip in hand. They eventually escaped on the Duke's ship to the safety of a secluded island, where they lived happily for years. However, the Duke learned of their refuge. Hungry for revenge, he sent soldiers, who captured the lovers and put them to death. The gods, moved by their plight, transformed the lovers into a pair of doves. The story of the willow pattern
408-407: A circular or ovate frame. The waterside landscape represents a garden in the lower right side, in which a large two-storey pavilion stands. Approached by steps, the lower storey has three large pillars with arched windows or openings between. The roof and gable, shown in three-quarter perspective, is surmounted by a smaller room similarly roofed, and there are curling finials at the gables and eaves. It
510-555: A further decline of interest in the Oriental. China closed its doors to exports and imports and for many people chinoiserie became a fashion of the past. As British-Chinese relations stabilized towards the end of the 19th century, there was a revival of interest in chinoiserie. Prince Albert , for example, reallocated many chinoiserie works from George IV's Royal Pavilion at Brighton to the more accessible Buckingham Palace. Chinoiserie served to remind Britain of its former colonial glory that
612-555: A general sense of capriciousness. William Alexander (1767–1816), a British painter, illustrator and engraver who travelled to the East Asia and China in the 18th century, was directly influenced by the culture and landscape he saw in the East. He presented an idealized, romanticized depiction of Chinese culture, but he was influenced by "pre-established visual signs." While the chinoiserie landscapes that Alexander depicted accurately reflected
714-470: A major tourist attraction . The festival now includes a fireworks show that is held on 5 August. At the Sendai Tanabata Festival, people traditionally use seven different kinds of decorations, which each represent different meanings. The seven decorations and their symbolic meanings are: The ornamental ball (薬玉; Kusudama ) often decorated above streamers in present-day Tanabata decorations
816-416: A major representative, but the meaning of the term could change according to different contexts. Sir William Chambers for example, in his oeuvre A Dissertation on Oriental Gardening of 1772, generically addresses China as the 'Orient'. In the financial records of Louis XIV during the 17th and 18th centuries were already registered expressions like 'façon de la Chine', Chinese manner, or 'à la chinoise', made in
918-576: A narrative analysis of an ancient tale involving a human female and her future consort, Prince Ame-waka-hiko . In this tale of the Otogi-zōshi genre, the Prince takes the form of a serpent and marries a human woman. He later reveals he is a heavenly deity named Dragon Prince. After some time, he disappears and his human bride must seek him out (akin to the Graeco-Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche ), even reaching
1020-402: A range of grades and prices. 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
1122-443: A vision sent in a dream; a grateful animal points him the way). Over the course of the story, the human partner reaches the celestial realm where his wife and her family live. Once there, he is forced to perform tasks before they reunite. At the end of the narrative, the husband breaks a taboo (he should not eat a certain melon/gourd, but he does and is washed away) and he and his celestial wife are separated, only to reunite again during
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#17330938089811224-586: Is a children's novel, a realist fictional account of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression years that has been called " The Grapes of Wrath for children". The eponymous Blue Willow plate, a gift from her great-grandmother, is the prized possession of Janey Larkin, the young daughter of a migrant worker family. The Blue Willow pattern comes to represent Janey's dream of a permanent home. Taylor Brothers, of Sheffield, England, manufacturers of saws and blades in
1326-722: Is about to paint (on a plate) a picture of a garden scene when some sumo wrestlers and guards come crashing through and destroy his entire palette except for blue. He resolves to paint, in just that one colour, a picture that the world will remember for centuries. In Jordan Peele's 2017 film Get Out , Missy Armitage uses a blue Willow teacup to hypnotize Chris Washington. Chinoiserie Chinoiserie ( English: / ʃ ɪ n ˈ w ɑː z ər i / , French: [ʃinwazʁi] ; loanword from French chinoiserie , from chinois , "Chinese"; traditional Chinese : 中國風 ; simplified Chinese : 中国风 ; pinyin : Zhōngguófēng ; lit. 'China style')
1428-418: Is also a traditional Tanabata song: ささのは さらさら のきばに ゆれる お星さま きらきら きんぎん すなご ごしきの たんざく わたしが かいた お星さま きらきら 空から 見てる 笹の葉 さらさら 軒端に 揺れる お星様 きらきら 金銀 砂子 五色の 短冊 私が 書いた お星様 きらきら 空から 見てる Sasa no ha sara-sara Nokiba ni yureru Ohoshi-sama kira-kira Kingin sunago Goshiki no tanzaku watashi ga kaita Ohoshi-sama kirakira sora kara miteru The bamboo leaves rustle, And sway under
1530-658: Is also known by various names: Japanese scholars pointed out that some tales of the Tanabata cross over with the character of the Celestial Maiden (otherwise known in Japan as Tennin Nyoobo or Hagoromo ). Comparative scholarship on the Japanese variants points that at the beginning of the story, the human male goes near a lake for a variety of reasons (a prayer to the gods for a wife;
