Chambers, William (1)
(Göteborg 1723-1796 London) : Architekt, Gartenarchitekt, Autor
Name Alternative(s)
Chambers, William Sir
Subjects
Art : Architecture and Landscape Architecture
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Index of Names : Occident
Chronology Entries (39)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
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| 1 | 1743-1744 | William Chambers arbeitet in Canton im Auftrag der Swedish East India Company. Er besucht Tempel und Gärten und macht Notizen und Zeichnungen. [Guangzhou (Guangdong)]. |
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| 2 | 1748-1749 | William Chambers arbeitet in Canton im Auftrag der Swedish East India Company. Er bestucht Tempel und Gärten und macht Notizen und Zeichnungen. [Guangzhou (Guangdong)]. |
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| 3 | 1750-1796 |
William Chambers und die chinesische Gartenarchitektur. 1996 Ludwig Trauzettel : Der Einfluss Chambers auf den Gartengeschmack wie auf die Gartenliebhaber und Gestalter Europas hat bis heute eine nachhaltige Wirkung. In seinen Argumenten sahen Chambers Anhänger das Ideal einer Naturnachahmung am vollendetsten erreicht und durchgesetzt. Die Umsetzung chinesischer Stilelement im Garten beschränkte sich jedoch in den meisten Fällen auf die Ausstattung mit chinesischen und später auch orientalischen Gestaltungselementen – mit Teehäusern, Pagoden und Moschen sowie auf die Verwendung von Zelten, Schirmen, Brücken und fernöstlich wirkendem Gartenmobiliar. Seine Absichten sind nur noch in wenigen Gärten zu spüren und der unter seiner Einwirkung entstandene Jardin anglo-chinois ist schon längst Gartengeschichte geworden, er wurde von anderen Entwicklungen abgelöst und gehört der Vergangenheit an. Chambers' Bepflanzungsvorschläge sowie seine Artenauswahl sind von der europäischen Gartenpraxis bestimmt und keineswegs chinesisch. 1996 Adrian von Buttlar : Die Authentizität von Chambers' Chinoiserien ist aus heutigem Verständnis bis zu einem gewissen Grade eine Fiktion, doch war man sich dessen seinerzeit kaum bewusst. Der Einfluss den Chambers auf die deutschen Gärten und Garten-Chinoiserien übte, war die klassizistische Variante der Chinoiserie im Innenraumdekor. Kew Gardens wird zum Modell fürstlicher Gärten. 2008 David Porter : Chambers was sufficiently proud of his production to ship off copies soon after its publication to a host of European notables, including the King of Sweden and Voltaire, and to boast in at least one letter of the period that it had 'met with a very favorable reception' in England, though this seems not actually to have been the case. At the same time, other letters introducing the work to his correspondents describe it as so much 'coglioneri', or foolishness, and 'a piece of nonsense', gestures of dismissal considerably harsher than conventions of authorial humility would normally require. In the Explanatory discourse that accompanied the second edition as a response to the criticisms the first edition had provoked, Chambers initially repudiates any Chinese inspiration behind his ideas, describing their oriental setting in the earlier work as a mere ruse, a failed attempt to '[clothe] truth in the garb of fashion, to secure it a patient hearing'. The paradoxical disjuncture between Chamber's aesthetic affinities together with his endless equivocations concerning his own allegiance to the Chinese style have rendered the interpretation of his Chinese writings, and the Dissertation in particular, a bewildering task, and a critical consensus has remained elusive. Certain readers, on confronting his descriptions of the horrid and enchanted scenes found in Chinese gardens, with their imported tigers, elephants, implements of torture, and bolts of artificial lightning, have been inclined to dismiss his more extravagant recommendations as nonsensical absurdities, playful diversions, or proto-romantic flights of fantasy, while others have confessed to ambivalence about the seriousness with which they are intended. At least one garden historian has demonstrated that Chambers's central ideas about gardening derive from earlier English sources, while another has shown, equally persuasively, that they are firmly rooted in Chinese theories of gardening. Some critics have seen the jealous attach on Capability Brown as the chief 'raison d'être' for the work, while others have stressed the prophetic importance of its original contribution to the theory of landscape design. One of the few points of agreement among students of Chambers's work is that his representation of the Dissertation as a work of cross-cultural translation complicates its reading considerably, in that the substance of his ideas on gardening is distorted beneath the 'fashionable garb' of chinoiserie. For all the success enjoyed by his treatise, Chambers made no claim to originality in the work. The role he saw for himself, rather, was that of a compiler and an adjudicator of taste. He imitates the Chinese more directly in his carefully assembled menagerie of exotic species. The prominence of water in his fantasy garden, and of 'close walks' and 'intricate windings', suggest meanwhile a more generalized influence of Chinese gardening principles. The Dissertation frequently reads, in fact, like an allegorical narrative of voyage and discovery, with its visitor described repeatedly as a 'traveler' or 'passenger' as he makes his way among the garden's seemingly endless labyrinthine passages. The magnificence of the vistas he encounters fully justifies the use of such terms : these are not backyard arrangements of rock gardens and goldfish ponds, but seemingly full-scale depictions of natural wonders that transport the 'visitor' into a compellingly 'real' virtual world. Chambers's depiction of the genius of Chinese gardeners is directed at two polemical aims. The author intends, most conspicuously, to paint an unflattering contrast between the exalted abilities of landscape artists in China and those of their English counterparts, and especially of his nemesis Capability Brown. But he also hopes, more constructively, to elevate the status of this art in England to that which architecture now enjoyed. As a cross-cultural translation, the Dissertation should be read not as a more or less accurate rendering of 'authentic' Chinese practice than as a narrative mapping of the experience of Chinese difference. The genius of Chinese gardening expressed itself, for Chambers, through an aesthetic of contrast, variety, and surprise. While the modern English landscape park numbed the viewer with its monotonous repetition of formulaic conventions, the Chinese garden spurred the imagination with a splendid panoply of riveting scenes, calculated to lead the viewer through a succession of intense emotional catharses. The basic components of the aesthetic vision Chambers ascribed to Chinese gardeners had more obvious precedents not only in Burke's conception of the sublime but also in the English gardening theory of the previous half century. If the Chinese garden, for Chambers, embodies the essence of his impressions of China in its genius, variety, and wondrous indecipherability, the dream of transforming the kingdom into a garden represents the transposition of an enthralling imaginative response to foreignness back to his more immediate surroundings. The dream is Chinese not in its specific content, but rather in the derivation of its aesthetic vision from a subjective confrontation with Chinese difference. |
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| 4 | 1750-1762 |
William Chambers und Kew Garden in London. 1762 Bau der Pagode in Kew Gardens durch William Chambers. Sekundärliteratur 1773-1780 Fredrik Magnus Piper arbeitete während seiner Studienreisen in England, Frankreich, Deutschland und Italien teilweise für Chambers. Er vermerkte über Kew, Chambers habe die "gleichförmige Ebene vor dem Landsitz in Kew sehr sorgsam mit Hilfe von Bodenmodellierung und der Grabung eines kunstreichen Serpentinenkanals, welcher den Monopterosgrund und die kleinen Anhöhen mit dem chinesischen Turm und verschiedenen Tempeln gliedert, in einen viel besuchten Garten umgearbeitet". 1779-1785 Christian Cajus Lorenz Hirschfeld : "William Chambers wählte dort [Kew Garden], anstatt der geraden die gebrochene Linie, gab den Bächen geschlängelten Lauf, verpflanzte Anhöhen, ohne sie zu ebnen, verschönerte natürliche Buschwerke, ohne sie zu zerstören, zog gründende Rasen einem sandigen Platze vor, eröffnete dem Auge eine Menge reizender Aussichten, veredelte einen anmutigen Hain mit Gebäuden, kurz, Kent fand den Garten, wo er ihn suchte, in der Natur." 1923 Adolf Reichwein : Das erste Beispiel eines chinesischen Gartens in Europa schuf William Chambers in Kew Garden. Diese Anlage wurde teils durch Chambers' Schrift, teils durch die Berichte der Reisenden in ganz Europa vorbildlich für alle Gärten des neuen Stils, der bald in Frankreich als 'chinesisch-englisch' bezeichnet wurde. Chambers hat selbst die Pagode, sein eigenes Werk, ausführlich beschrieben und mit Stichen in Plans, elevations, sections, and perspective views of the gardens and buildings at Kew in Surry [ID D26935] erläutert. Sie wächst danach in neun Stockwerken zu einer Höhe von 160 Fuss. Jedes Stockwerk endet in einem überspringenden chinesischen Dach. Die Dachecken sind mit 80 Drachen geziert, die alle mit einer Glasur in verschiedenen Farben überzogen sind. Rühmend wird hervorgehoben, dass die Pagode nach einigen Richtungen 40 Meilen Aussicht gewähre. Chambers gruppierte um die beherrschende Pagode, als das Zeichen des chinesischen Geschmacks, ein 'Haus des Konfuzius' am Rande des Sees, eine Moschee, einen römischen Triumphbogen – als Tribut an den bereits wieder regen Geschmack für die Antike -, eine Alhambra und eine gotisches Gebäude, in der Front einer Kathedrale gleichend. 1950 R.C. Bald : William Chambers was employed by the Princess of Wales in the grounds of her residence at Kew. The park already contained several covered seats and other decorative buildings in the classical style, a 'Temple of Confucius' and a 'Gothic Cathedral'. Chambers added greater variety. In addition to a bridge, an orangery, and several smaller classical temples, he designed and erected an 'Allhambra', a mosque, and the ruins of a Roman triumphal arch. He also added two buildings in the Chinese style : a charming little pavilion in the centre of the lake near the menagerie, and the famous pagoda. Chambers was the first trained architect to publish architectural drawings of Chinese buildings, and his mimitations of them at Kew were not only admired for their authenticity, but also demonstrated their possibilities in a European environment. 1990 Willy Richard Berger : Für Chambers zeugte das klassizistische Naturempfinden von Mangel an Einbildungskraft ; statt zur edlen Einfalt der Antike zu führen, brachten diese Gärten nur Langweile hervor. Und so empfahl er exotische Bauwerke als Mittel gegen die Öde, die Einfallslosigkeit, die sklavische Naturnachahmung, die sich hier ausbreitete. Chambers hat selbst sein Geschmacksideal in der Anlage von Kew Gardens zu verwirklichen gesucht. Diese Gartenlandschaft stattete Chambers mit fremdartigen Dingen aus, die keineswegs dazu angetan waren, einen stilechten chinesischen Garten hervorzubringen. Noch angehen mochten die künstlichen Felsen, die er auftürmte ; die Kaskaden, die sich malerisch darüber ergossen ; die Brücke, die sich über den Bach zog ; die vielstöckige Pagode, wie sie bald zum obligatorischen Bestandteil englischer Gärten in Europa werden sollte ; der kleine Pavillon (Ting) mit durchbrochenem Lattenwerk oder auf ein Haus des Konfuzius, gleichsam der Tribut der Gartenarchitektur an das China-Bild der Philosophen. Dazu aber gesellte sich exotischer Architektur-Nippes aller Art : eine Moschee, eine Reihe von griechischen Tempeln, die Ruine eines römischen Triumphbogens, eine maurische Alhambra und ein gotisches Gebäude, das versuchte, einer Kathedrale zu gleichen – ein kurioses Stilgemisch, das mit den Vorstellungen, die bei der Entstehung des englischen Gartens Pate gestanden hatte, wenig mehr zu tun hatte. 1996 John Harris : Im exotischen Garten mit den beiden Treibhäusern (Great Stove und Bark Stove) gelangt man durch einen Torbogen in den Blumengarten mit der grossen Voliere. Die daran anschliessende Menagerie umschliesst ein ovales Wasserbecken mit einem chinesischen Pavillon (Chinese Ting) auf einer kleinen Insel. Die Pagode mit ihren glitzernden grünen und weissen Ziegelverblendungen und den goldenen Drachen ist noch heute die wichtigste Sehenswürdigkeit. Auch wenn uns Chambers suggeriert, der Chinese Tan Chet Qua sei für die Idee verantwortlich, ist dies nicht richtig. Tatsächlich ist der 'Mandarin der neun Schnurrbarthaare' nämlich Chambers selbst verantwortlich für die Gestaltung. 2008 David Porter : A tension between admiration and disavowal appears in the collection of plans and panoramas from Kew Garden that Chambers published on completing his work there. [Plans, elevations, sections, and perspective views of the gardens and buildings at Kew in Surry [ID D26935]. The centerpiece of the volume is a fold-out depiction of the Great Pagoda that, even now, towers over the garden in incontrovertibly oriental splendor. His lavish description of this plate and its three accompanying illustrations of the pagoda in various sections and stages suggest considerable pride in the accomplishment, and the textual reminder that an engraving of the Chinese original had first appeared in the Designs volume six years before seems intended to reaffirm his own authority in the realm of Chinese architecture. The one other important building in the garden, the House of Confucius, warrants only a single illustration and a summary description. Chambers himself disowns the creation, vaguely asserting that it was 'built a good many years ago, I believe from the designs of Mr Goupy', a contemporary craftsman in the rococo style. |
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| 5 | 1752 | William Chambers bewirbt sich als Architekt beim König am preussischen Hofe. Die Bewerbung scheitert. |
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| 6 | 1753-1767 |
Schloss Drottningholm, Insel Lovön, Mälaren, Ekerö. 1753 Einweihung des chinesischen Schlosses im Park von Schloss Drottningholm, ein Geschenk von König Adolf Friedrich für seine Gattin Louisa Ulrika zum Geburtstag. Der erste chinesische Pavillon war ein bescheidener, eingeschossiger Fachwerkbau. Die Wände waren mit aufgemaltem Flechtwerk kaschiert. Das in der Art einer Pagode geschweifte Dach wurde von Drachenkonsolen und Palmstämmen getragen. Chinesische Glasglocken und Wimpel bildeten das exotische Dekorum am Aussenbau. 1763-1767 Anlegung des neuen Gartens durch Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz und Carl Johan Cronstedt. Die chinoisen Elemente im Park um den Pavillon beschränken sich auf die Architektur. Der neue chinesische Pavillon, "Kina", geprägt von französischen Vorbildern, enthält einige ausgefallene chinoise Elemente wie Drachen, Chinesenmasken, Schirmen und exotischen Pflanzen- und Vogelmotiven. Die chinesischen Innenräume und Ornamentformen für das Dekor am Aussenbau sind teilweise eine detailgetreue Nachahmung aus Designs of Chinese buildings [ID D1838] von William Chambers. Vogelhäuser in der Fasanerie sind Entwürfe von Chambers von Kew Gardens. |
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| 7 | 1755-1772 |
Schloss Sanssouci Potsdam. Friedrich II. der Grosse erhält Anregungen für seine Gebäude der Chinoiserie aus den Büchern Designs of Chinese buildings [ID D1838] und Plans, elevations [ID D26935] von William Chambers. Er lässt 1755-1764 das Chinesische Teehaus zur Ausschmückung seines Zier- und Nutzgartens südwestlich des Schlosses unter Johann Gottfried Büring, nach Skizzen des Königs, aus einer Mischung von ornamentalen Stilelementen des Rokokos und der Chinoiserie errichten. Da das Gebäude auch als exotische Kulisse für kleinere Festlichkeiten diente, wurde einige Meter südöstlich eine Chinesische Küche gebaut. Das Potsdamer Teehaus transformiert einerseits nicht mehr naiv die exotische Welt des Fernen Ostens in ein Utopia des Rokoko, aber es strebt andererseits auch noch nicht die historische Authentizität des nur wenige Jahre älteren Hauses des Konfuzius in Kew Gardens an. Vielmehr reflektier der Bau mit Witz und Ironie die Verschmelzung von östlicher Weisheit, westlicher Kultur und mystischer Erkenntnis als märchenhafte Inszenierung irdischer Glückseligkeit. Chinesische figürliche Darstellungen schmücken mehrere Beleuchtungskörper. Im Zentrum sitzt ein Chinese mit Sonnenschirm und ein Phönix. In der Wohnung des Prinzen Heinrich gibt es einen Kronleuchter mit Chinesenfiguren und Pagodendächern. In der kleinen Blumenlaube sitzen vier verschiedene Chinesen. Neues Palais. Untere Rote Kammern enthält Wandmalereien im chinoisen Stil und Wandleuchter mit je einer Chinesenfigur. In der Wohnung des Prinzen Heinrich entstanden beim Schreibtisch Leuchter mit einer männlichen und einer weiblichen Chinesenfigur. Im Schreibkabinett der Königswohnung gibt es einen Lichtschirm geschmückt mit einem Drachen und einem Phönix. Neue Kammer, Kammer 6 enthält rechts und links des Kaminspiegels eine feuervergoldete Wandbranche mit einem kleinen Chinesenpaar. 1770-1772 lässt Friedrich II. das Drachenhaus unter Carl von Gontard, errichten, ein Gebäude in Form einer chinesischen Pagode. Der Bau enthält sechzehn Drachenfiguren an den Eckpunkten der konkav geschwungenen Dächer. |
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| 8 | 1757 |
Chambers, William. Designs of Chinese buildings, furniture, dresses, machines, and utensils [ID D1838]. Preface by Samuel Johnson : "It is difficult to avoid praising too little or too much. The boundless panegyricks which have been lavished upon the Chinese learning, policy, and arts, shew with what power novelty attracts regard, and how naturally esteem swells into admiration. I am far from desiring to be numbered among the exaggerators of Chinese excellence. I consider them as great, or wise, only in comparison with the nations that surround them ; and have no intention to place them in competition either with the antients, or with the moderns of this part of the world ; yet they must be allowed to claim our notice as a distinct and very singular race of men ; as the inhabitants of a region divided by it's situation from all civilized countries ; who have formed their own manners, and invented their own arts, without the assistance of example". Chambers then went on to point out that no accurate designs of Chinese buildings had yet appeared in Europe, and that his plates "might be of use in putting a stop to the extravagancies that daily appear under the name of Chinese, though most of them are mere inventions, the rest copies from the lame representations found on porcelain and paperhangings". Das Buch enthält ein chinesisches Gedicht, dessen Übersetzung und Bedeutung Chambers nicht kannte. Die Verse gehören zu den Chinoiserien, die er von seinen Reisen aus Südchina mitbrachte. Er schreibt : "Ich hab mir viele dieser Inschriften aus China mitgebracht, aber ich habe vergessen, sie mir erklären zu lassen". Chambers gebrauchte die chinesischen Schriftzeichen als Symbol für das Exotische überhaupt. Die Zeichen sollten als Symbol für chinesische Kultur verstanden werden, das hier in einem leicht kopierbaren Muster vorlag. Sämtliche in seinen verwendeten Schriftverzierungen entstammen diesen Gedichtsstrophen. Das 'Chinesische' sollte wie ein Sinnbild für die von ihm geforderte Wirkung von Mannigfaltigkeit aufgefasst werden, wobei der Gartenkünstler "die Unzulänglichkeit der Natur ersetzen muss". Sekundärliteratur R.C. Bald : Chambers had no intension of advocating or encouraging the use of Chinese architecture on any large scale in Europe, although it might have a place “in extensive parks and gardens, where a great variety of scenes are required”, and in “the inferior apartments of immense palaces”. The designs of Chinese furniture would be helpful to English cabinet-makers, and even the drawings of Chinese costumes would "be useful in masquerades, and other entertainments of that kind, as well as in grotesque paintings". Chalmers believed, Englishmen could learn from having the correct Chinese model before them. "The Chinese excel in the art of laying out gardens". "Their taste in that is good, and what we have seen for some time past been aiming at in England, though not always with success. I have endeavoured to be distinct in my account of it, and hope it may be of some service to our Gardeners." Plate VI illustrates two delightful garden pavilions, one from an island in a lake, and plate VII shows a bridge from the garden of a Cantonese merchant. Included in plate IX is a courtyard garden with its moon-gate, lattice-windows, rockery, bamboo arbour, and lotus pool. In his essay Chambers successfully emphasizes the two features in the gardens of the Chinese which still seem strangest to Europeans : their characteristic but completely unfamiliar use of rockery and their extreme fondness for water. Chambers not only expresses his admiration for the skill with which they managed streams and cascades in their gardens, but also realizes that "in the small ones, if the situation admits, they frequently lay almost the whole ground under water ; leaving only some islands and rocks". David Porter : Chambers continually wavered in his expressions of commitment to the Chinese style, a fact that suggests he was acutely aware of the problems posed by his divided aesthetic loyalities, but which also makes it difficult to assess the true nature and depth of his interest in China. This ambivalence first appears to his Designs of Chinese buildings. On the other hand, he seems genuinely to admire Chinese architects for their originality and for the 'singularity, justness, simplicity, and beauty' of their creations, going so far as to note certain resemblances with structures of classical antiquity. Yet on the other hand, he feels compelled, at least in part by concerns for his reputation, to disclaim any intent 'to promote a taste so much inferior to the antique', and ultimately dismisses the Chinese buildings whose designs fill his volume as mere curiosities and 'toys in architecture'. This equivocation reflects, in part, a contemporary ambivalence in Britain toward the much vaunted achievements of Chinese civilization. Chambers was stepping out on a limb, in his defense of Chinese design, and it is not at all surprising that he felt obliged to temper his praise. |
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| 9 | 1762 | Errichtung der Columan chinensis im Garten von Schloss Fredensborg auf der Insel Seeland in Dänemark durch Johannes Wiedewelt nach William Chambers. |
