China and the West

Tristano Francesco Attimis ist als Missionar in Nanjing tätig.

Valentin Chalier wird Superior der französischen jesuitischen Mission.

Ignatius Sichelbart kommt in Beijing an und ist als Missionar tätig.

Sung, Mei-ying. Blake and the Chinaman [ID D26564].
At the height of the Chinese fashion in England around the 1750s, the trade in porcelain was a prosperous business. As the Chinese had developed over several centuries a much more advanced technology of porcelain-making, the English had admired and tried to imitate them with enthusiasm. The interest in Chinese style and objects, especially porcelain, was the prevailing fashion in mid-eighteenth-century England. It was popular not only to collect Chinese exported ceramics but also 'chinoiserie' style furniture and images. William Hogarth's Marriage à-la-Mode (1745) shows the luxuries of an aristocrat's house including a range of
Chinese porcelain prominently displayed above the fireplace. This represents the fashion of the 18th-century British wealthy household, where Chinese ceramic figures, porcelain jars and vases were highly valued and extremely desirable objects for rich collectors. Although by William Blake's time much of this chinoiserie had been replaced by neo-classical purity, china remained a favourite English houshold decoration. Through the 18th century, there had been close connections between English china dealers (chinamen) and the criss-crossing of Chinese imports and Midlands domestic manufactures involving the engraving and print trades. English china dealers often had their engraved or etched trade cards designed in a Chinese or chinoiserie style, and advertisting technique meant to hint to the customer that their ceramic wares were of the highest quality. A political and satirical history of the years 1756 and 1757. [Plates publ. By George Edwards
and Matthew Darly]. (London : E. Morris, 1757 od. 1758) in which appear several caricatures published by Darly and Edwards, not only combined text and image in a combination similar to Blake's illuminated books, but a number of Blake's autograph signatures bearing the date 'May 29 1773' are inscribed in one copy of the edition. If Blake had seen Darly and Edwards' prints on political and satirical history, he may have also seen their chinoiserie book A new book of Chinese designs [ID D8960] and know something of the prospering transfer-printing business for ceramics. Blake's only certain connection with the English chinamen was the engraving he did for the Wedgwood factory catalogue. Blake did not design the plates himself but took them from John Flaxman's designs. Blake's plates were never published and sold in a conventional manner as a catalogue for customers but were used by Wedgwood and his salesmen as a pattern book.

Brief von Lord John Hervey an Horace Walpole.
Er schreibt : "I am extremely glad to hear the History of China [Du Halde] has so strong an effect upon you. You describe in a very entertaining manner the change it has made in you."

Joseph de Guignes ist Sekretär der königlichen Bibliothek in Paris.

Ignaz Sichelbarth kommt mit Giuseppe Castiglione und Jean-Denis Attiret in China an und ist vorwiegend als Maler am Kaiserlichen Hof in Beijing tätig.

Clemens August von Bayern lässt im Park von Schloss Augustusburg zu Brühl zwei chinoise Bauten errichten. Das indianische Lackkabinett, das Maison sans gêne, ein Lustschloss nach Vorlage eines Pavillons des Kaiserpalastes in Beijing, angelegt von François de Cuvilliés. 1822 wird es abgebrochen. Das zweite chinoise Lustgebäude ist ein kurioses Belvedere, das 1776 abgebrochen wurde. Vor der gartenseitigen Westfassade des indianischen Lusthauses entstand ein Wasserbecken, in das die lebensgrosse Bleifigur eines chinesischen Mandarins mit einem Drachen Wasser spie. Schauvitrinen enhalten vorwiegend Meissner Porzellangeschirre sowie das Service des Kurfürsten bemalt mit chinesischen Szenen.

Errichtung des Chinese tent Tea house auf der Terrasse des Montagu House, Bloomsbury, jetzt in Boughton House in Northamptonshire.

Porzellan-Fabrikation in Chelsea.

Porzellan-Fabrikation in Derby, Derbyshire.

André Deshauterayes wird Professor für Arabisch am Collège de France und wird Dolmetscher der Bibliothèque du Roi. Er interssiert sich für China und chinesischen Buddhismus.

Allgemeine Verbannung der Missionare.

Pedro Sanz kommt in Fu'an (Fujian) in Gefangenschaft.

Gottfried Xaver von Laimbeckhoven wird zum Jesuitenvisitator für den Fernen Osten ernannt.

Märtyrer in Fujian und Nanjing.

Augustin Haller von Hallerstein wird Vorsitzender des Astronomischen Rates in Beijing.

Anton Gogeisl wird Vize-Präsident des Mathematischen Amtes in Beijing.

Gottfried Xaver von Laimbeckhoven ist Visitator für China und Japan.

Hogarth, William. Taste in high life. [Bild].
At the centre of the picture appears a dandified couple wearing caricature costumes ; the lady's wide crinoline skirt, the man's butterfly bow, his painted Chinese pigtail and muff. The couple are caught in the act of worshipping a dainty morsel of Chinese porcelain.