1632-548: Is based on the Japanese fairy tale "The Green Willow" and other ancient fairy tales originating in China about the constellations that tell the story of two lovers separated and envied by gods for their love. The lovers can only meet once a year when the stars align. There is an English story about the plates that may or may not have links to China; it was first published as "The Story of the Common Willow Pattern Plate" in
1734-585: Is celebrated in China and also was adopted in the Kyoto Imperial Palace from the Heian period . The festival gained widespread popularity amongst the general public by the early Edo period , when it became mixed with various Obon or Bon traditions (because Bon was held on 15th of the seventh month then), and developed into the modern Tanabata festival. Popular customs relating to the festival varied by region of
1836-952: Is held in Sendai from 6 to 8 August. In the Kantō area, two of the largest Tanabata festivals are held in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa (around 7 July) and in Asagaya , Tokyo immediately prior to the start of the Obon holiday in mid August. A Tanabata festival is also held in São Paulo , Brazil around the first weekend of July and Los Angeles , California in the beginning of August. Although Tanabata festivals vary by region, most festivals involve Tanabata decoration competitions. Other events may include parades and Miss Tanabata contests. Like other Japanese matsuri , many outdoor stalls sell food, provide carnival games, etc., and add to
1938-522: Is quite different from the standard romantic fable outlined above. Blue Willow, specifically gold-rimmed pieces coming from Gilman Collamore , New York, was the china of choice at William Randolph Hearst's "La Cuesta Encantada" estate in San Simeon, California , being Hearst's mother's favorite pattern. In addition to being used on camera to evoke a 19th-century atmosphere in several American western movies (as well as western television shows , and even
2040-654: Is remotely related to the Japanese reading of the Chinese characters 七夕, which used to be read as "Shichiseki" (see explanation about the various kanji readings ). It is believed that a Shinto purification ceremony existed around the same time, in which a Shinto miko wove a special cloth on a loom called a tanabata ( 棚機 ) and offered it to a god to pray for protection of rice crops from rain or storm and for good harvest later in autumn. Gradually this ceremony merged with Kikkōden to become Tanabata . The Chinese characters 七夕 and
2142-429: Is surrounded by bushes and trees with varied fruit and foliage, including a large tree rising behind with clusters of oranges. Another pavilion roof appears among the trees to the right and a smaller pavilion stands to the left projecting from the waterside bank. A path through the garden leads to the front of the scene and is crossed by a fence of diapered panels set zig-zag fashion across the foreground. On its left side
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#17330938089812244-553: Is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other Sinosphere artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts , garden design , architecture , literature , theatre , and music . The aesthetic of chinoiserie has been expressed in different ways depending on the region. It is related to the broader current of Orientalism , which studied Far East cultures from a historical, philological, anthropological, philosophical, and religious point of view. First appearing in
2346-486: Is the inclusion of the bridge, the garden fence, the central pair of birds, and the particular details of the pavilions and surrounding trees, in this arrangement, which together characterize the English Willow pattern in its standard form. In order to promote sales of Minton's Willow pattern, various stories were invented based on the elements of the design. The most famous story usually runs as described below. The story
2448-451: Is thought to have engraved versions of willow designs for Spode and for various other factories. It was probably for Spode that the English Willow pattern was created and first produced perhaps around 1790, because it incorporates particular, distinctive features of earlier Chinese willow scenes which were already known and imitated at the Spode factory. The Willow pattern is commonly presented in
2550-586: The Dictionnaire de l'Académie . After the spread of Marco Polo's narrations , the knowledge of China held by the Europeans continued to derive essentially from reports made by merchants and diplomatic envoys. Dating from the latter half of the 17th century a relevant role in this exchange of information was then taken up by the Jesuits, whose continual gathering of missionary intelligence and language transcription gave
2652-426: The washi paper made from the paper mulberry 琴寄姫 – Kotoyori-hime ("String Musical Instrument Gathering Princess") 灯姫 – Tomoshibi-hime ("Luminous Bright Light Princess") 妻星 – Tsuma-boshi ("Wife Constellation/ Star") 機織姫 – Hata'ori-hime ("Weaving Princess") 星の妻 – Hoshi-no-tsuma ("Constellation/ Star Wife", i.e.: wife of Kengyū ) 牛引星 – Ushihiki-boshi ("Cow-tender Star") The Festival of Tanabata