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| 10 | 1763 |
Letter from Thomas Gray to Mr. How ; Cambridge, Sept. 10, 1763. Gray schreibt : "I mean our skill in gardening, or rather laying out grounds : and this is no small honour to us, since neither Italy nor France ever had the least notion of it, nor yet do at all comprehend it when they see it. That the Chinese have this beautiful art in high perfection, seems probable from the Jesuits' letters, and more from Chamber's little discourse, published some years ago ; but it is very certain we copied nothing from them, nor had any thing but Nature for our model. It is not forty years since the art was born among us ; and it is sure that there was nothing in Europe like it ; and as sure, we then had no information on this head from China at all." |
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| 11 | 1767 |
William Mason veröffentlicht die ersten Verse von The English garden [ID D26938]. Adolf Reichwein : Überall kam das schlichte Naturgefühl wieder zum Durchbruch. In England setzte damit der Kampf gegen William Chambers ein. Mason wirft Chambers die übertriebene Häufung der Bilder vor und bezeichnet sein schmückendes Beiwerk als 'affektiert'. Der einfache Landschaftsgarten erlangt nach dem chinesischen Zwischenspiel wieder Geltung. |
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| 12 | 1767 | Der Bau des chinesischen Pavillons in Wrest Park, Bedfordshire und der chinesische Tempel in Ansley Hall wird William Chambers zugeschrieben. |
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| 13 | 1767-1797 |
Schloss Oranienbaum Leopold III. Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau restauriert in den 1780er Jahren Schloss und 1793-1797 Park Oranienbaum. Als Vorbild dienen die Gartentheorien von William Chambers. Er gestaltet zahlreiche Räume des Hauses in chinesischem Stil um und bezieht die barocke Gartenanlage in die Landesverschönerung des Gartenreiches ein. Der ehemalige barocke Inselgarten wird zu einem einzigen Englisch-chinesischen Garten umgestaltet. Es entsteht eine Pagode, ein Teehaus und mehrere Bogenbrücken. Anglo-chinesische Möbel werden importiert oder kopiert. 1767 Zwei Räume neben dem Thronsaal erhalten grossflächige chinoise Tapeten mit Fels-Vogel-Motiven, deren Vorbild sich nicht nachweisen lässt. Die figürlichen Darstellungen der Tapeten stammen aus Designs of Chinese buildings von Chambers. 1780 Bau der Pagode. Die Pagode ist trotz einiger Abweichungen im Hinblick auf die Zahl der Stockwerke und das eingezogene Laternengeschoss die einzige realisierte Nachahmung der Pagode von Kew im deutschen Kulturraum. Sie geht aber über Chambers' eigene Auffassung noch hinaus, indem sie Teil eines Chinesischen Gartens ist, der sich in seiner Gestaltung eng an die Schilderungen von Chambers, Attiret und Du Halde hält. So wurde sie als einzige dieser Gattung nach dem Vorbild zahlreicher chinesischer Tings auf einem Felsen- und Höhlenberg plaziert und beherrscht eine landschaftliche Szenerie, die mit ihren amöbenförmigen Teichen und Wasserläufen, Schlängelwege, Brücken und bizarren Felssetzungen den Gärten Chinas näher kommt als die meisten vergleichbaren europäischen Gärten. 1794-1797 Errichtung eines Chinesischen Hauses nach Vorbildern aus Designs of Chinese buildings und des Maison chinoise der Désert de Retz. |
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| 14 | 1767 | Bau eines chinesischen Temples auf einer Insel in Ansley Hall, Warwickshire, nach William Chambers. |
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| 15 | 1769-1797 |
Schloss Wörlitz Plans, elevations [ID D26935] von William Chambers befand sich in der Bibliothek. 1769-1773 Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff richtet im Auftrag des Bauherrn zwei chinesische Zimmer ein. Die Vorlage der Wandgliederung und das Mobiliar entstehen unter dem Einfluss von William Chambers. 1773 entsteht die Weisse Stufenbrücke, die erste chinoise Gartenarchitektur. Sie hat ihr Vorbild von der nicht mehr vorhandenen Bogenbrücke von Kew Garden. 1782 entsteht eine schwebende Kettenbrücke. Auguste Rode schreibt darüber : …"die in der Luft schwebende Kettenbrücke. Ein Anblick, der die Einbildungskraft trift, und den Geist nach China zaubert, wo die Kühnheit der Menschen zuerst luftige, durch einen reissenden Strom geschiedene Felsenwände durch diese Mittel vereinigt hat." Karl August Böttiger schreibt 1797 [ID D26945] : … "und gelangten zu dem hangenden Werke der Kettenbrücke. Diese ist gewiss sehr überraschend und kühn der Natur nachgebildet. Man sagt, die Chinesen verbänden in ihren Gärten, die bekanntlich nach Chambers Meinung die Meister unserer neuen englischen Gartenkunst sein sollen, ungeheure Klüfte durch solche schwebenden Kettenbrücken". 1793-1797 Johann Christian Neumark erstellt eine fünfgeschossige Pagode nach dem Entwurf von Chambers 1761 für Kew Garden. Auf drei Seiten von Wasser umgeben, erhebt sich über einem künstlich geschaffenen Gewölbe aus wuchtigen Findlingsblöcken das Chinesische Haus. |
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| 16 | 1771 | Katharina II. ist beeinflusst von Designs of Chinese buildings by William Chambers. Sie übersetzt das Buch ins Russische. | |
| 17 | 1772 |
Brief von Horace Walpole an William Mason. (25 May). Walpole's response to the Dissertation by William Chambers within weeks of its publication : "I have read Chamber's book. It is more extravagant than the worst Chinese paper, and is written in wild revenge against Brown". The book "is laughed at and it is not likely to be adopted, as I expected, for nothing is to tempting to fools, as advice to deprave taste". |
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| 18 | 1772 | Bau des chinesischen Hauses in Amesbury Hall, Amesbury, Wiltshire durch William Chambers. |
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| 19 | 1772-1773.2 |
Chambers, William. Dissertation on Oriental Gardening [ID D9243]. (2) I have often seen, in China, berceaus and arbors, not of lattice-work, as in France, but of bamboo, hazel, and elm, whose branches being interwoven at the top, formed an arch not at all displeasing to the eye, and exceedingly useful, during the heat of summer : and to render these cool retreats more agreeable, jessamine, scarlet beans, sweet-scented pease, granadillas of several sorts, nasturtiums, the convulvus major, and many other sorts of climbers, were planted round the outside, which, forcing their way through, enriched the sides and arches of the walks in a very beautiful manner. I have likewise seen, in Chinese plantations, walks bordered with the cut yew and elm hedges, so common in most countries of Europe, which the Chinese artists sometimes admit of, for variety's sake ; but they never have the stiff appearance of our European ones : the shears are useful sparingly ; towards the top the branches are suffered to spread unmolested ; and even in the cut parts of them are seen large masses of other plants forcing their way through ; such as the sycamore, the fig, the vine, and others, whose foliage and verdure are most opposite to those of the hedge. The dimensions both of their straight roads and walks, very according to the purposes they are designed for ; and, in some degree too, according to their length. Roads or avenues to considerable objects, are, as has been observed, generally composed of three parallel walks : that in the middle being from thirty to one hundred and fifty, or even two hundred feet wide ; those on the sides, from fifteen to forty. In their Gardens, the principal straight walks are never narrower than twenty feet ; and seldom broader than forty-five or fifty : and the smallest straight walks are at least twelve feet wide. Thirty to thirty-six feet is called a sufficient width for a length of two hundred yards ; forty to fifty for one of four hundred ; sixty for one of six hundred ; and seventy for a length of eight hundred yards : and when the extent is more than this last dimension, they do not tie themselves up to any proportion, but increase their width as much as they conveniently can ; never, however, exceeding one hundred and fifty, to two hundred feet ; which they think the utmost width that can be given, without rendering the avenue disproportionate to the trees that border it. In the construction of roads and walks, the Chinese Gardeners are very expert, and very circumspect : they never situate them at the foot of mountains or rising grounds, without contriving drains to receive the waters descending from the heights, which are afterwards discharged by arched gulleys under the roads, into the plains below ; forming, in the rainy season, a great number of little cascades, that increase the beauty of the scenery. The roads which are designed for carriages, th3ey make as level as possible ; they give them a solid bottom, and shape them so as to throw off the rain-waters expeditiously ; they use, as much as possible, the nearest materials, to save expence ; and are very judicious in employing different soils to form mixtures, which never become either hard or slippery ; never loose in dry weather, nor deep in wet ; not easily ground into powder ; nor ever forming a rough flinty surface, difficult and painful for horses to move upon. Their walks are either of grass, of gravel, or chippings of stone, covered with a small quantity of coarse riversand. The first sort, which are seldom used but in private Gardens, they being too liable to be spoiled in public walks, are made of the finest and clearest turf that can be found on downs and commons ; and they are kept in order, by frequent mowing, and rowling with large iron rowlers. The second sort are made of binding gravel, laid about six inches deep, upon the natural ground : if it be dry, or if swampy, upon brick rubbish, flint stones, or any other hard materials, easiest to be had : and these are also kept firm, and in great beauty, by frequent rowling. Those of stone are composed of gallets, laid about a foot thick, rammed to a firm consistence, and a regular surface ; upon which is laid a sufficient quantity of riversand, to fill up all the interstices : which done, the whole is moistened, and well rammed again. Both in their roads and walks, they are very careful to contrive sink-stones, with proper drains and cess-pools for carrying off the waters, after violent rains : and to those that are upon descents, they never give more fall at the moss than half an inch to every foot, to prevent their being damaged by the current of the waters. As China, even in the northern provinces, is exceedingly hot during summer, much water is employed in their Gardens. In the small ones, where the situation admits, they frequently lay the greatest part of the ground under water, leaving only some islands and rocks ; and in their large compositions, every valley has its brook or rivulet, winding round the feet of the hills, and discharging themselves into larger rivers and lakes. Their artists assert, that no Garden, particularly if it be extensive, can be perfect, that it is refreshing and grateful to the sense, in the seasons when rural scenes are most frequented ; that it is a principal source of variety, from the diversity of forms and changes of which it is susceptible ; and from the different manners in which it may be combined with other objects ; that its impressions are numerous, and uncommonly forcible ; and that, by various modifications, it enables the artist to strengthen the character of every composition ; to increase the tranquility of the quiet scene ; to give gloom to the melancholy, gaiety to the pleasing, sublimity to the great, and horror to the terrible. They observe, that the different aquatic sports of rowing, sailing, swimming, fishing, hunting and combating, are an inexhaustible fund of amusement ; that the birds and fishes, inhabitants of the water, are highly entertaining, especially to naturalists ; and that the boats and vessels which appear upon its bosom, sometimes furiously impelled by tempests, at others gently gliding over the smooth surface, form, by their combinations, a thousand momentary varied pictures, that animate and embellish every prospect. They compare a clear lake, in a calm sunny day, to a rich piece of painting, upon which the circumambient objects are represented in the highest perfection ; and say, it is like an aperture in the world, through which you see another world, another sun, and other skies. They also say, that the beauty of vegetable nature depends, in a great degree, upon an abundant supply of water ; which, at the same time that it produces variety and contrast in the scenery, enriches the verdure of the lawns, and gives health and vigor to the plantations. Their lakes are made as large as the ground will admit ; some several miles in circumference : and they are so shaped, that from no single point of view all their terminations can be seen ; so that the spectator is always kept in ignorance of their extent. They intersperse in them many islands ; which serve to give intricacy to the form, to conceal the bounds, and to enrich the scenery. Some of these are very small, sufficient only to contain one or two weeping willows, birch, larch, laburnum, or some other pendant plants, whose branches hang over the water : but others are large, highly cultivated, and enriched with lawns, shrubberies, thickets, and buildings : or they are rugged, mountainous, and surrounded with rocks and shoals ; being covered with fern, high grass, and some straggling large trees, planted in the vallies : amongst which are often seen stalking along the elephant, the rhinoceros, the dromedary, the ostrich, and the giant baboon. There are other islands, raised to a considerable height, by a sucession of terraces, communicating with each other by various flights of magnificent steps. At the angles of all these terraces, as well as upon the sides of the steps, are placed many brazen tripods, that smoke with incense ; and upon the uppermost platform is generally erected a lofty tower for astronomical observations ; an elegant temple, filled with idols ; the colossal statue of a god, or some other considerable work ; serving, at the same time, as an ornament to the Garden, and as an object to the whole country. They also introduce in their lakes large artificial rocks, built of a particular fine coloured stone, found on the sea-coasts of China, and designed with much taste. These are pierced with many openings, through which you discover distant prospects ; and have in them caverns for the reception of crocodiles, enormous water-serpents, and other monsters ; cages for rare aquatic birds ; and grottos, with many shining apartments, adorned with marine productions, and gems of various sorts. They plant upon them all kinds of grass, creepers and shrubs which thrive on rocks, such as moss, ground-ivy, fern, stonecrop, common house-leek, and various other sorts of the sedum, crane's-bill, dwarf box, rock roses and broom ; with some trees rooted into the crevices : and they place on their summits, hermitages and idol temples, to which you ascend by many rugged, winding steps, cut in the rock. On the borders of their lakes are seen extensive galleries, and many detached buildings, of different forms and dimensions, surrounded with plantations, sea-ports with fleets of vessels lying before them, forts with flags flying, and batteries of cannon ; also, thickets of flowering shrubs, meadows covered with cattle, corn lands, cotton and sugar plantations, orchards of various fruit-trees, and rice grounds, which project into the lakes ; leaving, in the midst of them, passages for boats : and, in some places, the borders consist of lofty woods, with creeks and rivers for the admission of vessels, whose banks are covered with high grass, reeds, and wild spreading trees, forming close gloomy arbors, under which the vessels pass. From these arbors are cut many vistoes through the woods, to distant prospects of towns, bridges, temples, and various other objects, which successively strike the eye, and fill the mind with expectation ; when suddenly a farther progress is rendered impracticable, by rocks, strong branches, and whole trees lying cross the channel ; between which the river is seen still to continue, with many islands ; whereon, and also in the water, appear the remains of antient structures, monumental inscriptions, and fragments of sculpture : which serve to give an edge to curiosity, and to render the disappointment more affecting. Sometimes too, instead of being intercepted in your passage, the vessel, together with the whole river, are, by the impetuosity and particular direction of the current, hurried into dark caverns, overhung with woods ; whence, after having been furiously impelled for some time, you are again discharged into day-light, upon lakes encompassed with high hanging woods, rich prospects on mountains, and stately temples, dedicated to Tien-ho, and the celestial spirits. Upon their lakes, the Chinese frequently exhibit sea-fights, processions, and ship-races ; also fire-works and illuminations : in the two last of which they are more splendid, and more expert than the Europeans. On some occasions too, not only the lakes and rivers, but all the pavilions, and every part of their Gardens, are illuminated by an incredible number of beautiful lanterns, of a thousand different shapes, intermixed with lampions, torches, fire-pots, and sky-rockets ; than which a more magnificent fight cannot be seen. Even the Girandola, and illumination of St. Peter's of the Vatican, though far the most splendid exhibitions of that sort in Europe, are trifles, when compared to these of China. Their rivers are seldom straight, but winding, and broken into many irregular points : sometimes they are narrow, noisy and rapid ; at other times deep, broad and slow. Their banks are variegated, in imitation of nature : being, in some places, bare and gravelly ; in others, covered with woods quite to the water's edge ; now flat and adorned with flowers and shrubs ; then steep, rocky, and forming deep winding caverns, where pigeons of the wood, and water-fowl build their nests ; or rising into many little hills, covered with hanging groves ; between which are valley and glades watered by rivulets, and adorned with pleasure-houses, cottages, and rustic temples ; with flocks of sheep and goats feeding about them. The terminations of rivers the Chinese artists hide either in woods, or behind hills and buildings ; or they turn them under bridges, direct them into caverns, or lose them amongst rocks and shoals. Both in their lakes and rivers are seen many kinds of reeds, and other aquatic plants and flowers ; serving for ornament, as well as for covert to their birds. They erect upon them mills and other hydraulic machines, wherever the situation will permit. They introduce a great many splendid vessels, built after the manner of all nations ; and keep in them all kinds of curious and beautiful water-fowl, collected from different countries. Nor are they less various and magnificent in their bridges than in their other decorations. Some they build of wood, and compose them of rough planks, laid in a rustic manner upon large roots of trees : some are made of many trunks of trees, thrown rudely over the stream ; and fenced with decayed branches, intertwined with the convolvulus, and climbers of different forts : and some are composed of vast arches of carpentry, artfully and neatly framed together. They have also bridges of stone and marble, adorned with colonades, triumphal arches, towers, loggias, fishing pavilions, statues, bas-reliefs, brazen tripods, and porcelain vases. Some of them are upon a curve, or a serpentine plan ; others branching out into various directions : some straight, and some at the conflux of rivers or canals, triangular, quadrilateral, and circular, as the situation requires ; with pavilions at their angles, and basons of water in their centers, adorned with Jets d'eau, and fountains of many sorts. Some of these are entire, and executed with the utmost neatness and taste ; others seem in ruins ; and others are left half finished, and surrounded with scaffolds, machines, and the whole apparatus of building. It is natural for the reader to imagine, that all these bridges, with the pavilions, temples, palaces, and other structures, which have been occasionally described in the course of this work, and which are so abundantly scattered over the Chinese Gardens, should entirely divest them of a rural character, and give them rather the appearance of splendid cities, than scenes of cultivated vegetation. But such is the judgment with which the Chinese artists situate their structures, that they enrich and beautify particular prospects, without any detriment to the general aspect of the whole composition, in which Nature almost always appears predominant ; for though their Gardens are full of buildings, and other works of art, yet there are many points from which none of them appear : and more than two or three at a time are seldom discovered ; so artfully are they concealed in valleys, behind rocks and mountains, or amongst woods and thickets. There are, however, for variety's sake, in most of the Chinese Gardens, particular places, consecrated to scenes of an extraneous nature ; from whence all, or the greatest part of the buildings are collected into one view, rising above each other in amphitheatrical order, spreading out to a considerable extent ; and, by their whimsical combinations, exhibiting the most magnificent confusion imaginable. Their artists knowing how powerfully contrast agitates the human mind, lose no opportunity of practising sudden transitions, or of displaying strong oppositions, as well in the nature of the objects which enter into their compositions, as in their modifications. Thus they conduct you from limited prospects to extensive views ; from places of horror to scenes of delight ; from lakes and rivers to woods and lawns ; and from the simplest arrangements of nature, to the most complicated productions of art. To Dull and gloomy colours, they oppose such as are brilliant ; and to light, they oppose darkness : rendering, by these means, their productions not only distinct in the parts, but also uncommonly striking in their total effect. The cascades of the Chinese, which are always introduced, where the ground admits, and where the supply of water is sufficient, are sometimes regular, like those of Marli, Frescati and Tivoli ; but more frequently they are rude, like the falls of Trolhetta and the Nile. In one place a whole river is precipitated from the summit of the mountain, into the vallies beneath ; where is foams and whirls amongst the rocks, till it falls down other precipices, and buries itself in the gloom of impenetrable forests. In another place the waters burst out with violence from many parts, spouting a great number of cascades, in