2754-594: The Callot Soeurs , and Jean Paquin . In the early 20th century, European and fashion designers would use China and other countries outside of the Eurocentric-fashion world to seek inspiration; Vogue magazine also acknowledged that China had contributed to the aesthetic inspiration to global fashion. Chinese motifs grew popular in European fashion during this period. China and the Chinese people also supplied
2856-525: The Chinese Symphony (1914) by Bernard van Dieren , and the light music orchestral fantasy In a Chinese Temple Garden by Albert Ketelbey (1923). In Britain, many 20th century song composers set English translations of Chinese poetry (by orientalists such as Launcelot Cranmer-Byng , Herbert Giles , Edward Powys Mathers and Arthur Waley ) to music, including Benjamin Britten in his cycle Songs from
2958-658: The Tentei ( 天帝 , "Sky King", or the universe itself) , wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa ( 天の川 , "Milky Way", literally "heavenly river") . Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi ( 彦星 , " Cowman "/" Cowherd Star", or literally " Boy Star") (also referred to as Kengyū ( 牽牛 ) ) who lived and worked on
3060-643: The oriental riff , making use of the pentatonic scale , often harmonized with open parallel fourths. The term is also used in literary criticism. The so-called 'Mandarin style' "is beloved by literary pundits, by those who would make the written word as unlike as possible to the spoken one". Critics also 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 Ten Ox novels and Stephen Marley in his Chia Black Dragon series. Tanabata Tanabata ( Japanese : たなばた or 七夕 , meaning "Evening of
3162-479: 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. Central European palaces like the Castle of Wörlitz or the Castle of Pillnitz all include rooms decorated with Chinese features, while in the palace of Sanssouci at Potsdam features a Dragon House (Das Drachenhaus) and
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3264-475: 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 imitated japanning , early painted wallpapers in sheets, after engravings by Jean-Baptiste Pillement , and ceramic figurines and table ornaments. In
3366-643: The "One-Month Delay" way ), while the others are still held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the traditional Japanese lunisolar calendar, which is usually in August in the Gregorian Calendar. The Gregorian dates of "the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Japanese lunisolar calendar" for the coming years are: Large-scale Tanabata festivals are held in many places in Japan, mainly along shopping malls and streets, which are decorated with large, colorful streamers. The most famous Tanabata festival
3468-503: The 1780s various engravers including Thomas Lucas and Thomas Minton were producing chinoiserie landscape scenes based on Chinese ceramic originals for the Caughley 'Salopian China Manufactory' (near Broseley , Shropshire ), then under the direction of Thomas Turner . These included scenes with willows , boats, pavilions and birds which were later incorporated into the Willow pattern. However,
3570-507: The 17th and 18th centuries Europeans began to manufacture furniture that imitated Chinese lacquer furniture. 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
3672-578: The 17th century, Chinese arts and aesthetic were sources of inspiration to artists and creators, and fashion designers when goods from oriental countries were widely seen for the first time in Western Europe. In the 18th century and throughout the 19th century, chinoiserie fashion was especially celebrated in France, and the origin of most Chinese-inspired fashion was French during this period. Chinoiserie had also inspired designers such as Mariano Fortuny ,
3774-634: The 17th century, this trend was popularized in the 18th century due to the rise in trade with China (during the High Qing era ) and the rest of East Asia. As a style, chinoiserie is related to the Rococo style. Both styles are characterized by exuberant decoration, asymmetry, a focus on materials, and stylized nature and subject matter that focuses on leisure and pleasure. Chinoiserie focuses on subjects that were thought by Europeans to be typical of Chinese culture . Chinoiserie entered European art and decoration in
3876-473: The 18th century. Europeans had a fascination with Asia due to their increased, but still restricted, access to new cultures through expanded trade with East Asia, especially China. The 'China' indicated in the term 'chinoiserie' represented in European people's mind a wider region of the globe that could embrace China itself, but also Japan, Korea, South-East Asia, India or even Persia. In art, the style of "the Orient"
3978-474: The 19th and 20th centuries, made a line of Willow Saws, with a medallion using part of the Willow pattern. The blue Willow Pattern over the years has been used to advertise all kinds of goods and services. This forms the subject of a two-volume publication. Blue Willow china and its legends appear in Lee Blessing 's play Going to St. Ives . In Terry Pratchett 's novel Interesting Times , an oriental artist
4080-522: The Caughley factory did not produce the English Willow pattern in its completed form. Thomas Lucas and his printer James Richards left Caughley in c. 1783 to work for Josiah Spode , who produced many early Chinese-inspired transferwares during the 1780s and 1790s. Thomas Minton left Caughley in 1785 and set up on his own account in c. 1793 in Stoke-on-Trent producing earthenwares: he
4182-761: The Chinese for high voice and guitar (1957). More recent operatic examples include A Night at the Chinese Opera ( Judith Weir , 1987) and Nixon in China ( John Adams , 1987). The influence of Chinese and East Asian music has also been evident in popular music, from musical comedy ( A Chinese Honeymoon , 1899), Tin Pan Alley ( Limehouse Nights by George Gershwin , 1920), Broadway musicals and jazz (' Chinoiserie ' by Duke Ellington , 1971) through to modern rock music ( China Girl by David Bowie , 1976 and many more). These pieces often incorporate Western cultural shorthand clichés of Chinese musical style, such as
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4284-705: The Chinese House (Das Chinesische Haus). 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 Villages were built in the mountainous park of Wilhelmshöhe near Kassel, Germany; 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
4386-558: The Chinese way. In the 19th century the term 'chinoiserie' appeared for the first time in French literature. In the novel L'Interdiction published in 1836, Honoré de Balzac used chinoiserie to refer to the craftworks made in the Chinese style. From this moment on the term gained momentum and started being used more frequently to mean objects produced in the Chinese style but sometimes also to indicate graceful objects of small dimension or of scarce account. In 1878 'chinoiserie' entered formally in
4488-681: The European public a new deeper insight of the Chinese empire and its culture. While Europeans frequently held inaccurate ideas about East Asia, 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. 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." Moreover, Indian philosophy
4590-437: The G8 leaders to participate in the spirit of the festival. They were each asked to write a wish on a piece of paper called tanzaku , to hang the tanzaku on a bamboo tree, and then to take the necessary actions to change the world for the better. As a symbolic gesture, the actual writing and the act of hanging up that note is at least a first step. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made colored strips of paper and
4692-728: The Indian nationally circulated newspaper, The Hindu , picked up on this festival theme by printing an editorial featuring unconventional Tanabata wishes. Fukuda also invited his fellow citizens to try turning off the lights in their house and stepping outside to enjoy with their family the sight of the Milky Way in the night sky. On 7 July, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment anticipated that over 70,000 facilities and households across Japan would switch off their lights from 20:00 to 22:00 as
4794-522: The Japanese reading Tanabata joined to mean the same festival, although originally they were two different things, an example of jukujikun . Like Qixi and Chilseok , Tanabata was inspired by the famous Chinese folklore story, " The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl ". Some versions were included in the Man'yōshū . The most popular version is as follows: Orihime ( 織姫 , "Weaving Princess") , daughter of
4896-501: 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 of wallpaper in European homes in the 18th century also reflects the general fascination with chinoiserie motifs. With
4998-621: The Seventh") , also known as the Star Festival ( 星祭り , Hoshimatsuri ), is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival . It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of
5100-558: The West's then utopian, nostalgic view of Chinese landscape and culture in pieces such as Pagodas ( Debussy, 1903 ). There followed three major 20th century examples of musical chinoiserie: Mahler 's Das Lied von der Erde (1908), Stravinsky 's The Nightingale (1914), and Puccini 's Turandot (1926). Other notable pieces include Tchaikovsky 's 'Chinese Dance' (from Act Two of The Nutcracker 1892), Ravel 's 'Laideronnette, impératrice des pagodes' (from Ma mère l'Oye , 1910),
5202-541: The actual Chinese art and architecture. Finally, still others believed that an interest in chinoiserie indicated a pervading "cultural confusion" in European society. Chinoiserie persisted into the 19th and 20th centuries but declined in popularity. There was a notable loss of interest in Chinese-inspired décor after the death in 1830 of King George IV , a great proponent of the style. The First Opium War of 1839–1842 between Britain and China disrupted trade and caused
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#17330938089815304-469: The bufu), the jiaoling ruqun , kanjia , mamianqun , yunjian , yaoqun (short waist-skirt), piling (collar), as well as traditional Chinese embroideries , and traditional Chinese Lào zi , pankou , high collars , etc. According to the Ladies' Home Journal of June 1913, volume 30, issue 6: Interest in the political and civic activities of the new China, which is more or less world-wide at this time, led