different directions ; which, through various impediments, at last unite, and form one great expanse of water. Sometimes the view of the cascade is in a great measure intercepted by the branches which hang over it ; sometimes its passage is obstructed by trees, and heaps of enormous stones, that seem to have been brought down by the fury of the torrent ; and frequently rough wooden bridges are thrown from one rock to another, over the steepest parts of the cataract ; narrow winding paths are carried along the edges of the precipices ; and mills and huts are suspended over the waters ; the seeming dangerous situation of which, adds to the horror of the scene. As the Chinese are so very fond of water, their Gardeners endeavor to obtain it by art, wherever it is denied by Nature. For this purpose, they have many ingenious inventions to collect water ; and many machines, of simple construction, which raise it to almost any level, at a trifling expence. They use the same method for overflowing vallies, that is practised in Europe ; by raising heads of earth or masonry at their extremities : where the soil is too porous to hold water, they clay the bottom, in the same manner that we do to make it tight : and in order to prevent the inconveniences arising from stagnant waters, they always contrive a considerable discharge to procure motion, even where the supply is scanty ; which is done by conveying the discharged water back, through subterraneous drains, into reservoirs ; whence it is again raised into the lake or river, by means of pumps, and other machines, proper for that purpose. They always give a considerable depth to their waters, at least five or six feet, to prevent the rising of scum, and the floating of weeds upon the surface ; and they are always provided with swans, and such other birds as feed on weeds, to keep them under. In overflowing their grounds, and also in draining them, they take all possible care not to kill many of their old trees, either by over moistening their roots, or draining them too much ; saying, that the loss of a fine old plant is irreparable ; that it impairs the beauty of the adjacent plantations ; and often likewise destroys the effect of the scenery, from many distant points of view : an in shaping their grounds, they are, for the same reason, equally cautious with regard to the old plantations ; carefully observing never to bury the stems, nor to expose the roots of any trees which they mean to preserve. In their plantations, the Chinese artists do not, as is the practice of some European Gardeners, plant indiscriminately every thing that comes in their way ; nor do they ignorantly imagine that the whole perfection of plantations consists in the variety of the trees and shrubs of which they are composed : on the contrary, their practice is guided by many rules, founded on reason and long observation, from which they seldom or ever deviate. "Many trees, shrubs and flowers", sayeth Li-Tsong, a Chinese author of great antiquity, "thrive best in low moist situations ; many on hills and mountains : some require a rich soil ; but other will grow on clay, in sand, or even upon rocks ; and in the water : to some a sunny exposition is necessary ; but for others the shade is preferable. There are plants which thrive best in exposed situations ; but, in general, shelter is requisite. The skilful Gardener, to whom study and experience have taught these qualities, carefully attends to them in his operations ; knowing that thereon depend the health and growth of his plants ; and consequently the beauty of his plantations". In China, as in Europe, the usual times of planting are the autumn and the spring ; some things answering best when planted in the first, and some in the last of these seasons. Their Gardeners avoid planting, whenever the grounds are so moist as to endanger the rotting of the roots ; or when the frosts are so near as to pinch the plants, before they have recovered the shock of transplantation ; or when the earth and air are too dry to afford nurture to them ; or when the weather is so tempestuous as to shake or overturn them, whilst loose and unrooted in the ground. They observe, that the perfection of trees for Ornamental Gardening, consists in their size ; in the beauty and variety of their forms ; in the colour and smoothness of their bark ; in the quantity, shape, and rich verdure of their foliage ; in its early appearance in the spring, and long duration in the autumn ; in the quickness of their growth ; in their hardiness to endure the extremities of heat, cold, drought and moisture ; in their making no litter, during the spring or summer, by the fall of the blossom ; and in the strength of their branches, to resist, unhurt, the violence of tempests. They say, that the perfection of shrubs consists not only in most of the above mentioned particulars, but also in the beauty, durability, or long succession of their blossom ; and in their fair appearance before the bloom, and after it is gone. "We are sensible", say they, "that no plant is possessed of all good qualities ; but choose such as have the fewest faults ; and avoid all the exotics, that vegetate with difficulty in our climate ; for though they may be rare, they cannot be beautiful, being always in a sickly state : have, if you please, hot-houses and cool-houses, for plants of every region, to satisfy the curiosity of botanists ; but they are mere infirmaries : the plants which they contain, are valetudinarians, divested of beauty and vigor ; which only exist by the power of medicine, and by dint of good nursing". The excessive variety of which some European Gardeners are so fond in their plantations, the Chinese artists blame, observing, that a great diversity of colours, foliage, and direction of branches, must create confusion, and destroy all the masses upon which effect and grandeur depend : they observe too, that it is unnatural ; for, as in Nature most plants sow their own feeds, whole forests are generally composed of the same sort of trees. They admit, however, of a moderate variety ; but are by no means promiscuous in the choice of their plants ; attending, with great care, to the colour, form, and foliage of each ; and only mixing together such as harmonize and assemble agreeably. They say that some trees are only proper for thickets ; others only fit so be employed singly ; and others equally adapted to both these situations. The mountain-cedar, the spruce and silver firs, and all others whose branches have an horizontal direction, they hold improper for thickets ; because their branches indent into each other ; and likewise cut disagreeably upon the plants which back them. They never mix these horizontal branched trees with the cypress, the oriental arbor vitae, or other upright ones ; nor with the larix, the weeping willow, the birch, the laburnum, or others of a pendant nature ; saying, that the intersection of their branches forms a very unpicturesque kind of net-work : neither do they employ together the catalpha and the acacia, the yew and the willow, the plane and the sumach, nor any of such heterogeneous sorts ; but on the contrary, they assemble in their large woods, the oak, the elm, the beech, the tulip, the sycamore, maple and plane, the Indian chesnut and western walnut, the arbeal, the lime, and all whose luxuriant foliages hide the direction of their branches ; and growing in globular masses, assemble well together ; forming, by the harmonious combination of their tints, one grand mass of rich verdure. In their smaller plantations, they employ trees of a smaller growth, but of the same concordant sorts ; bordering them with Persian lilacks, gelder-roses, seringas, coronillas or sennas of various sorts, flowering rasberries, yellow jessamine, hypericum or St. John's wort, the spiraea frutex, altheas, roses, and other flowering shrubs ; intermixed with flowers and with the padus of various species, elder, mountain ash, acacia, double blossomed thorn, and many other sorts of flowering trees : and wherever the ground is bare, they cover it with white, blue, purple and variegated periwinkle, the convolvulus minor, dwarf stocks, violets, primroses, and different kinds of creeping flowers ; and with strawberries, tutsen and ivy, which climbs up and covers the stems of the trees. In their shrubberies they follow, as much as possible, the same rules ; observing farther, in some of them to plant all such shrubs as flourish at one time ; and in others, such as succeed each other : of which different methods the first is much the most brilliant ; but its duration is short ; and the appearance of the shrubbery is generally shabby, as soon as the bloom is off : they therefore seldom use it, but for scenes that are to be enjoyed at certain periods ; preferring the last, on other occasions, as being of long duration, and less unpleasing after the flowers are gone. The Chinese Gardeners do not scatter their flowers indiscriminately about their borders, as is usual in some parts of Europe, but dispose them with great circumspection ; and, if I may be allowed the expression, paint their way very artfully along the skirts of the plantations : and in other places, where flowers are to be introduced. They reject all that are of a straggling growth, of harsh colours, and poor foliage ; choosing only such as are of some duration, grow either large, or in clusters, are of beautiful forms, well leaved, and of tints that harmonize with the greens that surround them. They avoid all sudden transitions, both with regard to dimension and colour ; rising gradually from the smallest flowers to hollioaks, peonies, sun-flowers, carnation-poppies, and others of the boldest growth ; and varying their tints, by easy gradations, from white, straw colour, purple and incarnate, to the deepest blues, and most brilliant crimsons and scarlets. They frequently blend several roots together, whose leaves and flowers unite, and compose only one rich harmonious mass ; such as the white and purple candituff, larkspurs, and mallows of various colours, double poppies, loopins, primroses, pinks and carnations ; with many others, whose forms and colours accord with each other : and the same method they use with flowering shrubs ; blending white, red, and variegated roses together ; purple and white lilacks ; yellow and white Jessamine ; altheas of various sorts ; and as many others, as they can with any propriety unite. – By these mixtures they increase considerably the variety and beauty of their compositions. In their large plantations, the flowers generally grow in the natural ground : but in their flower-gardens, and in all other parts that are highly kept, they are in pots, buried in the ground ; which, as fast as the bloom goes off, are removed, and others are brought in their places ; so that there is a constant succession, for almost every month in the year ; and the flowers are never seen, but in the height of their beauty. Amongst the most interesting parts of the Chinese plantations, are their open groves ; for as the women spend much of their time there, care is taken to situate them as pleasantly as possible, and to adorn them with all kinds of natural beauties. The ground on which they are planted, is commonly uneven, yet not rugged ; wither on a plain, raised into many gentle swellings ; on the easy declivity of a mountain, commanding rich prospects ; or in vales, surrounded with woods, and watered with springs and rivulets. Those which are in an open exposure, are generally bordered with flowery meadows, extensive corn-fields, or large lakes ; the Chinese artists observing, that the brilliancy and gaiety of these objects, form a pleasing contrast with the gloom of the grove : and when they are confined in thickets, or close planted woods, the plantation is so formed that, from every approach, some part of the grove is hid ; which opening gradually to the eye of the passenger, satisfies his curiosity by degrees. Some of these groves are composed of evergreens, chiefly of pyramidal forms, thinly planted over the surface, with flowering shrubs scattered amongst them : others are composed of lofty spreading trees, whose foliage afford a shady retreat during the heat of the day. The plants are never crowded together ; sufficient room being left between them for sitting or walking upon the grass ; which, by reason of its shady situation, retains a constant verdure ; and, in the spring, is adorned with a great variety of early flowers, such as violets, crocus's, polianthus's and primroses ; hyacinths, cowslips, snow-drops, daffodils and daisies. Some trees of the grove are suffered to branch out from the very bottom of the stem upwards ; others, for the sake of variety, have their stems bare : but far the greater number are surrounded with rose-trees, sweet-briar, honeysuckles, scarlet beans, nasturtiums, everlasting and sweet-scented peas, double-blossomed briar, and other odoriferous shrubs, which beautify the barren parts of the plant, and perfume the air. Sometimes too their open groves are composed of lemon, orange, citron, pompelmose, and myrtle-trees ; which, as the climate varies, either grow in the earth, or in buried tubs and pots, which are removed to green houses during the winter. They also have groves of all forts of fine formed fruit-trees ; which, when they blossom, and also when their fruit is ripe, are exceedingly beautiful : and to add to the luxuriance of these scenes, the Chinese artists plant vines of different coloured grapes near many of the trees, which climb up their stems, and afterwards hang in festoons from one tree to another. In all their open groves are kept young broods of pheasants, partridges, pea-fowls, turkies, and all kinds of handsome domestic birds, who flock thither, at certain times of the day, to be fed : they also retain in them, by the same method, squirrels, small monkies, cokatoos, parrots, hog deer, spotted capritos, lambs, Guinea pigs ; and many other little beautiful birds and animals. The trees which the Chinese Gardeners use in their open groves, and also for detached trees, or groups of two, three, or four together, are the mountain cedar, the spruce silver and balm of Gilead firs, the larix, the smooth stemmed or Weymouth pine, the arbor vitae, and cypress ; the weeping willow, the ash, the maple, western walnut, arbeal, tulip, acacia, oak, elm, and all others that grow in picturesque forms : and whenever they loose their natural shape, either by too quick vegetation, or other accidents, they endeavor to reduce them to an agreeable form, by lopping off their exuberances ; or by forcing them into other directions. The Indian, or horse-chesnut, the lime, and some others of a stiff, formal growth, they never use detached ; but find them, on account of their rich verdure, their blossom, and abundant foliage, very fit for thickets, woods and avenues. They have particular plants for the dressed gay parts of the Garden ; others in their wilds and scenes of horror ; and others appropriated to monuments and ruins ; or to accompany buildings of various forts ; according as their properties fit them for these different purposes. In planting, they are nicely attentive to the natural size of their plants ; placing such as are of humble growth in the front ; and those that are higher, gradually inwards : that all many be exposed to view at the same time. They appropriate certain plants to low moist situations ; and others to those that are dry and lofty ; strictly attending therein to Nature : for though a willow, say they, may grow upon a mountain, or an oak in a bog, yet are not these by any means natural situations for either. When the patron is rich, they consider nothing but perfection in their plantations : but when he is poor, they have also an eye to oeconomy ; introducing such plants, trees and buildings, into their design, as are not only beautiful, but also useful. Instead of lawns, they have meadows and fields, coverd with sheep and other cattle ; or lands planted with rice and cotton, or sowed with corn, turneps, beans, pease, hemp, and other things that produce flowers, and variegated pieces of colouring. The groves are composed of all useful kinds of fruit-trees ; such as apple, pear, cherry, mulberry, plumb, apricot, fig, olive, filbert, and many others, peculiar to China. The woods are full of timer-trees, useful for fuel and building ; which also produce chesnuts, walnuts, acorns, and other profitable fruits and feeds : and both woods and groves abound with game of all sorts. The shrubberies consist of rose, raspberry, bramble, currant, lavender, vine and gooseberry bushes ; with barberry, alder, peach, nectarine and almond trees. All the walks are narrow, and carried under the drip of the trees, and skirts of the plantation, that they may occupy no useful ground : and of the buildings, some are barns for grain or hay ; some stables for horses and oxen ; some dairies, with their cow-houses and calf-pens ; some cottages for the husbandmen, with sheds for implements of husbandry ; some are dove-houses ; others menageries for breeding poultry ; and other stoves and green-houses, for raising early or rare fruits, vegetables and flowers : all judiciously placed, and designed with taste, though in a rustic style. The lakes and rivers are well stored with fish and water-fowl : and all the vessels contrived for fishing, hunting, and other sports that are profitable as well as entertaining. In their borders they plant, instead of flowers, sweet herbs, celery, carrots, potatoes, strawberries, scarlet beans, nasturtiums, endive, cucumbers, melons, pineapples, and other handsome fruits and vegetables : and all the less slightly productions for the kitchen, are carefully hid behind espaliers of fruit-trees. – Thus, they say, that ever farmer may have a Garden without expence ; and that if all land-holders were men of taste, the world might be formed into one continued Garden, without difficulty. Such is the substance of what I have hitherto collected relative to the Gardens of the Chinese. My endeavor, in the present Publication, has been to give the general outline of their style of Gardening, without entering into trifling particulars, and without enumerating many little rules of which their artists occasionally avail themselves ; being persuaded that, to men of genius, such minute discriminations are always unnecessary, and often prejudicial, as they burden the memory, and clog the imagination with superfluous restrictions. The dispositions and different artifices mentioned in the preceding pages, are those which are chiefly practised in China, and such as best characterize their style of Gardening. But the artists of that country are so inventive, and so various in their combinations, that no two of their compositions are ever alike : they never copy nor imitate each other ; they do not even repeat their own productions ; saying, that what has once been seen, operates feebly at the second inspection ; and that whatever bears even a distant resemblance to a known object, seldom excites a new idea. The reader is therefore not o imagine that what has been related is all that exists ; on the contrary, a considerable number of other examples might have been produces : but those that have been offered, will probably be sufficient ; more especially as most of them are like certain compositions in musick, which, though simple in themselves, suggest, to a fertile imagination, and endless sucession of complicated variations. To the generality of Europeans many of the foregoing descriptions may seem improbable ; and the execution of what has been described, in some measure impracticable : but thouse who are better acquainted with the East, know that nothing is too great for Eastern magnificence to attempt ; and there can be few impossibilities, where treasures are inexhaustible, where power is unlimited, and where munificence has no bounds. European artists must not hope to rival Oriental splendor ; yet let them look up to the sun, and copy as much of its lustre as they can, circumstances will frequently obstruct them in their course, and they may often be prevented from soaring high : but their attention should constantly be fixed on great objects ; and their productions always demonstrate, that they knew the road to perfections, had they been enabled to proceed on the journey. Where twining serpentine walks, scattering shrubs, digging holes to raise mole-hills, and ringing never-ceasing changes on lawns, groves and thickets, is called Gardening, it matters little who are the Gardeners ; whether a peasant or a Poussin ; whether a child in sport, or a man for hire : the meanest may do the little there is to be done, and the best could reach no farther. But wherever a better style is adopted, and Gardens are to be natural, without resemblance to vulgar Nature ; new without affectation, and extraordinary without extravagance ; where the spectator is to be amused, where his attention is constantly to be kept up, his curiosity excited, and his mind agitated by a great variety of opposite passions ; there Gardeners must be men of genius, experience and judgement ; quick in perception, rich in expedients, fertile in imagination, and thoroughly versed in all the affections of the human mind. Sekundärliteratur 1923 Adolf Reichwein : Dieser Essai enthielt ausser der Empfehlung des chinesischen Gartens eine begründete Ablehnung des reinen Landschaftsgartens. 1950 R.C. Bald : The account of Chinese gardening was written to provide a vehicle for an extended criticism of current fashions in English gardening and linked to it was an attack on Lancelot Brown (1715-1783), the most successful landscape gardener of the day. The principal aim of the Dissertation is not to describe Chinese gardening at all ; the book is an example of the use of the well-established literary convention by which the Chinese were endowed with all the skill and virtue Europeans did not possess, and the shortcomings of Europe were laid bare either by implications or specific comparison. The description of pleasing scenes are based in large measure on Attiret, but most of the rest is pure invention. Chambers completely abandoned the discreet attitude towards the Chinese. It is true that he does attempt to guard himself from criticism by such remarks as "Whether the Chinese manner of Gardening be better or worse than those now in use amongst the Europeans, I will not determine". The copy of the second edition of the Dissertation in the library of the College of Architecture at Cornell University has four pages of manuscript, bound in at the end. They contain two letters. The first is a note from Oliver Goldsmith, the other a letter from Chambers to a Gentleman who had objected to certain parts of his Treatise on Oriental Gardening (1772) : “… The justice of your objections to the enchanted Scenery of the Chinese I will not deny ; they would perhaps be unanswerable, but for one circumstance, which is, that these whimsical productions, make only a small part of my general plan ; in which 'great Nature' in various forms, & under various modifications, always appears triumphant, as I flatter myself you will clearly perceive, upon a second reading of my litte Book, if you should ever think it worth the while… The Weymouth Pine is named in my work merely by way of explanation. I have indeed mentioned in it (as you remark) most of the plants known in Europe though few of them I confess have ever appeared upon Chinese Paper. Yet, Father Du Halde assures, that the Chinese have not only all the Vegetables know in Europe, but many other unknown tu us, & imperfect as my observations have been in that Country, they have served to convince me, That the learned Father is right. Were the Chinese to judge of our European Plants by the representation they see of them upon our Printed Linens, they would imagine that not twig of their Vegetation ever grew in Europe. Yet in our Herbals, there are many Chinese Vegetable productions, well known, & commonly cultivated amongst us…” Chambers defended his fondness for water-works by inserting some new sentences on the effects to be gained by combining coloured glass with jets of water and a new paragraph on the management of Cascades. He also took seriously the criticism that he had only mentioned trees and plants already known in Europe, but not those indigenous to China, and tried to make up for this deficiency by introducing a large numbers of Chinese names, mostly of plants, which provided an opportunity for a rather spurious display of erudition in explanatory footnotes. The erudition was spurious, since names and explanations alike came from the pages of Du Halde. Chambers chose a form which allowed for decoration and gave free play to his fancy. The result was that he made his ideas seem more eccentric than they really were, and rendered him unnecessarily liable to misinterpretation. 2010 Elizabeth Hope Chang : The Dissertation is a lengthy exploration of the power of aesthetic mediation to effect both an immediate visceral response and a permanent epistemological transformation in every garden visitor. Chambers establishes the important distinction between common and uncommon nature. The triple function of a garden - to render visitors simultaneously amused, curious, and attentive - indicates the responsibilities of the garden's heightened version of the natural world. The Dissertation places a high priority on conforming the garden as aesthetic object requiring physical, emotiona, and narrative interpretation. The greatest quality of the Chinese, Chambers emphasizes, is that 'they rank a perfect work in art, with the great productions of the human understanding ; and say, that its efficacy in moving the pssions, yields to that of few arts whatever'. Chamber's description of an Oriental garden offers a model of diversity within singularity that betokens the viewing experience of the modern subject, able to occupy more than one perspective at the same time. As the larger context of Chambers's work makes clear, the Chinese garden succeeds by unsettling the viewer's sense of the nearby and the faraway, the large and the small, and the simulated and the real, and so too, the relational standards by which likeness and difference can be construed. |