5406-621: The centre of the gardens, designed and built by William Chambers , exhibits strong English architectural elements, resulting in a product of combined cultures (Bald, 290). A replica of it was built in Munich 's Englischer Garten , while the Chinese Garden of Oranienbaum includes another pagoda and also a Chinese teahouse. Though the rise of a more serious approach in Neoclassicism from the 1770s onward tended to replace Oriental inspired designs, at
5508-435: The chinoiserie style, complete with Chinese-styled bed, phoenix -themed wallpaper, and china . Later exoticism added imaginary Turkish themes, where a "diwan" became a sofa . One of the things that contributed to the popularity of chinoiserie was the 18th-century vogue for tea drinking. The feminine and domestic culture of drinking tea required an appropriate chinoiserie mise en scène . According to Beevers, "Tea drinking
5610-552: The city was founded in the early Edo Period . The Tanabata festival gradually developed and became larger over the years. Although the festival's popularity started to dwindle after the Meiji Restoration , and almost disappeared during the economic depression that occurred after World War I, volunteers in Sendai revived the festival in 1928 and established the tradition of holding the festival from 6 to 8 August. During World War II it
5712-519: The comedy, The Munsters ), Blue Willow china is also featured in The Andy Griffith Show and Murder, She Wrote , suggesting a contemporary time or setting when life was simpler. It was also seen in both the movie Funny Farm , and in Sleepy Hollow . This story is represented in the children's book The Willow Pattern Story , by Allan Drummond. Blue Willow by Doris Gates (1940)
5814-447: The country, but generally, girls wished for better sewing and craftsmanship , and boys wished for better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper. At this time, the custom was to use dew left on taro leaves to create the ink used to write wishes. Incidentally, Bon is now held on 15 August on the solar calendar , close to its original date on the lunar calendar , making Tanabata and Bon separate events. The name Tanabata
5916-477: The decorative and pictorial arts of the East permeated the European and American arts and craft scene. For example, in the United States, "by the mid-18th century, Charleston had imported an impressive array of Asian export luxury goods [such as]...paintings." The aspects of Chinese painting that were integrated into European and American visual arts include asymmetrical compositions, lighthearted subject matter and
6018-402: The decorative objects and furniture in a room, creating a complementary backdrop. European understanding of Chinese and East Asian garden design is exemplified by the use of the word Sharawadgi , understood as beauty, without order that takes the form of an aesthetically pleasing irregularity in landscape design. The word traveled together with imported lacquer ware from Japan where shara'aji
6120-468: The designers of this page [p.26] and the succeeding one [p.27] to look to that country for inspiration for clothes that would be unique and new and yet fit in with present-day modes and the needs and environments of American women [...] Western approximations of Chinese music first began to be used in the mid-17th century in operas such as Purcell 's The Fairy-Queen (1692) and Gluck 's Le cinesi (1754). Jean-Jacques Rousseau included what he claimed
6222-610: The direct imitation of Chinese designs in faience began in the late 17th century, was carried into European porcelain production, most naturally in tea wares, and peaked in the wave of rococo chinoiserie (c. 1740–1770). Earliest hints of chinoiserie appear in the early 17th century, in the arts of the nations with active East India Companies, Holland and England , then by the mid-17th century, in Portugal as well. Tin-glazed pottery (see delftware ) made at Delft and other Dutch towns adopted genuine blue-and-white Ming decoration from
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#17330938089816324-500: The early 17th century. After a book by Johan Nieuhof was published the 150 pictures encouraged chinoiserie, and became especially popular in the 18th century. Early ceramic wares in Meissen porcelain and other factories naturally imitated Chinese designs, though the shapes for "useful wares", table and tea wares, typically remained Western, often based on shapes in silver. Decorative wares such as vases followed Chinese shapes. The ideas of
6426-454: The eaves. The stars twinkle Like gold and silver grains of sand. The five-color paper strips I have written them. The stars twinkle, Watching from above. The original Tanabata date was based on the Japanese lunisolar calendar, which is about a month behind the Gregorian calendar. As a result, some festivals are held on 7 July, some are held on a few days around 7 August ( according to
6528-489: The festive atmosphere. Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea often celebrates the Tanabata Festival featuring a greeting parade with Minnie Mouse as Orihime and Mickey Mouse as Hikoboshi. The Sendai Tanabata Festival is the most famous in Japan. Tanabata has been celebrated in the region since the time of Date Masamune (1567–1636) who was the first warlord in the Sendai area. The festival began shortly after
6630-497: The form of poetry, on tanzaku ( 短冊 , tanzaku ) , small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo , sometimes with other decorations (see also Wish Tree ). The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day. This is analogous to the custom of floating paper ships and candles on rivers during Obon. Many areas in Japan have their own Tanabata customs, which are mostly related to local Obon traditions. There
6732-423: The garden forms an irregular and indented bank into the water, from the foreground of which a large branching willow tree with four clusters of three leafy fronds leans out. From this point a bridge, usually of three arches, crosses left to an island or bank with a house having a tall arched doorway, and a small tree behind. There are usually three figures on the bridge going away from the garden. Above and beyond this
6834-508: The gardens of the East. These gardens often contain various fragrant plants, flowers and trees, decorative rocks, ponds or lake with fish, and twisting pathways. They are frequently enclosed by a wall. Architectural features placed in these gardens often include pagodas, ceremonial halls used for celebrations or holidays, pavilions with flowers and seasonal elements. Landscapes such as London's Kew Gardens show distinct Chinese influence in architecture. The monumental 163-foot Great Pagoda in
6936-506: The heavenly realm, where his father, an oni , lives. At the end of this tale, the lovers are forcibly separated by the oni father and can only reunite during the Tanabata . Noriko T. Reider draws attention to a second story of this combination: the "Qian Luwei Tale". In this version, the human wife's father is identified as Qian Luwei, and the male deity is Hikoboshi, the son of "Bontennō", Brahma . In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in
7038-565: The height of Regency "Grecian" furnishings, the Prince Regent came down with a case of Brighton Pavilion , and Chamberlain's Worcester china manufactory imitated " Imari " wares. While classical styles reigned in the parade rooms, upscale houses, from Badminton House (where the "Chinese Bedroom" was furnished by William and John Linnell , ca 1754) and Nostell Priory to Casa Loma in Toronto, sometimes featured an entire guest room decorated in
7140-520: The landscape of China, "paradoxically, it is this imitation and repetition of the iconic signs of China that negate the very possibility of authenticity, and render them into stereotypes." The depiction of China and East Asia in European and American painting was dependent on the understanding of the East by Western preconceptions, rather than representations of Eastern culture as it actually was. Various European monarchs, such as Louis XV of France , gave special favor to chinoiserie, as it blended well with
7242-509: The late-16th century, as the Casino of San Marco remained open from 1575 to 1587. Despite never being commercial in nature, the next major attempt to replicate Chinese porcelain was the soft-paste manufactory at Rouen in 1673, with Edme Poterat, widely reputed as creator of the French soft-paste pottery tradition, opening his own factory in 1647. Efforts were eventually made to imitate hard-paste porcelain , which were held in high regard. As such,
7344-412: The magazine The Family Friend in 1849. Once there was a wealthy Mandarin , who had a beautiful daughter (Koong-se). She had fallen in love with her father's humble accounting assistant (Chang), angering her father, as it was inappropriate for them to marry due to their difference in social class. He dismissed the young man and built a high fence around his house to keep the lovers apart. The Mandarin
7446-576: The magpies cannot come because of the rise of the river and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet. The rain of this day is called "The tears of Orihime and Hikoboshi". Orihime and Hikoboshi are called various names in the different versions of the story. 朝顔姫 – Asagao-hime ("Morning Glory Princess") 糸織り姫 or 糸織姫 – Ito-ori-hime ("Thread-Weaving Princess") 百子姫 – Momoko-hime ("Peach-Child Princess") 薫物姫 – Takimono-hime ("Incense Princess") 蜘蛛姫 – Sasagani-hime ("Spider Princess") 梶葉姫 – Kajinoba-hime (" Paper Mulberry Princess"),
7548-516: The materials and aesthetics to American fashion. Original Chinese fashion also influenced various designs and styles of deshabille . There was also a fashion trend for day-wear jackets and coats to be cut in styles which would suggest various Chinese items as was published the Ladies' Home Journal in June 1913, where the garments displayed showed influences of the Qing dynasty mandarin court gown (especially
7650-485: 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 . There
7752-446: The night of 7 July. James Danandjaja relates the Japanese tale of Amafuri Otome ("The Woman who came from the Sky"), as a similar tale of the unmarried mortal man, named Mikeran, who withholds the kimono from a bathing lady so she cannot fly home to the sky. Years after they marry, she finds her kimono and flies home with their children. Mikeran fashions a thousand straw sandals to reach
7854-447: The other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime would no longer weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei
7956-464: The present day. Characteristically the background colour is white and the image blue, but various factories have used other colours in monochrome tints and there are Victorian versions with hand-touched polychrome colouring on simple outline transfers. In the United States of America , the pattern is commonly referred to as Blue Willow. The exact date of the pattern's invention is not certain. During