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Chambers, William. A dissertation on Oriental gardening [ID D9243]. (1) Quellen : Chambers' Aufenthalt in Guangzhou. Du Halde, Jean-Baptiste. Description [ID D1819]. Attiret, Jean-Denis. A description of the Emperor's garden and pleasure houses near Peking [ID D11696]. William Chambers schickt 1772 ein Exemplar seiner Dissertation on Oriental gardening und 1773 die zweite erweiterte Auflage in franzöischer Übersetzung an König Gustav III. von Schweden. PREFACE Amongst the decorative arts, there is none of which the influence is so extensive as that of Gardening. The productions of other arts have their separate classes of admirers, who alone relish or set any great value upon them ; to the rest of the world they are indifferent, sometimes disgusting. A building affords no pleasure to the generality of men, but what results from the grandeur of the object, or the value of its materials : nor doth a picture affect them, but by its resemblance to life. A thousand other beauties, of a higher kind, are lost upon them ; for in Architecture, in Painting, and indeed in most other arts, men must learn before they can admire : their pleasure keeps pace with their judgment ; and is is only by knowing much, that they can be highly delighted. But Gardening is of a different nature : its dominion is general ; its effects upon the human mind certain and invariable ; without any previous information, without being taught, all men are delighted with the gay luxuriant scenery of summer, and depressed at the dismal aspect of autumnal prospects ; the charms of cultivation are equally sensible to the ignorant and the learned, and they are equally disgusted at the rudeness of neglected nature ; lawns, woods, shrubberies, rives and mountains, affect them both in the same manner ; and every combination of these will excite similar sensations in the minds of both. Nor are the productions of this Art less permanent than general in their effects. Pictures, statues, buildings, soon glut the fight, and grow indifferent to the spectator : but in gardens there is a continual state of fluctuation, that leaves no room for satiety ; the progress of vegetation, the vicissitudes of seasons, the changes of the weather, the different directions of the sun, the passage of clouds, the agitation and sounds produced by winds, together with the accidental intervention of living or moving objects, vary the appearances so often, and so considerably, that it is almost impossible to be cloyed, even with the same prospects. Is it not singular then, that an Art with which a considerable part of our enjoyments is so universally connected, should have no regular professors in our quarter of the world ? Upon the continent it is a collateral branch of the architect's employment, who, immersed in the study and avocations of his own profession, finds no leisure for other disquisitions ; and, in this island, it is abandoned to kitchen gardeners, well skilled in the culture of sallads, but little acquainted with the principles of Ornamental Gardening. It cannot be expected that men uneducated, and doomed by their condition to waste the vigor of life in hard labour, should ever go far in so refined, so difficult a pursuit. To this unaccountable want of regular masters may, in a great measure, be ascribed the scarcity of perfect gardens. There are indeed very few in our part of the globe wherein nature has been improved to the best advantage, or art employed with the soundest judgment. The gardens of Italy, France, Germany, Spain, and of all the other countries where the antient style still prevails, are in general mere cities of verdure ; the walks are like streets conducted in strait lines, regularly diverging from different large open spaces, resembling public squares ; and the hedges with which they are bordered, are raised, in imitation of walls, adorned with pilasters, niches, windows and doors, or cut into colonades, arcades and porticus ; all the detached trees are shaped into obelisks, pyramids and vases ; and all the recesses in the thickets bear the names and forms of theatres, amphitheatres, temples, banqueting halls, ball rooms, cabinets and saloons. The streets and squares are well manned with statues of marble or lead, ranged in regular lines, like soldiers at a procession ; which, to make them more natural, are sometimes painted in proper colours, and finely gilt. The lakes and rivers are confined by quais of hewn stone, and taught to flow in geometrick order ; and the cascades glide from the heights by many of succession of marble steps : not a twig is suffered to grow as nature directs ; nor is a form admitted but what is scientific, and determinable by the line or compass. In England, where this antient style is held in detestation, and where, in opposition to the rest of Europe, a new manner is universally adopted, in which no appearance of art is tolerated, our gardens differ very little from common fields, so closely is common nature copied in most of them ; there is generally so little variety in the objects, such a poverty of imagination in the contrivance, and of art in the arrangement, that these compositions rather appear the offspring of change than design ; and a stranger is often at a loss to know whether he be walking in a meadow, or in a pleasure ground, made and kept at a very considerable expence : he sees nothing to amuse him, nothing to excite his curiosity, nor any thing to keep up his attention. At his first entrance, he is treated with the fight of a large green field, scattered over with a few straggling trees, and verged with a confused border of little shrubs and flowers ; upon farther inspection, he finds a little serpentine path, twining in regular esses amongst the shrubs of the border, upon which he is to go round, to look on one side at what he has already seen, the large green field ; and on the other side at the boundary, which is never more than a few yards from him, and always obtruding upon his fight : from time to time he perceives a little seat or temple stuck up against the wall ; he rejoices at the discovery, sits down, rests his wearied limbs, and then reels on again, cursing the line of beauty, till spent with fatigue, half roasted by the sun, for there is never any shade, and tired for want of entertainment, he resolves to see no more : vain resolution ! there is but one path ; he must either drag on to the end, or return back by the tedious way he came. Such is the favourite plan of all our smaller gardens : and our larger works are only a repetition of the small ones ; more green fields, more shrubberies, more serpentine walks, and more seats ; like the honest batchelor's feast, which consisted in nothing but a multiplication of his own dinner ; three legs of mutton and turneps, three roasted geese, and three buttered apple-pies. It is I think obvious that neither the artful nor the simple style of Gardening here mentioned, is right : the one being too extravagant a deviation from nature ; the other too scrupulous an adherence to her. One manner is absurd ; the other insipid and vulgar : a judicious mixture of both would certainly be more perfect than either. But how this union can be effected, is difficult to say. The men of art, and the friends of nature, are equally violent in defence of their favourite system ; and, like all other partizans, loth go give up any thing, however unreasonable. Such a coalition is therefore now not to be expected : whoever should be bold enough to attempt it, would probably incur the censure of both sides, without reforming either ; and consequently prejudice himself, without doing service to the Art. But though it might be impertinent as well as useless to start a new system of one's own, it cannot be improper, nor totally unserviceable, to publish that of others ; especially of a people whose skill in Gardening has often been the subject of praise ; and whose manner has been set up amongst us as the standard of imitation, without ever having been properly defined. It is a common saying, That from the worst things some good may be extracted ; and even if what I have to relate should be inferior to what is already known, yet surely some useful hints may be collected from it. I may therefore, without danger to myself, and it is hoped without offence to others, offer the following account of the Chinese manner of Gardening ; which is collected from my own observations in China, from conversations with their Artists, and remarks transmitted to me at different times by travellers. A sketch of what I have now attempted to finish, was published some years ago ; and the favourable reception granted to that little performance, induced me to collect materials for this. Whether the Chinese manner of Gardening be better or worse than those now in use amongst the Europeans, I will not determine : comparison is the surest as well as the easiest test of truth ; it is in every man's power to compare and to judge for himself. Should the present publication contain any thing useful, my purpose will be fully answered ; if not, it may perhaps afford some little entertainment, or serve at worst to kill and idle hour. I must not enter upon my subject, without apologizing for the liberties here taken with our English Gardens : there are, indeed, several that do not come within the compass of my description ; some of which were laid out by their owners, who are as eminently skilled in Gardening, as in many other braches of polite knowledge ; the rest owe most of their excellence to nature, and are, upon the whole, very little improved by the interposition of art ; which, though it may have heightened some of their beauties, has totally robbed them of many others. It would be tedious to enumerate all the errors of a false taste : but the havock it has made in our old plantations, must ever be remembered with indignation : the ax has often, in one day, laid waste the growth of several ages ; and thousands of venerable plants, whole woods of them, have been swept away, to make room for a little grass, and a few American weeds. Our virtuosi have scarcely left an acre of shade, nor three trees growing in a line, from the Land's-end to the Tweed ; and if their humour for devastation continues to rage much longer, there will not be a forest-tree left standing in the whole kingdom. DISSERTATION Amongst the Chinese, Gardening is held in much higher esteem, than it is in Europe ; they rank a perfect work in the Art, with the great productions of the human understanding ; and say, that its efficacy in moving the passions, yields to that of few other arts whatever. Their Gardeners are not only Botanists, but also Painters and Philosophers, having a thorough knowledge of the human mind, and of the arts by which its strongest feelings are excited. It is not in China, as in Italy and France, where every petty Architect is a Gardener ; neither is it as in another famous country, where peasants emerge from the melon grounds to commence professors ; so Sganarelle, the faggot-maker, laid down his hatchet to turn physician. In China, Gardening is a distinct profession, requiring an extensive study, to the perfection of which few arrive. The Gardeners there, far from being either ignorant or illiterate, are men of high abilities, who join to good natural parts, most ornaments that study, travelling , and long experience can supply them with : it is in consideration of these accomplishments only that they are permitted to exercise their profession ; for with the Chinese the taste of Ornamental Gardening is an object of legislative attention, it being supposed to have an influence upon the general culture, and consequently upon the beauty of the whole country. They observe, that mistakes committed in this Art, are too important to be tolerated, being much exposed to view, and in a great measure irreparable ; as it often requires the space of a century, to redress the blunders of an hour. The Chinese Gardeners take nature for their pattern ; and their aim is to imitate all her beautiful irregularities. Their first consideration is the nature of the ground they are to work upon : whether it be flat or sloping ; hilly or mountainous ; small or of considerable extent ; abounding with springs and rivers, or laboring under a scarcity of water ; whether woody or bare, rough or even, barren or rich ; and whether the transitions be sudden, and the character grand, wild or tremendous ; or whether they be gradual, and the general bent placid, gloomy or cheerful. To all which circumstances they carefully attend ; choosing such dispositions as humour the ground, hide its defects, improve or set off its advantages, and can be executed with expedition, at a moderate expence. They are also attentive to the wealth or indigence of the patron by whom they are employed ; to his age, his infirmities, temper, amusements, connections, business and manner of living ; as likewise to the season of the year in which the Garden is likely to be most frequented by him : suiting themselves in their composition to his circumstances, and providing for his wants and recreations. Their skill consists in struggling with the imperfections and defects of nature, and with every other impediment ; and in producing, in spite of every obstacle, works that are uncommon, and perfect in their kind. Though the Chinese artists have nature for their general model, yet are they not so attached to her as to exclude all appearance of art ; on the contrary, they think it, on many occasions, necessary to make an ostentatious shew of their labour. Nature, say they, affords us but few materials to work with. Plants, ground and water, are her only productions : and though both the forms and arrangements of these may be varied to an incredible degree, yet have they but few striking varieties, the rest being of the nature of changes rung upon bells, which, though in reality different, still produce the same uniform kind of jingling ; the variation being too minute to be easily perceived. Art must therefore supply the scantiness of nature ; and not only be employed to produce variety, but also novelty and effect : for the simple arrangements of nature are met with in every common field, to a certain degree of perfections ; and are therefore too familiar to excite any strong sensations in the mind of the beholder, or to produce any uncommon degree of pleasure. It is indeed true that novelty and variety may both be attained by transplanting the peculiarities of one country to another ; by introducing rocks, cataracts, impending woods, and other part of romantic situations, in flat places ; by employing much water where it is rare ; and cultivated plains, amidst the rude irregularities of mountains : but even this resource is easily exhausted, and can seldom be put in practice, without a very great expence. The Chinese are therefore no enemies to strait lines ; because they are, generally speaking, productive of grandeur, which often cannot be attained without them : nor have they any aversion to regular geometrical figures, which they say are beautiful in themselves, and well suited to small compositions, where the luxuriant irregularities of nature would fill up and embarrass the parts they should adorn. They likewise think them properest for flower gardens, and all other compositions, where much art is apparent in the culture ; and where it should therefore not be omitted in the form. Their regular buildings they generally surround with artificial terrasses, slopes, and many flights of steps ; the angles of which are adorned with groups of sculpture and vases, intermixed with all s orts of artificial waterworks, which, connecting with the architecture, serve to give it consequence, and add to the gaiety, splendor, and bustle of the scenery. Round the main habitation, and near all their decorated structures, the grounds are laid out with great regularity, and kept with great care : no plants are admitted that intercept the view of the buildings ; nor no lines but such as accompany the architecture properly, and contribute to the general good effect of the whole composition : for they hold it absurd to surround an elegant fabric with disorderly rude vegetation ; saying, that it looks like a diamond set in lead ; and always conveys the idea of an unfinished work. When the buildings are rustic, the scenery which surrounds them is wild ; when they are grand, it is gloomy ; when gay, it is luxuriant : in short, the Chinese are scrupulously nice in preserving the same character though every part of the composition ; which is one great cause of that surprising variety with which their works abound. They are fond of introducing statues, busts, bas-reliefs, and every production of the chisel, as well in other parts of their Gardens, as round their buildings ; observing, that they are not only ornamental, but that by commemorating past events, and celebrated personages, they awaken the mind to pleasing contemplation, hurrying our reflections up into the remotest ages of antiquity : and they never fail to scatter antient inscriptions, verses, and moral sentences, about their grounds ; which are placed on large ruinated stones, and columns of marble, or engraved on trees and rocks ; such situations being always chosen for them, as correspond with the sense of the inscriptions ; which thereby acquire additional force in themselves, and likewise give a stronger expression to the scene. They say that all these decorations are necessary, to characterize and distinguish the different scenes of their compositions ; among which, without such assistance, there must unavoidably be a tiresome similarity. And whenever it is objected to them, that many of these things are unnatural, and ought therefore not to be suffered, they say, that most improvements are unnatural, yet they are allowed to be improvements, and not only tolerated, but admired. Our vestments, say they, are neither of leather, nor like our skins, but formed of rich silks and embroidery ; our houses and palaces bear no resemblance to caverns in the rocks, which are the only natural habitations ; nor is our music either like thunder, or the whistling of the northern wind, the harmony of nature. Nature produces nothing either boiled, roasted or stewed, and yet we do not eat raw meat ; nor doth the supply us with any other tools for all our purposes, but teeth and hands ; yet we have saws, hammers, axes, and a thousand other implements : in short, there is scarcely any thing in which art is not apparent ; and why should its appearance be excluded from Gardening only ? Poets and painters soar above the pitch of nature, when they would give energy to their compositions. The same privilege, therefore, should be allowed to Gardeners : inanimate, simple nature, is too insipid for our purposes ; much is expected from us ; and therefore, we have occasion for every aid that either art or nature can furnish. The scenery of a garden should differ as much from common nature as an heroic poem doth from a prose relation ; and Gardeners, like poets, should give a loose to their imagination, and even fly beyond the bounds of truth, whenever it is necessary to elevate, to embellish, to enliven, or to add novelty to their subject. The useful method of distributing Gardens in China, is to contrive a great variety of scenes, to be seen from certain points of view ; at which are placed seats or buildings, adapted to the different purposes of mental or sensual