8058-427: The rise of the villa and a growing taste for sunlit interiors, the popularity of wallpaper grew. The demand for wallpaper created by Chinese artists began first with European aristocrats between 1740 and 1790. The luxurious wallpaper available to them would have been unique, handmade, and expensive. Later wallpaper with chinoiserie motifs became accessible to the middle class when it could be printed and thus produced in
8160-399: The river sands. An apple tree, with apples on, A crooked fence to end my song. Another old poem from late nineteenth century Shropshire is: Two swallows flying high, A little boat passing by, A little bridge, with willows over, Three men going to Dover, Now Dover church stands very bare, Twice a week they worship there, A little tree with apples on, And plaited palings in
8262-538: The seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar . The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on 7 July of the Gregorian calendar . The celebration is held at various days between July and August. The festival was introduced to Japan by the Empress Kōken in 755. It originated from "The Festival to Plead for Skills" ( 乞巧奠 , Kikkōden ) , an alternative name for Qixi which
8364-436: The sky world and find his wife. When he meets his parents-in-law, the father-in-law forces him to perform some tasks, and tricks the human with cutting a thousand watermelons in one day. The human's sky wife knows it is a trap, but he does it anyway and is washed away by a flood created from the watermelons. Thus, they can only meet on the night of the Tanabata festival. Professors Masako Satō and Noriko T. Reider provided
8466-413: The style of chinoiserie was assimilated under the generic definition of exoticism . Even though the root of the word 'chinoiserie' is 'Chine' (China), the Europeans of the 17th and 18th centuries did not have a clear conceptualization of how China was in reality. Often terms like 'Orient', 'Far East' or 'China' were all equally used to signify the region of Eastern Asia that had proper Chinese culture as
8568-604: The sun Scottish version: Twa little birdies flying high, A little boatie sailing by; Three mannies ga'en to Dover, A willow tree hangin' over; A kirkie stannin' fair, Mony gang tae worship there; An aipple tree win aipples on't, An' a iron railin a' along't. "The Story of Wong Ts'in and the Willow Plate Embellishment" is narrated by the storyteller Kai Lung in Ernest Bramah 's 1922 novel Kai Lung's Golden Hours . This short story, created by Bramah,
8670-450: The water (shown white) forms an open expanse, with a boat at the centre left containing two little house-like cabins, propelled by a figure with a punt-pole aforeships. In the upper left quarter is a distant island or promontory with pavilions and trees, including a fir. Above the scene in the centre is a pair of flying swallows, one turning and one descending, their heads and beaks turned closely towards one another in amorous conjunction. It
8772-552: Was Western styled goods produced in 18th century China for Chinese consumers. Although this was a notable interest of the Kangxi Emperor and Qianlong Emperor , as shown by the architecture of Xiyang Lou , it was not restricted only to the court. "Occidenterie" artifacts and art were accessible to a wider variety of consumers, as they were domestically produced. There were many reasons why chinoiserie gained such popularity in Europe in
8874-436: Was a "keen competition between Margaret, 2nd Duchess of Portland , and Elizabeth, Countess of Ilchester , for a Japanese blue and white plate," shows how wealthy female consumers asserted their purchasing power and their need to play a role in creating the prevailing vogue. The term is also used in the fashion industry to describe "designs in textiles, fashion, and the decorative arts that derive from Chinese styles". Since
8976-408: Was a fundamental part of polite society; much of the interest in both Chinese export wares and chinoiserie rose from the desire to create appropriate settings for the ritual of tea drinking." After 1750, England was importing 10 million pounds of tea annually, demonstrating how widespread this practice was. The taste for chinoiserie porcelain, both export wares and European imitations, and tea drinking
9078-961: Was a revival of popularity for chinoiserie in Europe and the United States from the mid-19th century through the 1920s, and today in elite interior design and fashion. Though usually understood as a European style, chinoiserie was a global phenomenon. Local versions of chinoiserie were developed in India, Japan, Iran, and particularly Latin America. Through the Manila galleon trade , Spanish traders brought large amounts of Chinese porcelain, lacquer, textiles, and spices from Chinese merchants based in Manila to New Spanish markets in Acapulco, Panama, and Lima . Those products then inspired local artists and artisans such as ceramicists making Talavera pottery at Puebla de Los Angeles. Chinoiserie had some parallel in "occidenterie", which