enjoyments. The perfection of their Gardens consists in the number and diversity of these scenes ; and in the artful combination of their parts ; which they endeavor to dispose in such a manner, as not only separately to appear to the best advantage, but also to unite in forming an elegant and striking whole. Where the ground is extensive, and many scenes can be introduced, they generally adapt each to one single point of view ; but where it is confined, and affords no room for variety, they dispose their objects so, that being viewed from different points, they produce different representations ; and often such as bear no resemblance to each other. They likewise endeavor to place the separate scenes of their compositions in such directions as to unite, and be seen all together, from one or more particular points of view, whence the eye may be delighted with an extensive, rich and variegated prospect. They take all possible advantage of exterior objects ; hiding carefully the boundaries of their own grounds ; and endeavouring to make an apparent union between them and the distant woods, fields and rivers : and where towns, castles, towers, or any other considerable objects are in fight, they artfully contrive to have them seen from as many points, and in as many directions as possible. The same they do with their regard to navigable rivers, high roads, foot-paths, mills, and all other moving objects, which animate and add variety to the landscape. Besides the usual European methods of concealing boundaries by ha-has, and sunk fences, they have others, still more effectual. On flats, where they have naturally no prospects of exterior objects, they enclose their plantations with artificial terrasses, in the form of walks, to which you ascend by insensible slopes : these they border on the inside with thickets of lofty trees and underwood ; and on the outside, with low shrubberies ; over which the passenger sees the whole scenery of the adjacent country, in appearance forming a continuation of the Garden, as its fence is carefully concealed amongst the shrubs that cover the outside declivity of the terrass. And where the Garden happens to stand on higher ground than the adjacent country, they carry artificial rivers round the outskirts, under the opposite banks of which the boundaries are concealed, amongst trees and shrubs. Sometimes too they make use of strong wire fences, painted green, fastened to the trees and shrubs that border the plantations, and carried round in many irregular directions, which are scarcely seen till you come very near them : and wherever ha-has, or sunk fences are used, they always fill the trenches with briars, and other thorny plants, to strengthen the fence, and to conceal the walls, which otherwise would have an ugly appearance from without. In their large Gardens they contrive different scenes for the different times of the day ; disposing at the points of view buildings, which from their use point out the proper hour for enjoying the view in its perfections. And in their small ones, where, as has been observed, one arrangement produces many representations, they make use of the same artifice. They have beside, scenes for every season of the year : some for winter, general ex posed to the southern sun, and composed of pines, firs, cedars, evergreen oask, phillyreas, hollies, yews, and many other evergreens ; being enriched with laurels of various sorts, laurestinus, arbutus, and other plants and vegetables that grow and flourish in cold weather : and to give variety and gaiety to these gloomy productions, they plant amongst them, in regular forms, divided by walks, all the rare shrubs, flowers and trees of the torrid zone ; which they cover, during the winter, with frames of glass, disposed in the forms of temples, and other elegant buildings. These they call conservatiories ; they are warmed by subterraneous fires, and afford a comfortable and agreeable retreat, when the weather is too cold to walk in the open air. All sorts of beautiful and melodious birds are let loose in them : and they keep there, in large porcelain cisterns, placed on artificial rocks, gold and silver fishes ; with various kinds of aquatic plants and flowers : they also raise in them strawberries, cherries, figs, grapes, apricots and peaches, which cover the wood-work of their glass frames, and serve for ornament as well as use. Their scenes of spring likewise abound with evergreens, intermixed with lilacks of all sorts, laburnums, limes, larixes, double blossomed thorn, almond and peach-trees ; with sweet-bryar, early roses, and honey-suckles. The ground, and verges of the thickets and shrubberies, are adorned with wild hyacinths, wall-flowers, daffodils, violets, primroses, polianthes's, crocus's, daisies, snow-drops, and various species of the iris ; with such other flowers as appear in the months of March and April : and as these scenes are also scanty in their natural productions, they intersperse amongst their plantations, menageries for all sorts of tame and ferocious animals, and birds of prey ; aviaries and groves, with proper contrivances for breeding domestic fowls ; decorated dairies ; and buildings for the exercises of wrestling, boxing, quail-fighting, and other games known in China. They also contrive in the woods large open recesses for military sports ; as riding, vaulting, fencing, shooting with the bow, and running. Their summer scenes compose the richest and most studied parts of their Gardens. They abound with lakes, rivers, and water-works of every contrivance ; and with vessels of every construction, calculated for the uses of sailing, rowing, fishing, fowling, and fighting. The woods consist of oak, beech, Indian chesnut, elm, ash, plane, sycamore, maple, abele and several other species of the popular ; with many other trees, peculiar to China. The thickets are composed of every fair deciduous plant that grows in that climate, and every flower or shrub that flourishes during the summer months ; all uniting to form the finest verdure, the most brilliant, harmonious colouring imaginable. The buildings are spacious, splendid and numerous ; every scene being marked by one or more : some of them contrived for banquets, balls, concerts, learned disputations, plays, rope-dancing, and feats of activity ; others again for bathing, swimming, reading, sleeping, or meditation. In the center of these summer plantations, there I generally a large tract of ground set aside for more secret and voluptuous enjoyments ; which is laid out in a great number of close walks, colonades and passages, turned with many intricate windings, so as to confuse and lead the passenger astray ; being sometimes divided by thickets of underwood, intermixed with straggling large trees ; and at other times by higher plantations, or by clumbs of rose-trees, and other lofty flowering shrubs. The whole is a wilderness of sweets, adorned with all sorts of fragrant and gaudy productions : gold and silver pheasants, pea-fowls, partridges, bantam hens, quails, and game of every kind, swarm in the woods ; doves, nightingales, and a thousand melodious birds, perch upon the branches ; deer, antelopes, spotted buffaloes, sheep, and Tartarean horses, frisk upon the plains : every walk leads to some delightful object ; to groves of orange and myrtle ; to rivulets, whose banks are clad with roses, woodbine and Jessamine ; to murmuring fountains, with statues of sleeping nymphs, and water-gods ; to cabinets of verdure, with beds of aromatic herbs and flowers ; to grottos cut in rocks, adorned with incrustations of coral shells, ores, gems and christalisations, refreshed with rills of sweet scented water, and cooled by fragrant, artificial breezes. Amongst the thickets which divide the walks, are many secret recesses ; in each of which there is an elegant pavilion, consisting of one state-apartment, with out-houses, and proper conveniences for eunuchs and women-servants. These are inhabited, during the summer, by their fairest and most accomplished concubines ; each of them, with her attendants, occupying a separate pavilion. The principal apartment of these buildings, consists of one or more large saloons, two cabinet or dressing-rooms, a library, a couple of bed-chambers and waiting-rooms, a bath, and several private closets ; all which are magnificently furnished, and provided with entertaining books, amorous paintings, musical instruments, implement for gaming, writing, drawing, painting and embroidering ; with beds, couches, and chairs, of various constructions, for the uses of sitting and lying in different postures. The saloons generally open to little enclosed courts, set round with beautiful flower-pots, of different forms, made of porcelain, marble or copper, filled with the rarest flowers of the season : at the end of the court there is generally an aviary ; an artificial rock with a fountain and bason for gold fish ; a cascade ; an arbor of bamboo or vine interwoven with flowering shrubs ; or some other elegant contrivance, of the like nature. Besides these separate habitations, in which the ladies are privately visited by the patron, as often as he is disposed to see them, there are, in other larger recesses of the thickets, more splendid and spacious buildings, where the women all meet at certain hours of the day, either to eat at the public tables, to drink their tea to converse, bathe, swim, work, romp, or to play at the mora, and other games known in China ; or else to divert the patron with music, singing, lascivious posture-dancing, and acting plays or pantomines ; at all which they generally are very expert. Some of these structures are entirely open ; the roof being supported on columns of rose-wood, or cedar, with bases of Corean jasper ; or upon wooden pillars, made in imitation of bamboo, and plantane-trees, surrounded with garlands of fruit and flowers, artfully carved, being painted and varnished in proper colours. Others are enclosed ; and consist sometimes only of one spacious hall, and sometimes of many different sized rooms, of various forms ; as triangles, squares, hexagons, octagons, circles, ovals, and irregular whimsical shapes ; all of them elegantly finished with incrustations of marble, inlaid precious woods, ivory, silver, gold, and mother of pearl ; with a profusion of antient porcelain, mirrors, carving, gilding, painting and lacquering of all colours. The doors of entrance to these apartments, are circular and polygonal, as well as rectangular : and the windows by which they are lighted, are made in the shapes of fans, birds, animals, fishes, insects, leaves and flowers ; being filled with painted glass, or different coloured gause, to tinge the light, and give a glow to the objects in the apartment. All these buildings are furnished at a very great expence, not only with the necessary moveables, but with pictures, sculptures, embroideries, trinkets, and pieces of clock-work of great value, being some of them very large, composed of many ingenious movements, and enriched with ornaments of gild, intermixed with pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other gems. Besides the different structures already mentioned, they have some made in the form of Persian tents ; others built of roots and pollards, put together with great taste ; and others, called Miau Ting, or Halls of the Moon, of a prodigious size ; composed each of one single vaulted room, made in the shape of a hemisphere ; the concave of which is artfully painted, in imitation of a nocturnal sky, and pierced with an infinite number of little windows, made to represent the moon and stars, being filled with tinged glass, that admits the light in the quantities necessary to spread over the whole interior fabric the pleasing gloom of a fine summer's night. The pavements of these rooms are sometimes laid out in parterres of slowers ; amongst which are placed many rural seats, made of fine formed branches, varnished red to represent coral : but oftenest their bottom is full of a clear running water, which falls in rills from the sides of a rock in the center ; many little islands float upon its surface, and move around as the current directs ; some of them covered with tables for the banquet ; others with seats for musicians ; and others with arbors, containing beds of repose, with sophas, seats, and other furniture, for various uses. To these halls of the moon the Chinese princes retire, with their favourite women, whenever the heat and intense light of the summer's day becomes disagreeable to them ; and here they feast, and give a loose to every sort of voluptuous pleasure. No nation ever equaled the Chinese in the splendor and number of their garden structures. We are told by Father Attiret, that in one of the imperial gardens near Pekin, called Yven Ming Yven, there are, besides the palace, which is of itself a city, four hundred pavilions, all so different in their architecture, that each seems the production of a different country. He mentions one of them, that cost upwards of two hundred thousand pounds, exclusive of the furniture ; another, consisting of a hundred rooms : and sys, that most of them are sufficiently capacious to lodge the greates European lord, and his whole retinue. There is likewise, in the same garden, a fortified town, with its port, streets, public squares, temples, markets, shops, and tribunals of justice : in short, with every thing that is at Pekin ; only upon a smaller scale. In this town the emperors of China, who are too much the slaves of their greatness to appear in public, and their women, who are excluded from it by custom, are frequently diverted with the hurry and bustle of the capital ; which is there represented, several times in the year, by the eunuchs of the palace : some of them personating merchants, others artists, artificers, officers, soldiers, shop-keepers, porters, and even thieves and pickpockets. On the appointed day, each puts on the habit of his profession : the ships arrive at the port, the shops are opened, and the goods are offered to sale ; tea-houses, taverns, and inns, are ready for the reception of company ; fruits, and all sorts of refreshments, are cried about the streets : the shop-keepers teize the passengers to purchase their merchandize ; and every liberty is permitted : there is no distinction of persons ; even the emperor is confounded in the crowd : quarrels happen – battles ensue – the watch seizes upon the combatants – they are conveyed before the judge, he examines the dispute and condemns the culprit, who is sometimes very severely bastinadoed, to divert his imperial majesty, and the ladies of his train. Neither are sharpers forgot in these festivals ; that noble profession is generally allotted to a good number of the most dextrous eunuchs, who, like the Spartan youths of old, are punished or applauded, according to the merit of their exploits. The plantations of their autumnal scenes consist of many sorts of oak, beech, and other deciduous trees that are retentive of the leaf, and afford in their decline a rich variegated colouring ; with which they blend some fruit-trees, and the few shrubs and flowers which blossom late in the year ; placing amongst them decayed trees, pollards, and dead stumps, of picturesque forms, overspread with moss and ivy. The buildings with which these scenes are decorated, are generally such as indicate decay, being intended as mementos to the passenger. Some are hermitages and alms-houses, where the faithful old servants of the family spend the remains of life in peace, amidst the tombs of their predecessors, who lie buried around them : others are ruins of castles, palaces, temples, and deserted religious houses ; or half buried triumphal arches and mausoleums, with mutilated inscriptions, that once commemorated the heroes of antient times ; or they are sepulchres of their ancestors, catacombs and cemeteries for their favourite domestic animals ; or whatever else may serve to indicate the debility, the disappointments, and the dissolution of humanity ; which, by co-operating with the dreary aspect of autumnal nature, and the inclement temperature of the air, fill the mind with melancholy, and incline it to serious reflections. Such is the common scenery of the Chinese Gardens, where the ground has no striking tendency to any particular character. But where it is more strongly marked, their artists never fail to improve upon its singularities ; their aim is to excite a great variety of passions in the mind of the spectator ; and the fertility of their imaginations, always upon the stretch in search of novelty, furnishes them with a thousand artifices to accomplish that aim. The scenes which I have hitherto described, are chiefly of the pleasing kind : but the Chinese Gardeners have many sorts, which they employ as cirumstances vary ; all which they range in three separate classes ; and distinguish them by the appellations of the pleasing, the terrible, and the surprising. The first of these are composed of the gayest and most perfect productions of the vegetable world ; intermixed with rivers, lakes, cascades, fountains, and water-works of all sorts : being combined and disposed in all the picturesque forms that art or nature can suggest. Buildings, sculptures, and paintings are added, to give splendor and variety to these compositions ; and the rarest productions of the animal creation are collected, to enliven them : nothing is forgot that can either exhilarate the mind, gratify the senses, or give a spur to the imagination. Their scenes of terror are composed of gloomy woods, deep vallies inaccessible to the sun, impending barren rocks, dark caverns, and impetuous cataracts rushing down the mountains from all parts. The trees are ill formed, forces out of their natural directions, and seemingly torn to pieces by the violence of tempests : some are thrown down, and intercept the course of the torrents ; others look as if blasted and shattered by the power of lightening : the buildings are in ruins ; or half consumed by fire, or swept away by the fury of the waters : nothing remaining entire but a few miserable huts dispersed in the mountains, which serve at one to indicate the existence and wretchedness of the inhabitants. Bats, owls, vultures, and every bird of prey flutter in the groves ; wolves, tigers and jackals howl in the forests ; half-famished animals wander upon the plains ; gibbets, crosses, wheels, and the whole apparatus of torture, are seen from the roads ; and in the most dismal recesses of the woods, where the ways are rugged and overgrown with weeds, and where every object bears the marks of depopulation, are temples dedicated to the king of vengeance, deep caverns in the rocks, and descents to subterraneous habitations, overgrown with brushwood and brambles ; near which are placed pillars of stone, with pathetic descriptions of tragical events, and many horrid acts of cruelty, perpetrated there by outlaws and robbers of former times : and to add both to the horror and sublimity of these scenes, they sometimes conceal in cavities, on the summits of the highest mountains, foundries, lime-kilns, and glass-works ; which send forth large volumes of flame, and continued columns of thick smoke, that give to these mountains the appearance of volcanoes. Their surprising, or supernatural scenes, are of the romantic kind, and abound in the marvelous ; being calculated to excite in the minds of the spectators, quick sucessions of opposite and violent sensations : Sometimes the passenger is hurried by steep descending paths to subterraneous vaults, divided into apartments, where lamps, which yield a faint glimmering light, discover the pale images of antient kings and heroes, reclining on beds of state ; their heads are crowned with garlands of stars, and in their heads are crowned with garlands of stars, and in their hands are tablets of moral sentences : flutes, and soft harmonious organs, impelled by subterraneous waters, interrupt, at stated intervals, the silence of the place, and fill the air with solemn melody. Sometimes the traveller, after having wandered in the dusk of the forest, finds himself on the edge of precipices, in the glare of day-light, with cataracts falling from the mountains around, and torrents raging in the depths beneath him ; or at the foot of impending rocks, in gloomy vallies, overhung with woods, on the banks of dull moving rivers, whose shores are covered with sepulchral monuments, under the shade of willows, laurels, and other plants, sacred to Manchew, the genius of sorrow. His way now lies through dark passages cut in the rocks, on the side of which are recesses, filled with colossal figures of dragons, infernal fiends, and other horror forms, which hold in their monstrous talons, mysterious, cabalistical sentences, inscribed on tables of brass ; with preparations that yield a constant flame ; serving at once to guide and to astonish the passenger : from time to time he is surprised with repeated shocks of electrical impulse, with flowers of artificial rain, or sudden violent gusts of wind, and instantaneous explosions of fire ; the earth trembles under him, by the power of confined air ; and his ears are successively struck with many different sounds, produced by the same means ; some resembling the cries of men in torment ; others the roaring of bulls, and howl of ferocious animals, with the yell of hounds, and the voices of hunters ; others are like the mixed croaking of ravenous birds ; and others imitate thunder, the raging of the sea, the explosion of cannon, the sound of trumpets, and all the noise of war. His road then lies through lofty woods, where serpents and lizards of many beautiful sorts crawl upon the ground, and where innumerable monkies, cats and parrots, clamber upon the trees, and intimidate him as he passes ; or through flowery thickets, where he is delighted with the singing of birds, the harmony of flutes, and all kinds of soft instrumental music : sometimes, in this romantic excursion, the passenger finds himself in extensive recesses, surrounded with arbors of Jessamine, vine and roses, where beauteous Tartarean damsels, in loose transparent robes, that flutter in the air, present him with rich wines, mangostans, ananas, and fruits of Quangsi ; crown him with garlands of flowers, and invite him to taste the sweets of retirement, on Persian carpets, and beds of camusathkin down. These enchanted scenes always abound with waterworks, so contrived as to produce many surprising effects ; and many splendid pieces of scenery. Air is likewise employed with great success, on different occasions ; not only for the purposes above-mentioned, but likewise to form artificial and complicated echoes : some repeating the motion of the feet ; some the rustling of garments ; and others the human voice, in many different tones : all which are calculated to embarrass, to surprise, or to