9180-468: Was already making use of engraved and printed glaze transfers , rather than hand-painting, for the application of ornament to standardized vessels ( transfer ware ). Many different Chinese-inspired landscape patterns were at first produced in this way, both on bone china or porcellanous wares, and on white earthenware or pearlware . The Willow pattern became the most popular and persistent of them, and in various permutations has remained in production to
9282-471: Was an authentic Chinese melody, the air chinois , in his 1768 Dictionary of Music , and it was re-used by Weber in his Overtura cinesa (1804). Offenbach 's satirical one-act operetta Ba-ta-clan (1855) was a big success in Paris. The 1889 Paris World Fair played a significant role in bringing world music to the attention of modern Western composers. In the early 20th century French composers responded to
9384-469: Was an idiom in appraisal of design in decorative arts. Sir William Temple (1628–1699), referring to such artwork, introduces the term sharawadgi in his essay Upon the Gardens of Epicurus written in 1685 and published in 1690. Under Temple's influence European gardeners and landscape designers used the concept of sharawadgi to create gardens that were believed to reflect the asymmetry and naturalism present in
9486-412: Was considered a source of inspiration; the atmosphere rich in images and the harmonic designs of the oriental style reflected the picture of an ideal world, from which to draw ideas in order to reshape one's own culture. For this reason the style of chinoiserie is to be regarded as an important result of the exchange between the West and the East. During the 19th century, and especially in its latter period,
9588-544: Was impossible to hold the festival, and almost no decorations were seen in the city from 1943 to 1945, but after the war, the first major Tanabata festival in Sendai was held in 1946, and featured 52 decorations. In 1947, the Showa Emperor Hirohito visited Sendai and was greeted by 5,000 Tanabata decorations. The festival subsequently developed into one of the three major summer festivals in the Tōhoku region and has become
9690-505: Was increasingly admired by philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer, who regarded the Upanishads as the "production of the highest human wisdom" and "the most profitable and elevating reading which...is possible in the world." Chinoiserie was not universally popular. Some critics saw the style as "…a retreat from reason and taste and a descent into a morally ambiguous world based on hedonism, sensation and values perceived to be feminine." It
9792-449: Was more associated with women than men. A number of aristocratic and socially important women were famous collectors of chinoiserie porcelain, among them Queen Mary II , Queen Anne , Henrietta Howard, and the Duchess of Queensbury, all socially important women. This is significant because their homes served as examples of good taste and sociability. A single historical incident in which there
9894-434: Was moved by his daughter's tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata,
9996-621: Was originally conceived in 1946 by the owner of a shop in downtown Sendai. The ball was originally modeled after the dahlia flower. In recent years, box-shaped ornaments have become popular alternatives to the ornamental ball. Since 2018, streamers inspired by the costumes of the two-time Olympic figure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu have been on display at the Zuihōden . In 2008, the 34th G8 summit in Tōyako, Hokkaidō coincided with Tanabata. As host, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda invited
10098-424: Was planning for his daughter to marry a powerful Duke. The Duke arrived by boat to claim his bride, bearing a box of jewels as a gift. The wedding was to take place on the day the blossom fell from the willow tree. On the eve of the daughter's wedding to the Duke, the young accountant, disguised as a servant, slipped into the palace unnoticed. As the lovers escaped with the jewels, the alarm was raised. They ran over
10200-596: Was rapidly fading with the modern era. From the Renaissance to the 18th century Western designers attempted to imitate the technical sophistication of Chinese export porcelain (and for that matter Japanese export porcelain – Europeans were generally vague as the origin of "oriental" imports), with only partial success. One of the earliest successful attempts, for instance, was the Medici porcelain manufactured in Florence during
10302-607: Was turned into a comic opera in 1901 called The Willow Pattern . It was also told in a 1914 silent film called Story of the Willow Pattern . Robert van Gulik also used some of the idea in his Chinese detective novel The Willow Pattern . In 1992, Barry Purves made a short animated film relating the story, transplanted to Japan and entitled Screen Play . Two birds flying high, A Chinese vessel, sailing by. A bridge with three men, sometimes four, A willow tree, hanging o'er. A Chinese temple, there it stands, Built upon
10404-408: Was viewed as lacking the logic and reason upon which Antique art had been founded. Architect and author Robert Morris claimed that it "…consisted of mere whims and chimera, without rules or order, it requires no fertility of genius to put into execution." Those with a more archaeological view of the East, considered the chinoiserie style, with its distortions and whimsical approach, to be a mockery of
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