terrify the passenger in his progress. All sorts of optical deceptions are also made use of ; such as paintings on prepared surfaces, contrived to vary the representations as often as the spectator changes place : exhibiting, in one view, groups of men ; in another, combats of animals ; in a third, rocks, cascades, trees and mountains ; in a fourth, temples and colonades ; and a variety of other pleasing subjects. They likewise contrive pavements and incrustations for the walls of their apartments, of Mosaic work, composed of many pieces of marble, seemingly thrown together without order or design ; which, when seen from certain points of view, unite in forming lively and exact representations of men, animals, buildings and landscapes : and they frequently introduce pieces of architecture, and even whole prospects in perspective ; which are formed by introducing temples, bridges, vessels, and other fixed objects, lessened as they are more distant from the points of view, by giving greyish tints to the distant parts of the compositions ; and by planting there trees of a fainter colour, and smaller growth, than those that appear in the fore ground : thus rendering considerable in appearance, what in reality is trifling. The Chinese Artists introduce into these enchanted scenes, all kinds of sensitive, and other extraordinary trees, plants and flowers. They keep in them a surprising variety of monstrous birds, reptiles, and animals, which they import from distant countries, or obtain by crossing the breeds. These are tamed by art ; and guarded by enormous dogs of Tibet, and African giants, in the habits of magicians. They likewise have amongst the plantations, cabinets, in which are collected all the extraordinary productions of the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms ; as well as paintings, sculptures, medals, antiquities, and ingenious inventions of the mechanic arts : which are a fresh source of entertainment, when the weather is bad, or when the heat is too intense to admit of being in the open air. The communications to the different scenes and other parts of the Chinese Gardens, are by walks, roads, bridleways, navigable rivers, lakes, and canals ; in all which their artists introduce as much variety as possible ; not only in the forms and dimensions, but also in their decoration : avoiding, nevertheless, all the absurdities with which our antien European style of Gardening abounds. "I am not ignorant", said one of their artists, "that your European planters, thinking Nature scanty in her arrangements, or being perhaps disgusted with the familiarity and commonness of natural objects, introduce artificial forms into their plantations, and cut their trees in the shapes of pyramids, flower-pots, men, fishes, and brute animals ; and I have heard of colonades, and whole palaces, formed by plants, cut as precisely as if they had been built of stone. But this is purchasing variety at the expence of reason : such extravagancies ought never to be tolerated, excepting in enchanted scenes : and there but very seldom ; for they must be as destitute of beauty, as they are of propriety ; and if the planter be a traveller, and a man of observation, he can want no such helps to variety, as he will recollect a thousand beautiful effects along the common roads of the countries through which he has passed, that may be introduced with much better success". Their roads, walks and avenues, are either directed in a single straight line, twisted in crooked one, or carried zig-zag, by several straight lines, altering their course at certain points. They observe that there are few objects more strikingly great than a spacious road, planted on each side with lofty trees, and stretching in a direct line, beyond the reach of the eye ; and that there are few things more variously entertaining, than a winding one, which opening gradually to the sight, discovers, at every step, a new arrangement ; and although, in itself, it has not the power of raising violent emotions, yet, by bringing the passenger suddenly and unexpectedly to great or uncommon things, it occasions strong impressions of surprise and astonishment, which are more forcibly felt, as being more opposite to the tranquil pleasure enjoyed in the confined parts of the road : and, in small compositions, they find crooked directions exceedingly useful to the planter, who, by winding his walks, may give an idea of great extent, notwithstanding the narrowness of his limits. They say that roads which are composed of repeated straight lines, altering their directions at certain points, have all the advantages both of crooked and straight ones, with other properties, peculiar to themselves. The variety and new arrangements of objects, say they, which present themselves at every change of direction, occupy the mind agreeably : their abrupt appearance occasions surprise ; which, when the extent is vast, and the repetitions frequent, swells into astonishment and admiration : the incertitude of the mind where these approaches towards the periods, are likewise very strong impressions, preventing that state of languor into which the mind naturally sinks by dwelling long on the same objects. The straight directions, particularly the zig-zag, are, on account of these effects, well adapted to avenues or high roads, which lead to towns, palaces, bridges, or triumphal arches ; to castles or prisons, for the reception of criminals ; to mausoleums ; and all other works of which the intent is to inspire horror, veneration or astonishment. To humbler objects, the waving line is a more proper approach ; the smallness of their parts rendering them unfit for a distant inspection : and as they are trifling in themselves, they please most when their appearance is unexpected : and from the very point whence all their little beauties are seen in the highest lustre. In disposing the walks of their Gardens, the Chinese artists are very attentive to lead them successively to all the principal buildings, fine prospects, and other interesting parts of the composition ; that the passenger may be conducted, insensibly, as it were by accident, and without turning back, or seeming to go out of the way, to very object deserving notice. Both their straight and winding walks are, in some places, kept at a considerable distance from each other, and separated by close planted thickets, to hide all exterior objects ; as well to keep the passenger in suspense with regard to the extent, as to excite those gloomy sensations which naturally steal upon the mind, in wandering through the intricacies of a solitary forest. In other places the walks approach each other ; and the thickets growing gradually less deep, and more thinly planted, the ear is struck with the voices of those who are in the adjacent walks, and the eye amused with a confused fight of their persons, between the stems and foliage of the trees. Insensibly again the plantations spread and darken, the objects disappear, and the voices die in confused murmurs ; when unexpectedly the walks are turned into the same open spaces, and the different companies are agreeably surprised to meet where they may view each other, and satisfy their curiosity without impediment. The Chinese Gardeners very seldom finish any of their walks en cul de sac ; carefully avoiding all unpleasant disappointments : but if at any time the nature of the situation obliges them to it, they always terminate at some interesting object ; which lessens the disappointment, and takes off the idea of a childish conceit. Neither do they ever carry a walk round the extremities of a piece of ground, and leave the middle entirely open, as it is too often done amongst us : for though it might render the first glance striking and noble, they think the pleasure would be of short duration ; and that the spectator would be but moderately entertained, by walking several miles, with the same objects continually obtruding upon his fight. If the ground they have to work upon be small, and that they choose to exhibit a grand scene, either from the principal habitation, or any other capital point, they do indeed leave a great part of the space open ; but still care is taken to have a good depth of thicket, which frequently breaks considerably in upon the open space, and hides many parts of it from the spectator's eye. These projections produce variety, by altering the apparent figure of the open space from every point of view ; and by constantly hiding parts of it, they create a mystery which excites the traveller's curiosity : they likewise occasion, in many places, a great depth in the thicket, to make recesses for buildings, seats, and other objects, as well as for bold windings of the principal walks, and for several smaller paths to branch off from the principal ones ; all which take off the idea of a boundary, and afford amusement to the passenger in his course : and as it is not easy to pursue all the turns of the different lateral paths, there is still something left to desire, and a field for the imagination to work upon. In their crooked walks, they carefully avoid all sudden or unnatural windings, particularly the regular serpentine curves, of which our English Gardeners are so fond ; observing, that these eternal, uniform, undulating lines, are, of all things, the most unnatural, the most affected, and most tiresome to pursue. Having nature in view, they seldom turn their walks, without some apparent excuse ; either to avoid impediments, naturally existing, or raised by art, to improve the scenery. A mountain, a precipice, a deep valley, a marsh, a piece of rugged ground, a building, or some old venerable plant, afford a striking reason for turning aside ; and if a river, the sea, a wide extended lake, or a terrace commanding rich prospects, present themselves, they hold it judicious to follow them in all their windings ; so to protract the enjoyments which these noble objects procure : but on a plain, either open, or formed into groves and thickets, where no impediments oblige, nor no curiosity invites to follow a winding path, they think it absurd, saying, that the road must either have been made by art, or be worn by the constant passage of travellers ; in either of which cases, it cannot be supposed that men would go by crooked line, where they could arrive by a straight one. In general, they are very sparing of their twists, which are always easy, and so managed that never more than one curve is perceptible at the same time. They likewise take care to avoid an exact parallelism in these walks, both with regard to the trees which border them, and the ground of which they are composed. The usual width given to the walk, is from eight to twenty, or even thirty feet, according to the extent of the plantation ; but the trees, on each side, are, in many places, more distant ; large spaces being left open, and covered with grass and wild flowers, or with fern, broom, briars, and underwood. The ground of the walk is either of turf or gravel ; neither of them finishing exactly at its edges, bur running some way into the thickets, groves or shrubberies, on each side ; in order to imitate nature more closely, and to take off that disagreeable formality and stiffness, with a contrary practice occasions in our European plantations. In their straight roads or walks, when the extent is vast, the Chinese artists observe an exact order and symmetry, saying, that in stupendous works, the appearance of art is by no means disgusting ; that it conveys to posterity instances of the grandeur of their ancestors ; and gives birth to many sublime and pleasing reflections. The imperial roads are astonishing works of this nature ; they are composed of triple avenues, adorned with four rows of enormous trees ; generally Indian chesnuts, spruce firs, mountain cedars, and other of formal shapes ; or oaks, elms, tulips, and others of the largest growth, planted at proper regular distances ; and extending in straight lines, and almost on a perfect level, two, three, even four hundred miles. The center avenues are from one hundred and fifty, to two hundred feet wide ; and the lateral ones, are generally from forty to fifty feet ; the spreading branches of the trees forming over them a natural umbrella, under which the travellers pass, at all times of the day, unmolested by the sun. In some places these roads are carried, by lofty vaulted passages, through the rocks and mountains ; in others, upon causeways and bridges, over lakes, torrents, and arms of the sea ; and in others, they are supported, between the precipices, upon chains of iron, or upon pillars, and many tire of arcades, over villages, pagodas, and cities : in short, no difficulty has been attended to in their construction ; but every obstacle has been conquered with amazing industry, and at an almost incredible expence. There are, in different parts of China, many works of the kinds just mentioned ; but amongst the most considerable, are counted the Passage of King-tong, the Bridges of Fo-cheu and Lo-yang, and the Cientao, in the province of Xensi. The first of these is a communication between two precipices, composed in twenty enormous chains of iron, each two hundred feet in length, which are covered with planks and earth, to form the road. The second is a bridge between Fo-cheu and the suburb Nan-ti, consisting of one hundred arches, of a sufficient size for the passage of ships under full sail : it is built of large blocks of hewn stone, and enclosed with a magnificent marble balustrade, the pedestals of which support two hundred colossal lions, artfully cut in the same material. The bridge of Lo-yang is in the province of Fokien, and is the largest and most surprizing work of the sort that yet has been heard of. It is composed of three hundred piers of black marble, joined to each other by vast blocks of the same material, forming the road, which is enclosed with a marble balustrade, whose pedestals are adorned with lions, and other works of sculpture. The whole length of the bridge is sixteen thousand two hundred feet, or upwards of three miles ; its width is forty-two feet ; and the blocks of which it is composed are each fifty-four feet long, and six feet diameter. The Cientao, or Way of Pillars, is a communication between many precipices, built to shorten the road to Pekin. It is near four miles long, of a considerable width, and supported over the vallies upon arches and stone piers of a terrifying height. In the mountains, on each side of these imperial roads, are erected a great number of buildings, adorned with colossal statues, and other works of sculpture, which afford constant entertainment to the passengers. These are the monuments of their wise men, their saints, and their warriors, erected at the expence of the state, and furnished with nervous inscriptions, in the Chinese language, giving an account of the lives and actions of those they commemorate : some of these buildings are distributed into many spacious courts and stately apartments, being little inferior to palaces, either in magnificence or extent. Instead of roads, the center avenues are sometimes formed into navigable canals, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet wide, being sufficiently deep to admit galleys and other small vessels ; with horse-ways on each side of the canals, for the convenience of towing them, either against the wind or the stream. On these the emperor, and Chinese mandarins, are frequently conveyed, in large magnificent sampans or barges, divided into many splendid rooms ; being sometimes attended by a considerable train of smaller vessels, of different constructions, adorned with dragons, streamers, lanterns of painted silk, and various other ornaments, the whole composing a very brilliant and entertaining show. The imperial forests, besides the high roads which pass through them, have many spacious avenues cut in the woods, spreading from different centers, like rays of stars, and terminating at idol temples, towers, castles, and all the interesting objects of the circumjacent country. The centers from which these avenues part, are of a circular or octagonal figure, with eight avenues ; or of a semi-circular form, with only three branching from them. Their area is generally very considerable ; and its middle is adorned with a triumphal arch, a pagoda, a magnificent fountain, or some other considerable monument. Where the extent is vast, each single avenue has besides, in its course, one or more open spaces, from which a number of smaller avenues again branch out, and terminate at many buildings, erected in the woods, for various purposes ; all which, without any confusion, add to the variety and intricacy of these compositions ; giving them an appearance of immensity not to be conceived, but by such as have seen them : and wherever a deep valley, a large river, or an arm of the sea, interrupt and break off the course of the avenues, the plantations are nevertheless continued on the opposite shore, in order to make them appear more considerable. In straight roads, of smaller dimensions, the Chinese very artfully imitate the irregular workings of nature ; for although the general direction be a straight line, yet they easily avoid all appearance of stiffness or formality, by planting some of the trees out of the common line ; by inclining some of them out of an upright ; or by employing different species of plants, and by placing them at irregular distances, with their stems sometimes bare, and at other times covered with honey-suckles and sweet-bryar, or surrounded with underwood. They likewise cut and dispose the branches of the trees in various manners ; some being suffered to spread, to cover and shade the walks ; whilst others are shortened, to admit the sun. The ground too is composes of rises and falls ; and the banks on each side of the walk are, in some places, of a considerable height, forming hollow ways, which they often cover at the top with bushes and trunks of fallen trees : frequently too the course of the walk is interrupted by a large oak, or elm, or tulipifera, placed in the middle ; or by a screen of trees running quite across ; which, when the part on one side of the screen is opened and illuminated by the sun, and the part on the other side, close and shaded, produced a pleasing contrast. |
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| 21 | 1773 |
Mason, William. An heroic epistle [ID D27198]. "Knight of the Polar Star! by Fortune plac'd To shine the Cynosure of British taste ; Whose orb collects, in one refulgent view, The scatter’d glories of Chinese Virth ; And spread their lustre in so broad a blaze, That Kings themselves are dazzled while they gaze..." Horace Walpole schreibt dazu : "Sir William Chambers, who was far from wanting taste in architecture, fell into the mistake of the French, who suppose that the Chinese had discovered the true style in gardens long before Kent ; and in order to deprive him and England of the honour of originality, the French call our style the Anglo-chinois Garden : whereas, the Chinese wander as far from nature as the French themselves, tho in opposite extremes. Regularity, Uniformity, Formality and Sameness are the characteristics of all French gardens : Irregularity and Extravagance of the Chinese... The imitation of nature in gardens is indisputably English." Wittkower, Rudolf. Allegorie und der Wandel der Symbole in Antike und Renaissance.(Köln : Dumont, 1984). (DuMont-Taschenbücher ; 142). Er schreibt : Obwohl Chambers' Buch [Dissertation on Oriental gardening] auf dem Kontinent einen gewaltigen Einfluss ausübte, galt es in England als Anachronismus ; es wurde angegriffen und lächerlich gemacht. Gewandt verlieh der Dichter William Mason der Stimmung des Publikums in seiner Satire 'An heroic epistle to Sir William Chambers' Ausdruck. Horace Walpole schrieb über diese Satire : "Ich lachte, bis mir die Tränen kamen, und je öfter ich sie las, desto besser gefiel sie mir." |
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| 22 | 1774 |
Mason, William. An heroic postscript to the public, occasioned by their favourable reception of a late Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers. (London : Printed for W. Wilson, 1774). = Satirical poems. Er schreibt : "It was to deride the Corruption of true Taste, that the Heroic Epistle was written. To send us, when possessed of the Models established by Kent, Hamilton and Brown, to the vagaries of the Chinese, was exactly that passion for Pantomine that has been a reproach to our Theatre. To recommend the introduction of bears, monkeys, elephants etc. into our gardens was identically what has been practiced on our Stage ; & whether his Majesty or the Mob would be delighted with such sights at Kew or Drurylane, the idea is barbarous, and never to be admitted into our beautiful real landscpaes." |
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| 23 | 1775 |
Brief von Horace Walpole an William Mason. (6 Sept.) Walpole complains "that by the help of Sir William Chambers's lunettes have detected us for having stolen our gardens from the Chinese". |
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| 24 | 1775 ca. | Der Bau der Pagoda in Pagoda Gardens, Blackheath, London wird William Chambers zugeschrieben. |
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| 25 | 1776 |
Krünitz, Johann Georg. Oeconomische Encyclopädie oder allgemeines System der Land-, Haus- und Staats-Wirthschaft [ID D26950]. Er schreibt : Die chinesischen Gärten sind unstreitig diejenigen in einem andern Welttheile, welche in den neuern Zeiten bey uns das meiste Aufsehen gemacht haben. Nach der Beschreibung, die der Engländer Chambers von den chinesischen Gärten gegeben hat, erhellet, dass diese Nation bey Anlegung und Verzierung ihrer Gärten die Natur zum Muster nimmt, und ihre Absicht dabey ist, sie in allen ihren schönen Nachlässigkeiten nachzuahmen. Zuerst richten sie ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf die Beschaffenheit des Platzes, ob er eben oder abhängend ist, und ob er Hügel hat, ob er in einer offenen oder eingeschlossenen Geben, trocken oder feucht ist, ob er Quellen und Bäche, oder Mangel an Wasser habe. Auf alle diese Umstände geben sie genau Achtung, und ordnen alles so an, wie es sich jedesmahl für die Natur des Platzes am besten schicket, zugleich die wenigsten Unkosten verursachet ; wobey sie die Fehler des Landes zu verbergen, und seine Vortheil hervorleuchten zu machen suchen. Da dieses Volks sich wenig aus den Spatziergängen macht, so trifft man bey ihm selten solche breite Alleen und Zugänge an, der gleichen man in den europäischen Gärten findet. Das ganze Land in mancherley Scenen eingetheilt, und krumme Gänge, durch Büsche ausgehauen, führen zu verschiedenen Aussichten, die das Auge durch ein Gebäude oder sonst einen sich auszeichnenden Gegenstand auf sich ziehen. Die Vollkommenheit dieser Gärten besteht in der Menge, Schönheit und Mannigfaltigkeit solcher Scenen. Die chinesischen Gärtner suchen, wie die europäischen Mahler, die angenehmsten Gegenstände einzeln in der Natur auf, und bemühen sich dieselben so zu vereinige, dass nicht nur jeder für sich gut angebracht sey, sondern aus ihrer Vereinigung zugleich ein schönes Ganze entstehe. Sie unterscheiden dreyerley Arten von Scenen, welche sie lachende, fürchterliche und bezaubernde nennen. Die letzte Art ist die, die wir romantisch nennen ; und die Chinesen wissen durch mancherley Kunstgriffe sie überraschend zu machen. Sie leiten bisweilen einen rauschenden Bach unter der Erde weg, der das Ohr derer, welche an die Stellen, darunter sie wegströmen, kommen, mit einem Geräusche rührt, dessen Ursprung man nicht erkennt. Ein ander mahl machen sie ein Gemäuer von Felsen, oder bringen sonst in Gebäuden, und andern in dem Garten angebrachten Gegenständen, Öffnungen und Ritzen dergestalt an, dass die durchstreichende Luft fremde und seltsame Töne hervorbringt. Für diese besondere Partien suchen sie die seltensten Bäume und Pflanzen aus ; auch bringen sie in denselben verschiedene Echo an, und unterhalten darin allerhand Vögel und seltene Thiere. Ihre fürchterlichen Scenen bestehen aus überhangenden Felsen, dunkeln Grotten und brausenden Wasserfällen, die von allen Seiten her von Felsen herab stürzen. Dahin setzen sie krummgewachsene Bäume, die vom Sturm zerrissen scheinen. Hier findet man solche, die umgefallen mitten im Strohm lieben, und von ihm dahin geschwemmt scheinen. Dort sieht man andere, die vom Wetter zerschmettert und versengt scheinen. Einige Gebäude sind eingefallen, andere halb abgebrannt, und einige elende Hütten, hier und da auf Bergen zerstreuet, scheinen Wohnstellen armseliger Einwohner zu seyn. Nach Scenen von dieser Art folgen insgemein wieder lachende ; und die chinesischen Künstler wissen immer schnelle Abwechselungen und Gegensätze sich wechselsweise erhebender Scenen, sowohl in den Formen als Farben, und im Hellen und Dunkeln zu erhalten. Wenn der Platz von beträchtlicher Grösse ist und eine Mannigfaltigkeit der Scenen erlaubet, so ist insgemein jede für einen besondern Gesichtspunct eingerichtet ; wenn dieses aber des engern Raumes halber nicht angeht, so suchen die dem Mangel dadurch abzuhelfen, dass die Partien nach den verschiedenen Ansichten immer andere Gestalten annehmen. Dieses wissen sie so gut zu machen, dass man dieselbe Partie aus den verschiedenen Ständen gar nicht mehr für dieselbe erkennen kann. Man findet daher alle Arten von optischem Betrug hier angebracht ; Mahlereyen auf künstlich zubereitetem Grunde, die aus einem Gesichtspuncte eine Gruppe von Menschen, aus einem andern ein Thiergefecht, aus einem dritten Felsen, Wasserfälle, Bäume, Gebirge, und aus dem vierten Tempel, Säulengänge und eine Menge anderer ergetzender Objecte abbilden. Mosaische Arbeit findet man häufig in den Zimmern der Gebäude dieser Gegenden, die vielleicht in der Nähe betrachtet, nichts als Stücke Marmor zu seyn scheinen, die ohne Ordnung eingelegt sind, die aber von einem gewissen Standorte Menschen, Thiere, Gebäude oder Landschaften vorstellen. Hin und wieder sind mit grosser Kunst angeordnete Perspective, entweder von Gebäuden oder selbst von ganzen Prospecten, welche auf die Weise hervorgebracht werden, dass die Tempel, Brücken, Fahrzeuge, oder andere Objecte kleiner und kleiner sind, und schwächere ins Graue fallende Farben haben, je weiter sie entfernt scheinen sollen, und dass die Bäume je weiter von dem Geschichtspunct ebenfalls von schwächerm Grün und kleinerm Wuchs ausgesucht werden, als die im Vordergrunde sind, so, dass man aus einem gewissen Stand-Puncte eine beträchtliche Entfernung zu sehen glaubt, wo in der That doch nur eine geringe ist. In grossen Gärten bringt man Scenen, die siche für jede Tages-Zeit schicken, an, und führt an bequemen Stellen Gebäude auf, welche sich zu den verschiedenen jeder Tageszeit eigenen Ergetzlichkeiten schicken. Weil das Klima in diesem Lande sehr heiss ist, so sucht man viel Wasser in die Gärten zu bringen. Die kleinen werden, wenn es die Lage gestattet, oft ganz unter Wasser gesetzt, dass nur wenig kleine Inseln und Felsen hervorstehen. In grossen Gärten findet man Seen, Flüsse und Canäle. Nach Anleitung der Natur werden die Ufer der Gewässer verschiedentlich behandelt ; bald sind sie sandig und steinig, bald grün und mit Holz bewachsen ; bald flach mit Blumen und kleinen Gesträuchen bekleidet, bald mit steilen Felsen besetzt, welche Höhlen und Klüfte bilden, in die sich das Wasser mit Ungestüm wirft. Bisweilen trifft man darin Fluren, worauf zahmes Vieh weidet, oder Reissfelder, die bis in die Seen hinein treten, zwischen denen man in Kähnen herumfahren kann, an. An andern Orten findet man Büsche von Bächen durchschnitten, die kleine Nachen tragen. Ihre Ufer sind an einigen Orten dergestalt mit Bäumen bewachsen, dass ihre Äste von beyden Ufern sich in einander schlingen, und gewölbte Decken ausmachen, unter welchen man durchfährt. Auf einer solchen Fahrt wird man insgemein an einen interessanten Ort geleitet, an ein prächtiges Gebäude, etwa auf einen terrassirten Berg, an eine einsame Hütte auf einer Insel, an einen Wasserfall, an eine Grotte. Die Flüsse und Bäche der Gärten nehmen keinen geraden Lauf, sondern schlängeln sich durch verschiedene Krümmungen ; sind bald schmal, bald breit, bald sanft fliessend, bald rauschend. Auch wächst Schilf und anderes Wassergras darin. Man trifft Mühlen und hydraulische Maschinen darauf an, deren Bewegung den Gegenden ein Leben giebt. Wenn man sich gleich verwundern muss, wie ein Volk, welches sonst fast nichts von den schönen Künst4en kennt, und in Ansehung seines Geschmacks so weit zurück steht, auf eine so gute Anlage der Gärten kommen können : so scheint der Bericht des Chambers, der selbst in China mit seinen Augen gesehen, die Sache fast ausser Zweifel zu setzten. Indessen, da dieser Bericht in vielen Stellen die sinnreichsten Gemählde der Phantasie und die wunderbarsten Feenbezauberungen enthält, so möchte vielleicht nur einem Theile davon historische Wahrheit zukommen. Ja, man möchte fast vermuthen, dass Chambers, wenn er sich nicht durch die Erzählungen später Reisenden hat hintergehen lassen, dasjenige, was er selbst gesehen, nur zum Grunde gelegt, um darauf in Ideal nach seiner eigenen Einbildungs-Kraft aufzuführen : und dabey seinen Landsleuten, die noch zu sehr dem alten Geschmack anhingen, einen Wink auf eine neue Bahn zu geben. Übrigens muss man gestehen, der Chineser folgte allein der Natur ; und man weiss, dass die Schritte gemeiniglich da am sichersten sind, wo man von keinen falschen Wegweisern von dem Pfade der Natur abgeleitet wird. Wenn es wahr ist, dass die Engländer durch die chinesischen Gärten auf die echte Spuhr des Natürlichen in Ansehung ihrer Parks geleitet sind, so ist es auch nicht zu läugnen, dass sie schon vorher manche richtige Aufklärungen über diesen Gegenstand von ihren eigenen Schriftstellern erhalten hatten. Es ist dabey offenbar, dass nicht allein in den chinesischen Gärten, selbst nach den schmeichelhaftesten Beschreibungen, viel Übertriebenes, Spitzfindiges und Abgeschmacktes herrscht, worüber sich wohl eben kein Kenner der Nation verwundern wird, sondern dass auch verschiedene neuere Schriftsteller diese Gärten mit einem unbegränzten und gar zu parteyischen Lobe erheben. Selbst die copierten Beschreibungen enthalten manche Widersprüche und sind mit Zusätzen überladen, die ihnen eine günstige Phantasie geschenkt hatte, die ihnen die Wahrheit aber mit einer gerechten Hand wieder entreisst. War es denn nicht genug zu sagen, dass manches Natürliche in den chinesischen Anlagen Nachahmung oder Aufmerksamkeit verdiene ? |
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| 26 | 1776 |
Hirschfeld, Christian Cajus Lorenz. Widerlegung des herrschenden Begriffs von den chinesischen Gärten [ID D26952]. Quellen : Chambers, William. Du Halde, Jean-Baptiste. Description [ID D1819]. Le Comte, Louis. Nouveaux mémoires sur l'état présent de la Chine... [ID D1771]. Pauw, Cornelius de. Recherches philosophiques sur les Egyptiens et les Chinois [ID D1861]. Er schreibt : Die chinesischen Gärten oder das, was man unter diesem Namen reizend genug geschildert hat, ist nicht bloss ein Gegenstand der Bewunderung, sondern auch der Nachahmung geworden. Wenn auch gleich schon Nachdenken und Genie, ohne Unterstützung eines besondern Beispiels, auf die Erfindung der neuen Manier leiten konnten, die man in England aufgenommen und die sich von da weiter zu verbreiten angefangen hat ; so ist es doch wahrscheinlich, dass die Nachrichten von den Gärten in China viel dazu beygetragen haben. Wenigstens ist gewiss, dass die neue Manier in England sich um eben die Zeit am meisten hob, als sich der Ruhm der orientalischen Gärten ausbreitete. Nicht minder ist gewiss, dass der Engländer von einem grossen Vorurtheil für die Gärten in China bezaubert ist, und dass der Franzose und mit ihm der Deutsche sich diesem Vorurtheil zu überlassen anfängt. Man verlangt jetzt nicht etwa Gärten, die mit eigener Überlegung, mit besserm Geschmack, als die alten, angelegt wären ; man verlangt chinesische, oder chinesisch-engländische Gärten. Wie aber, wenn diese Raserei einen unsichern Grund hätte, wie so manche andere Raserei der Mode ? Wenn die chinesischen Gärten, wovon man so entzücket ist, die man so hitzig nachzuahmen strebt, nicht vorhanden wären, wenigstens nicht so vorhanden wären, wie man sich einbildet ? – das wäre doch sonderbar. Freilich wäre es so, und nicht weniger lächerlich, etwas haben nachahmen wollen, wovon man überführt wird, dass es nicht da ist. Als ich zuerst die Beschreibungen der chinesischen Gärten las, ging es mir, wie vermuthlich manchem andern Leser mehr. Ich fand darin wahre und hohe Schönheiten der Natur, nur das davon abgerechnet, was dem morgenländischen Geschmack eigen ist oder zu seinen Ausschweiffungen gehört. Ich ward von so vielen reizenden Scenen entzückt, und vergass bei dieser Bewegung nachzudenken, ob sich auch alles würklich so verhalten mögte. Ein wiederholtes Lesen liess mir mit einer gelassenen Behagung mehr Ruhe, zu überlegen. Ich fieng an, gegen die Wirklichkeit solcher Gärten hie und da einen Zweifel zu finden, und konnte mich nicth enthalten, einige davon zu äussern. Bei einer nähern Vergleichung verschiedener einsichtsvollen Schriftsteller, die von China handeln, habe ich Gründe entdeckt, die mich noch mehr an dem Daseyn solcher Gärten zweifeln machen, wie man uns die chinesischen beschreibt. Ich theile sie hier zur weitern Berutheilung mit. China ist, nach den zuverlässigen Zeugnissen der Reisenden, bey weitem nicht so sehr angebauet, als man oft vorgegeben hat. Sogar nahe um Peking gibt es noch einige meilenlange Wüsten und Moräste. Die entlegenen Provinzen liegen fast alle ganz wüste, zum Theil so wüste, dass Tieger und andere wilde Thiere in Menge umherschwärmen. Der Handel versammelt die Einwohner um die Hauptstadt und schönen Flüsse her, wodurch ein so starker Zusammenfluss von Menschen entsteht, dass die oft einreissende Hungersnoth die schrecklichsten Verwüstungen angerichtet hat. In diesen Gegenden, wo sich die Thätigkeit der Nation am meisten äussert, müsste man die so sehr gerühmten Gärten suchen, wenn anders die nothwendige Sorge, durch Ackerbau den harten Bedürfnissen abzuhelfen, noch Zeit und Ruhe zur Anlegung ländlicher Lustplätze verstattete. Je weiter man in die Provinzen hineinkommt, desto weniger trift man bebauete Länder an; nicht die Hälfte des Erdreichs ist genutzt ; nur selten erscheint ein Dorf. Auch weiss man, dass die Chineser wenig Liebe zum Landbau besitzen, die überdies mit dem heissen Wuchergeist, einer fast allgemeinen Seuche der Nation, nicht vereinbar ist. Comte, du Halde und andere glaubwürdige Zeugen rühmen zwar den Anbau der Küchengewächse in China, wovon die Gärten nie leer sind, weil sich besonders der gemeine Mann davon ernährt. Allein sie bemerken zugleich, dass an der Menge und Manigfaltigkeit der Gewächse und Früchte mehr der gute Erdboden, als die Geschicklichkeit der Einwohner Antheil hat. Die meisten Früchte, setzen sie hinzu, kommen den unsrigen nicht gleich, weil die Chineser nicht die Kunst verstehen oder sich nicht die Mühe nehmen, die Baumfrüchte zu verbessern und ihnen einen mehr anziehenden Geschmack zu geben. Alle ihre Sorgfalt von dieser Seite schränket sich auf den Kornbau und Reisbau ein. Von der Botanik wissen sie fast nichts. Es ist ausgemacht, dass keine der schönen Künste bei den Chinesern zur Volkommenheit emporgestiegen ist. Von der Perspectiv haben sie nicht den geringsten Begrif. In der Malerei klecken sie Landschaften, worin weder Sehepunkt noch Ferne ist. Die dem Gesicht sich entfernende Linien sind ihnen ebenso unbekannt, als der Punkt, worin sie sich vereinigen müssen, indem sie nicht die geringste Kentnis von den Regeln haben, denen die Würkungen des Lichts unterworfen sind. Mit den Gegenstellungen oder den grossen Massen von Schatten sind sie, wie man leicht hinzu denken kan, ebenfals ganz unbekant. Sie wissen nichts von der Kunst, die Farben zu brechen und zu versetzen. Sie musten also sehr verlegen sey, wenn sie den Prospect eines Gartens vorstellen solten. Ihre Zeichnung ist, wie man weiss, sehr schlecht. Nicht einmal den Blumen, die doch so häufig gemalt werden, verstehen sie die Richtigkeit der Zeichnung zu geben. Ihre wilde Einbildungskraft zieht sie von dem Studium der Natur ab, die eine ruhige und bedächtige Betrachtung erfordert ; wozu die Chineser so wenig, als andere morgenländische Völker, aufgelegt sind. Schon aus diesen allgemeinen Bemerkungen wird man eben keine grosse Erwartung schöpfen, dass die schöne Gartenkunst von den Chinesern geliebt und mit Glück getrieben werde, viel weniger dass sie Gärten von so vorzüglichen Schönheiten besitzen, wie man uns überreden will. China ist kein Reich, das erst seit einigen Jahren von den Europäern besucht wurde, oder wohin nur Leute ohne Einsicht, ohne Beobachtungsfeist, ohne Geschmack gekommen wären. Woher komt es, das so viele Reisebeschreiber, so vieles und seit einer so langen Zeit, von China berichten, ohne der so herlichen Gärten der Nation zu erwähnen, und dass man erst in der letzten Hälfte des gegenwärtigen Jahrhunderts angefangen, sie mit einer Art von Begeisterung zu rühmen ? Vielleicht waren sie in den ältern Zeiten noch nicht vorhanden, nicht einmal hie und da in einem vorbereitenden Anfang vorhanden. Allein in diesem Jahrhundert müsten sie doch da seyn. Es sollen ja Gärten seyn, die bei der Nation gewöhnlich, nicht blos diesem oder jenem Grossen eigen sind, Gärten, welche die Nation ohne Beihülfe, ohne Beispiel durch ihr eigenes Genie hervorgebracht hat. Es lässt sich nicht wohl denken, dass solche Gärten so ganz neu seyn oder so verborgen liegen solten, dass sie nur erst vor etwa dreissig Jahren von einem Reisenden hätten bemerket werden können. Wenigstens schon hie und da haben sie längst vorhanden seyn müssen. Die chinesische Nation ist unstreitig keine solche, die auf einmal plötzliche Fortgänge in einer Wissenschaft oder Kunst gemacht hätte ; ihr Genie hat immer nur einen schleichenden Gang genommen, nie einen glücklichen Spring gewagt ; das Vorurtheil für alles, was bei ihr alt geworden, unterstützt ihre natürliche Trägheit. Die paradiesischen Gärten hätten also schon lange blühen müssen, in einer so auffallenden Schönheit, mit so eigenen hervorstechenden Reitzen, dass jeder fremde Auge sie mit Bewunderung hätte wahrnehmen müssen. Und doch ein so tiefes Stillschweigen von so vielen Reisenden, die sie sehen konnten und sehen musten. Vielleicht waren diese Reisende nicht alle Kenner. Der grösste Theil der nach China reisenden Gelehrten bestand aus französischen Jesuiten, die vielleicht entweder keine Einsicht in die Gartenkunst haben oder voll Vorutheil für die Manier ihres Vaterlandes seyn konten. Es mag seyn. Aber so hätten sie doch wenigstens das Eigenthümliche und das Abweichende in dem chinesischen Geschmack bemerken können. Ausserdem waren verschiedene von diesen Missionarien geschickte Architecten und Maler. Die hohen Schönheiten der Natur, welche die chinesischen Gärten darstellen sollen, sind jedem Auge fühlbar. Und der französische Jesuit hätte hier immer eine Ausnahme seyn sollen ? Man weiss, wie sorgfältig diese Missionarien gewesen, alles Merkwürdige in China aufzuzeichnen und ihrem Hofe zu berichten ; man weiss, wie beredt sie zum theil erzählen, sie gerne sie ausschmücken. Sie beschreiben sehr ausführlich die Beschaffenheit des Erdreichs, des Ackerbaues, der Gartengewächse und aller Früchte. Und doch bei den nächsten Veranlassungen, von den Lustgärten zu reden, schweigen sie entweder ganz, oder geben uns nur einige flüchtige Anzeigen, die nichts weniger, als den stolzen Begrif erregen, den man von den Wundern der chinesischen Gärten hat. Indessen ist es Chambers, Architect des Königs von England, dem man die verführerische Beschreibung der chinesischen Gärten und die algemeine Verbreitung ihres Ruhms verdankt. Dieser Mann, der Wissenschaft, Geschmack und Genie vereinigt, ragt unter allen Reisebeschreibern von China als der Lobredner der Gärten dieses Reichs hervor. Seine Beschreibung ist als die algemeine Quelle anzusehen, woraus alle übrige Schilderungen mit mehr oder weniger Abänderung und Zusätzen geschöpft sind. Die erste Nachricht gab der in seinem grössern Werke : Description of Chinese Buildings, etc. London. Fol. 1757 S. 14-19 zwar nur beiläufig, indem er sich vornehmlich mit den Gebäuden, Maschinen und Hausgeräthen der Chineser beschäftigt. Man lobte, man bewunderte den Geschmack der Gartenkunst, den Chambers den Chinesern beilegte ; man fing an, diesen Geschmack in England nachzuahmen. Ohne Zweifel war dieser Beifall den seine Beschreibung fand, eine Veranlassung mehr, dass er den ersten kurzen Entwurf in einer besondern Schrift : Dissertation on oriental Gardening. London 4. 1772 (deutsche Übersetzung. 8. Gotha 1775) weiter ausführte und darin Genie und Geschmack aufbot, um ein Gemälde zu liefern, das durch Schönheit und Mannigfaltigkeit nicht weniger, als durch Neuheit reitzte. Man ist sehr geneigt, einen Reisenden, der aus einem entfernten Welttheil komt, wohin ohnedies nur noch wenig Engländer gedrungen waren, erzählen zu hören ; man hört ihn desto aufmerksamer, je mehr er durch das Neue und Unerwartete sich der Bewunderung zu bemeistern weiss ; man hört ihn mit Zutrauen, wenn er als ein Mann von Verstand, und mit Vergnügen, wenn er als ein Mann von Geschmack erzählt. Chambers muste Eingang finden, wenn er gleich weniger die Wahrheit, als das Anziehende seiner Erzählung, auf seiner Seite hatte. Ich kan es mir vorstellen, wie ein Mann von weniger Talenten und Beobachtung, als Chambers, in einigen Gegenden von China verleitet werden kan, da Gärten zu sehen, wo keine sind. Nach dem Bericht des Comte sind einige fruchtbare Provinzen nicht allein mit vortreflichen Früchten, sondern auch mit anmuthigen Hügeln und Canälen erfült. Die Hügel sind in verschiedene Absätze und Stuffen vom Fusse bis zum Gipfel bearbeitet, aber blos in der Absicht, damit das Regenwasser sich überall vertheilen und das besäete Erdreich mit seinen Pflanzen nicht so leicht hinabreissen könne. Indessen gibt diese Gestalt, worin die Hügel gebildet werden, zuman wenn mehrere in einem Bezirk umherliegen, einen reizenden Anblick. Die Canäle, welche die Plänen durchschneiden, sind von einer ungemeinen Schönheit, sowohl des klaren und sanft dahin fliessenden Wassers, als auch der Einfassungen und Brücken wegen, womit sie bekleidet sind. Sie laufen gemeiniglich zwischen kleinen Erhöhungen auf beiden Seiten, die mit Steinen oder groben Marmorstücken eingefasst sind. Die über diese Canäle geführte Brücken, die zunächst zur Verbindung der Ländereigen dienen, sind von drei bis sieben Bögen, wovon der mittelste oder Hauptbogen gehr hoch ist, damit die Fahrzeuge darunter bequem hinwegfahren können. Die Gewölbe sind von grossen Stücken von Steinen erbauet, die Pfeiler aber so schmal, dass man in der Ferne glaubt, die Bögen schweben in der Luft. Man sieht solche Brücken von einer Strecke zur andern, und wenn, wie gewöhnlich, der Canal grade ist, so macht diese lange Reihe von Brücken eine Art von Allee, die ein prächtiges Ansehen hat. Der Hauptcanal der Provinz theilt sich zur Rechten und Linken in verschiedene kleiner, die sich wieder in eine Menge von Bächen zerschneiden, die an Städte und Dörfer hinlaufen, zuweilen Teiche und Seen bilden, wovon die angränzende Ländereien befruchtet werden. Dieses klare Wasser, hin und wieder in den Plänen vertheilt, mit Brücken verschönert, mit Fahrzeugen belegt, mit Dörfern untermischt, durch welche die Bäche bald hellschimmernd, bald dunkel beschattet ihren Lauf verfolgen, macht unstreitig eins der heitersten Gemälde von Landschaft. „Was würde noch werden, sagt Comte, wenn die Kunst, die oft in Frankreich die wildesten Gegenden durch die Pracht der Paläste, durch Gärten und Lusthayne verschönert, in diesen reichen Gefilden würksam würde, wo die Natur nichts gespart hat“ ? Eine solche Landschaft ist zwar kein Garten ; wie leicht kan sie aber nicht von einem Reisenden, der sich ganz den Entzückungen des Auges überlässt, dafür angenommen werden ? Indessen ist dis eben nicht der Fall, worin sich Chambers befindet. Er versichert, dass er sich bei den Chinesern genau nach den Grundsätzen erkundigt habe, denên sie bei der Anlage ihrer Gärten folgen. Wenn wir nicht glauben, dass er sich von falschen Nachrichten der Chineser hat blenden lassen, die so gern übertreiben, so gern alles, was ihre Nation betrift, vergrössern ; so lässt sich ein anderer Ausweg zur Erklärung dieser Sache entdecken. Chambers hatte in seinem Vaterlande bemerkt, dass man theils noch zu sehr der alten Manier anhing, theils bei den neuen Versuchen in Dürftigkeit an Erfindung und in manche Ausschweiffungen verfiel. Er sah es mit Verdruss, dass, da jede andere der schönen Künste so viele Lehrer hätte, die Gartenkunst allein verwaiset zurückbliebe, dass kein Mann für sie auffstand, der sie in ihre Rechte einsetzte. Er fand in seinem Verstand un in seiner Einbildungskraft Ideen, die er der Natur und Bestimmung der Gärten eigenthümlicher hielt, als die gewöhnlichen sind, denen man täglich folgte. Er glaubte, dass diese Ideen mehr Aufmerksamkeit erregen, mehr Aufnahme finden müsten, wenn sie einer entfernten Nation untergeschoben würden, die schon eine würkliche Anwendung davon gemacht hätte. Er hatte Klugheit genug, unter diese Ideen Zusätze zu mischen, die dem Nationalgeist der Chineser eigen sind. Kurz, er pflanzte brittische Ideen auf chinesischen Boden, um ihnen ein mehr auffallendes Ansehen zu geben und sie eindringender zu machen. Diese Vermuthung wird weniger gewagt scheinen, wenn man ausser allen dem, was oben von den Chinesern angeführt worden und woraus man keine vortheilhafte Begriffe von ihren Gärten zu ziehen veranlasst wird, noch die Beschreibung des Chambers selbst etwas näher betrachtet. Er fragt nicht, wo die herlichen Gärten, die er malt, liegen ; auch sagt er nicht, dass es Gärten des Kaisers oder dieser und jener Grossen sind. Er nennt sie ganz algemein chinesische Gärten, und scheint uns überreden zu wollen, dass es Gärten der Nation wären, Gärten, die eben so gewöhnlich in China angetroffen würden, als die Französischen in Europa. Demnächst gesteht er ausdrücklich, dass er weder mit der künstlichen, noch mit der simpeln Manier in der Gartenkunst zufrieden sei. Jene weiche zu ausschweiffend von der Natur ab, diese hingegen sei eine zu gewissenhafte Anhängerin derselben. Eine mit Urtheil unternommene Vereinigung beider Manieren würde eine dritte hervorbringen, die gewis vollkommener wäre, als diese beide. - Und diese Vereinigung hat er offenbar in der letzten ausführlichen Schrift von den chinesischen Gärten zur Absicht. Wenn jemand, sagt er ferner, kühn genug wäre, einen Versuch zu dieser Vereinigung zu machen, so würde er sich dem Tadel beider Partheien aussetzen, ohne eine oder die andere zu bessern, und sich dadurch selbst nachtheilig werden, ohns der Kunst einen Dienst zu leisten. Dem ohngeachtet aber könne es doch nicht undienlich seyn, das System eines fremden Volks bekannt zu machen. Er könne es mittheilen, ohne seine eigene Gefahr, und wie er hoffe, ohne sonst jemand zu beleidigen. – Diese Wendung des Chambers gibt seine Lage und Absicht nicht undeutlich zu erkennen. Ein grösserer Beweis ist die ganze Schrift selbst. Wenn man nicht annähme, dass Chambers seine Philosophie, seine Einsichten in die Künste und in das menschliche Herz, seine blühende Einbildungskraft und seinen feinen Geschmack den Chinesern geliehen hätte ; so würde man das, was er von ihren Gärten rühmt, mit so vielen zuverlässigen Nachrichten, die wir von diesem Reich und von dem Geist dieser Nation haben, unmöglich vereinigen können. Er ist freigebig mit Lobsprüchen, worauf sie auf keine Weise Anspruch machen dürfen. Wenn er gleich im Anfang sagt, dass ihre Gärtner nicht allein Botanisten, sondern auch Maler und Philosophen sind ; dass sie eine volkommene Kentnis des menschlichen Herzens und der Künste besitzen, durch welche die stärksten Empfindungen erregt werden können ; so ist dis eine so ungeheure Behauptung, als die nur gefunden werden kan. Auch wenn man hie und da die sinnreichsten Gemälde der Phantasie und die wunderbarsten Feenbezauberungen, die nicht von dem Würklichen abgezogen sind, auch wenn man verschiedene Widersprüche, da Verwirrungen der Einbildungskraft mit bedächtiger Wahl, mit richtigem Gefühl und seiner Beobachtung abwechseln, in der Beschreibung übersieht ; so gibt ihr ganzer Inhalt doch Beweis genug, dass Chambers, indem er die Grundsätze der chinesischen Gartenkunst zu erheben bemühet scheint, mehr bemühet ist, seine eigene vorzutragen. Wenn übrigens seiner Schrift die historische Wahrheit fehlt, so sol dadurch ihr Werth nicht herabgewürdigt werden. Sie bleibt immer als das Werk eines Mannes von viel Kentnis, Geschmack und Genie schätzbar und in einzelnen Stellen für die Gartenkunst wichtig ; immer eine angenehme Beschreibung eines nicht vorhandenen Gegenstandes, ein schönes Ideal, dem nichts weiter fehlt, als dass es vielleicht nie Würklichkeit haben wird. Es würde ein seltsames Misverständnis seny, wenn man glaubte, das Daseyn chinesischer Gärten überhaupt zweifelhaft machen wolte. In der That könte nichts seltsamer seyn. Meine Absicht ist blos, zu beweisen, dass China nicht solche Gärten hat, als Chambers beschreibt, als ein algemeines Vorurtheil rühmt, und eine getäuschte Nachahmungssucht nachzubilden versucht. So weit noch die Nachahmung gekommen ist, so weit ist sie auch mehr dem ideal eines Briten, als dem Muster eines Chinesers nachgegangen. Die Gärten in China können so wenig von dem Geist und dem Geschmack der Nation abweichend seyn, als irgend ein anderer Zweig der schönen Künste. Ausser dem, was einige andere Reisende bemerken, gibt Comte eine Nachricht von den chinesischen Gärten, die mitdem, was wir sonst von der Nation wissen, mehr übereinstimt und der Wahrheit näher zu treten scheint. Die Chineser, sagt er, sind noch nachlässiger in ihren Gärten, als in ihren Wohnungen ; sie haben in diesem Punkt Begriffe, die von den unsrigen sehr verschieden sind. Regelmässige Plätze anzulegen, Blumen zu pflanzen, Alleen und Hecken zu ziehen, würden sie für widersinnig halten. Das öfentliche Wohl erfordert, dass alles besäet sei, und ihr Privatinteresse, das mehr als die gemeine Wohlfahrt sie rührt, erlaubt ihnen nicht, das Angenehme dem Nützlichen vorzuziehen. Ihre Blumen ziehen sie so schlecht, dass man Mühe hat, sie wieder zu kennen. Man erblickt zwar in einigen Gegenden Bäume, die eine grosse Zierde in den Gärten geben würden ; allein sie verstehen nicht die Kunst, sie geschickt zu stellen. Anstatt der Früchte sind diese Bäume fast das ganze Jahr hindurch mit Blüten von lebhaftem Roth und Incarnat bedeckt ; pflanzte man davon Alleen, mit Pomeranzenbäumen untermischt, wie sehr leicht geschehen könte, so würde dies den schönsten Anblick von der Welt geben ; aber weil die Chineser nur selten spatzieren gehen, so sind Alleen nicht nach ihrem Geschmack. Ob sie gleich von der Anordnung und von der Kunst, wahre Verschönerungen anzubringen, nichts verstehen, so machen sie doch in ihren Gärten Aufwand. Sie bauen Grotten, sie führen kleine künstliche Hügel auf, sie bringen ganze Felsstücke dahin, die sie über einander aufhäufen, ohne eine andere Absicht, als blos die Natur nachzuahmen. Wenn sie demnächst so viel Wasser finden, als nöthig ist, um ihren Kohl und ihre übrigen Küchengewächse zu begiessen, so glauben sie, dass sie nichts mehr zu thun übrig haben. Der Kaiser hat Wasserkünste von der Erfindung der Europäer ; Privatpersonen aber begnügen sich mit ihren Teichen und Brunnen. – Die Pracht und der Aufwand, womit die Grossen umgeben sind, sobald sie öffentlich erscheinen, glänzt gar nicht auf ihr häusliches Leben und ihre Lustgärten zurück, worin nichts von den zauberischen Schönheiten, wovon man träumt, aber viel Dürftigkeit und geschmacklose Einfalt herscht, und die näher betrachtet weder etwas zu bewundern noch zu verwundern geben. Sekundärliteratur Susanne Müller-Wolff : William Chambers, der als entscheidender Wegbereiter des sentimentalen Landschaftsgartens gilt, blieb mit seiner Dissertation on Oriental gardening nicht ohne Einfluss auf Hirschfeld. Seine emphatisch vorgetragene Forderung an die Gartenkunst, nicht den Verstand, sondern umso intensiver das Gefühl anzusprechen, prägte die Sichtweise Hirschfelss. Dass Chambers zur Erreichung dieses Ziels den chinesischen Gartenstil favorisierte, behagte Hirschfeld weniger. Vor allem Gartenszenen von wildem und fürcherlichem Charakter, wie sie Chambers in seiner Schrift genüsslich ausmalt, stiessen bei Hirschfeld auf deutliche Ablehnung. Seine Schrift ist als Polemik gegen William Chambers aufzufassen : Die historische Herleitung der landschaftlichen Gartenkunst von den chinesischen Gärten wird darin ebenso in Frage gestellt wie die verbreitete Chinamode. Bei der Formulierung seiner Theorie konnte Hirschfeld an eine ästhetische Diskussion anknüpfen, die, angeregt durch die sensualistischen Einflüsse aus England und Frankreich, seit Anfang der 1770er Jahre auch in Deutschland das Naturschöne thematisierte und den sinnlichen Qualitäten der Natur einen eigenen Wirkungsraum zuwies. |
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| 27 | 1779-1785 |
Hirschfeld, Christian Cajus Lorenz. Theorie der Gartenkunst [ID D26947]. Er schreibt : Die Chinesischen Gärten sind unstreitig diejenigen in einem andern Welttheil, welche in den neueren Zeiten bey uns das meiste Aufsehen gemacht haben. Sie sind schon beschrieben und zu bekannt, als dass hier noch eine Schilderung derselben wiederholt werden dürfte. Wenn man sich gleich verwundern muss, wie ein Volk, das sonst fast nichts von den schönen Künsten kennt, und in Ansehung seines Geschmacks so weit zurücksteht, auf eine so gute Anlage der Gärten komment können ; so scheint der Bericht des Chambers (Von seiner Dissertation on oriental Gardening ist im vorigen Jahre eine deutsche Übersetzung zu Gotha herausgekommen), der selbst in China mit seinen Augen gesehen, die Sache fast ausser Zweifel zu setzen. Indessen da dieser Bericht in vielen Stellen die sinnreichsten Gemälde der Phantasie und die wunderbarsten Feenbezauberungen enthält, so möchte vielleicht nur einem Theil davon historische Wahrheit zukommen. Ja ich möchte fast vermuthen, dass Chambers, wenn er sich nicht durch die Erzählungen späterer Reisender hat hintergehen lassen, das, was er selbst gesehen, nur zum Grunde gelegt, um darauf ein Ideal nach seiner eigenen Einbildungskraft aufzuführen, und dabey seinen Landsleuten, die noch zu sehr dem alten Geschmack anhiengen, seinen Wink auf eine neue Bahn zu geben. Übrigens muss man gestehen, der Chinese folgte allein der Natur ; und man weis, dass die Schritte gemeiniglich da am sichersten sind, wo man von keinen falschen Wegweisern von dem Pfade der Natur abgeleitet wird. Wenn es wahr ist, dass die Engländer durch die chinesischen Gärten auf die ächte Spur des Natürlichen in Anlegung ihrer Parks geleitet sind ; so ist es auch nicht zu leugnen, dass sie schon vorher, manche richtige Aufklärungen über diesen Gegenstand von ihren eigenen Schriftstellern erhalten hatten. Es ist dabey offenbar, dass nicht allein in den chinesischen Gärten, selbst nach den schmeichelhaftesten Beschreibungen, viel Übertriebenes, Spitzfündiges und Abgeschmacktes herrscht, worüber sich wohl eben kein Kenner der Nation verwundern wird, sondern dass auch verschiedene neuere Schriftsteller diese Gärten mit einem ungebränzten und gar zu partheyischen Lobe erheben. Selbst die kopirten Beschreibungen enthalten manche Widersprüche und sind mit Zusätzen überladen, die ihnen eine günstige Phantasie geschenkt hatte, die ihnen die Wahrheit aber mit einer gerechten Hand wieder entreisst. War es denn nicht genug zu sagen, dass manches Natürliche in den chinesischen Anlagen Nachahmung oder Aufmerksamkeit verdiene ?... Weil man oft der ersten Art des Kontrastes gar zu anhängig war, so sind dadurch die sonderbarsten Übertreibungen entstanden. Man wollte gewisse romantische Scenen der Natur nachahmen, die sie mir hie und da als Spiele ihrer Laune zu bilden pflegt, und man verfiel in das Abgeschmackte ; zumal da man anfieng, aus dem, was bey der Natur nur seltene Erscheinung ist, ein eigenes Hauptwerk zu machen. Dieser Tadel trift nicht unsere gewöhnlichen Gärten, die noch weit davon entfernt sind, sondern einige Parks der Engländer und der Chineser, am meisten aber der letztern. Dass diese die Gegeneinandersetzung noch der Zügellosigkeit des orientalischen Geschmacks übertreiben, darüber darf man sich nicht wundern ; aber wohl darüber, dass Chambers diese Ausschweifung billigt. Den angenehmen Scenen, sagt er, setzen die Chineser die fürchterlichen entgegen ; diese sind eine Zusammensetzung düsterer Gehölze, tiefer der Sonne unzugängliche Thäler, überhangenden unfruchtbarer Felsen, dunkler Hölen und ungestümer Wasserfälle, die sich von allen Seiten von den Bergen herabstürzen. Die Bäume sind übel gestaltet, aus ihrem natürlichen Wachsthum herausgezwungen und dem Anschein nach von der Gewalt der Gewitter zerrissen. Einige sind ausgerissen und hemmen den Lauf der Ströme ; andere sind wie vom Blitz verbrannt und zerschmettert. Die Gebäude sind Ruinen, oder halb vom Feuer verzehrt, oder durch die Wuth der Gewässer weggespült. So weit möchte alles dieses noch leidlich seyn, und so weit hat man auch zum Theil in einigen brittischen Parks die Nachahmung schon getrieben. Aber nun ! Fledermäuse, Eulen, Geyer und alle Raubvögel flattern in den Gehölzen umher ; Wölfe und Tyger heulen in den Wäldern ; halb verhungerte Thiere schleichen über die Haiden ; Galgen, Kreuze, Räder und alle Torturwerkzeuge kann man von den Landstrassen her sehen. In dem schrecklichen Innern der Wälder, wo die Wege uneben und mit Unkraut bewachsen sind, stehen dem Gott der Rache geweihete Tempel. Neben allen diesen sieht man steinerne Pfeiler mit Beschreibungen tragischer Begebenheiten und allerhand schreckliche Handlungen der Grausamkeit. Dazu kommen abgelegene Örter, die mit kolossalischen Figuren von Drachen, höllischen Furien, und andern grässlichen Gestalten angefüllet sind. Was Chambers mehr davon erzählt, zeugt, wie dieses, von einer Ausschweifung, die vielleicht nirgends weiter getrieben ist. Das Seltsame ist, dass diese Scenen des Schreckens deswegen angelegt werden, um die Wirkungen der angenehmen Auftritte durch den Kontrast zu heben… Bey allen Gartengebäuden muss Pomp und Überfluss an Zierrathen sorgfältig entfernt seyn, und eine leichte, freye und anmuthige Architektur herrschen. Man hüte sich, dass man nicht verführt durch das Beyspiel des Engländers, in dessen Parks sich zuweilen in Einem Prospect ein Wohnhaus von edler Architectur, ein Obelisk, ein gothischer Thurm, ein römisches Monument und ein chinesischer Tempel vereinigen, auf eine seltsame Vermischung verschiedener fremder Bauarten verfalle ; eine Ausschweifung, die selbst der scharfsinnige Whately ausdrücklich in einem Garten verstattet wissen will, und die gleichwohl so auffallend ist, dass sie nicht einmal Nachsicht finden sollte. [Whately, Thomas. Betrachtungen über das heutige Gartenwesen. (Leipzig : Junius, 1771)]. Sekundärliteratur Jörg Deuter : Hirschfeld war der erste, der William Chambers' Chinaverehrung in Beziehung zur tatsächlichen chinesischen Gartenkunst setzte und sie als das erkannte, was sie war, eine Maske, historisch nicht ernst zu nehmen, unter der dieser verborgen für einen weiteren anglo-chinoisen Gartenstil kämpfte, der wenig mit der historisch-exakten Nachahmung konkreter Vorbilder zu tun hat. Indem er aus Chambers' Theorie der Gartenkunst seitenlang zitierte, wurde Hirschfeld aber nicht nur sein scharfsinnigster Kritiker, sondern auch sein (zumindest im deutschen Sprachraum) wirkungsvollster Propagandist. |
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| 28 | 1780 | Errichtung eines chinesischen Pavillons im Park von Schloss Grönsöö, Uppland, Schweden nach den Designs of Chinese buildings von William Chambers. |
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| 29 | 1781-1797 |
Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel. Simon Louis du Ry war beteiligt am Bau des Schlosses Wilhelmshöhe, bei dem nach seinen Plänen die Seitenflügel entstanden. Ry hat sich bei seinen Fels- und Wasserarchitekturen auf die horriden Szenen von William Chambers berufen. In der Bauperiode unter Landgraf Friedrich II. von Hessen-Kassel waren hier die frühesten englisch-chinesischen Gartendetails von Kew übertragen worden. Im Bereich des Mulang, ein chinesisches Dorf, sind noch einige der ursprünglichen Bauten erhalten, aber auch hier sind die englisch-chinesischen Gartenwirkungen verloren. |
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| 30 | 1786 ca. | Errichtung des Kinesisk lysthus, des chinesischen Pavillons von Andreas Johannes Kirkerup und Erik Pauelsen in Dronninggaard, Naess bei Kopenhagen. (Heute im National Museum). Die Wandgemälde und der umlaufende Fries im Innern im oberen Bereich der Wand sind eine aus Designs of Chinese buildings von William Chambers. Die an der Brüstung angebrachten Schriftzeichen stammen ebenso von Chambers. Die Wände sind mit Malereien bedeckt, deren Themen aus Kêng tschi t'u = Ackerbau und Seidengewinnung in China des Malers Tsiao Ping Schen [Lou, Shou. Geng zhi tu] [ID D4129] stammen. Die Bildvorlage wurde jedoch verändernd kopiert. Die bei Tsiao aus dem Arbeitsleben entstammenden Szenen wurden in solche aus dem Familienleben verwandelt. So erscheint die Teeblätter sortierende Familie hier Tee trinkend. |
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| 31 | 1789 |
Schloss Godegard, Östergötland. Errichtung eines chinesischen Pavillons im Park von Schloss Godegard, durch Fredrik Magnus Piper, beeinflusst von William Chambers. |
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| 32 | 1789-1790 | Bau des Chinesischen Turmes im Englischen Garten München nach einem Entwurf von Joseph Frey unter Johann Baptist Lechner, nach dem Vorbild der Pagode der Kew Gardens von William Chambers. |
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| 33 | 1792 |
Schloss Haga, Solna bei Stockholm. Errichtung des King's Pavilion durch König Gustav III. von Schweden im Park von Schloss Haga, beeinflusst von William Chambers. |
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| 34 | 1796-1806 |
Ideenmagazin für Liebhaber von Gärten, Englischen Anlagen und für Besitzer von Landgütern : um Gärten und ländliche Gegenden, sowohl mit geringem als auch grossem Geldaufwand, nach den originellsten Englischen, Gothischen, Sinesischen Geschmacksmanieren zu verschönern und zu veredeln [ID D26954]. Johann Gottfried Grohmann schreibt : "Im dritten Viertel des verflossenen Jahrhunderts war in unserer Gartenkunst der chinesische Geschmack der herrschendste und beliebteste. Er musste die Gewalt der Mode anerkennen, um dem chinesischen Geschmack Platz machen. Jetzt ist in England der ägyptische geschätzt – und es ist nicht voraus zu sehen, dass durch die Gesandtschaft, welche der weise Alexander jetzt nach China geschickt hat… den Geschmack der Chinesen in Norden der herrschende werden dürfte ? Seit Jahrtausenden sind die Chinesen so wenig von ihren Sitten und Lebensart als von ihrer Baukunst abgewichen, und werden vielleicht noch Jahrtausende dabei stehen bleiben. Da wir an [William] Chambers chinesischer Baukunst… vortreffliche Schätze besitzen ; so haben wir die drei letzten Hefte dieses Bandes dazu bestimmt, die vorzüglichsten Zeichnungen im chinesischen Geschmack darzustellen". |
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| 35 | 1798 |
Sulzer, Johann George. Allgemeine Theorie der Schönen Künste [ID D26955]. Er schreibt : "Aus einer Beschreibung, die der Engländer [William] Chambers on den Chinesischen Gärten gegeben, erhellet, dass dieses Volk, das sich sonst eben nicht durch den feinsten Geschmak hervorthut, in dieser Kunst von andern Völkern verdienet nachgeahmt zu werden. Wir wollen das merkwürdigste dieser Beschreibung hier setzen ; denn der Geschmak der Chineser verdient bey Anlegung grosser Gärten zur Richtschnur genommen zu werden. Die Chineser nehmen bey der Anlegung ihrer Gärten die Natur zum Muster, und ihre Absicht dabey ist, sie in allen ihren schönen Nachlässigkeiten nachzuahmen." |
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| 36 | 1799-1800 |
Schloss Frederiksberg, Kopenhagen. Errichtung eines chinesischen Lusthauses im Park von Schloss Frederiksberg. Das von acht Säulen getragene schmale Bauwerk lehnt sich eng an William Chambers' Zeichnung einer chinesischen Brücke für Potsdam an und trägt auf dem Dachfirst drei Glockenspiele sowie in der Mitte und an den Traufen Schwäne. Das Innere des Gebäudes war rautenförmig und in der Decken-Kehle rechteckig kassettiert und dürfte an den Längswänden wandfeste Gemälde gezeigt haben. Auf der erhaltenen Entwurfszeichnung wird ausserdem ein filigraner chinesischer Brückenpavillon abgebildet, der auf Andreas Kirkerups Beschäftigung mit chinesischen Gartengebäuden hinweist. |
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| 37 | 1804 |
Schloss Värnanäs, Kalmar, Schweden Carl Rabergh-Mannerskantz entwirft einen chinesischen Pavillon im Park von Schloss Värnanäs nach Publikationen von William Chambers und anderen Vorlagen. |
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| 38 | 1840-1846 |
Villa Durazzo Pallavicini bei Genua. Gestaltung des anglo-chinesischen Landschaftsgartens der Villa Durazzo Pallavicini durch Michele Canzio mit künstlichen Grotten, Seen und Hügeln. Auf dem grossen See befindet sich das chinesische Rad. Eine doppelbogige chinesische Brücke mit Pagode aus Gusseisen und bemalten Holz ist möglicherweise von William Chambers' Designs of Chinese buildings [ID D1838] inspiriert. In der Nähe der Brücke hat sich bis heute eine chinesische Schaukel erhalten. |
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| 39 | 1867 |
Pagoda (Chinese Pavillon) in Cliveden, Buckinghamshire nach William Chambers. The pagoda was made for the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867 and was purchased by William Waldorf Astor in Paris in 1900. https://nttreasurehunt.wordpress.com/2016/03/09/the-well-travelled-pagoda/. |
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Bibliography (9)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1757 | Chambers, William. Designs of Chinese buildings, furniture, dresses, machines, and utensils : engraved by the best hands, from the originals drawn in China. (London : Publ. for the Author, 1757). [Standartwerk zur Chinarezeption in Europa]. | Publication / Cham1 |
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| 2 | 1757 | Chambers, William. Of the art of laying out gardens among the Chinese. In : The Gentleman's magazine ; vol. 27 (May 1757). | Publication / Cham6 |
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| 3 | 1759 | Chambers, William. A treatise on civil architecture : in which the principles of that art are laid down, and illustrated by a great number of plates accurately designed, and elegantly engraved by the best hands. (London : Printed for the author, by J. Haberkorn, 1759). | Publication / Cham9 |
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| 4 | 1762 |
Percy, Thomas. Miscellaneous pieces relating to the Chinese. Vol. 1-2. (London : Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1762). [Enthält] : Vol. 1 : A dissertation on the language and characters of the Chinese. Rules of conduct, by a Chinese author. Translated from the French of P. Parrenin. The little orphan of the House of Chao : a Chinese tragedy. Translated from the French version, published in the grand folio edition of P. du Halde's Description de l'Empire de la Chine, &c. Paris 1735. tome 3. [Übersetzung von Ji, Junxiang. Zhao shi gu er]. Vol. 2 : Authentic memoirs of the Christian church in China. from the German of J.L. de Mosheim. Of the art of laying out gardens among the Chinese. By Mr. Chambers, architect. A description of the Emperor's garden and pleasure houses near Peking. From the French of Frere Attiret, Jesuit. A description of the solemnities observed at Peking on the Emperor's mother entering on the sixtieth year of her age. From the French of P. Amyot, Jesuit. Vol. 2 : http://www.archive.org/details/miscellaneouspie02perciala. Vol. 3-4 : http://books.google.com/books?id=kl8iAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover &hl=de&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. |
Publication / PerT2 | |
| 5 | 1763 | Chambers, William. Plans, elevations, sections, and perspective views of the gardens and buildings at Kew in Surry, the seat of Her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales. (London : Printed by J. Haberkorn ; published for the author, 1763). | Publication / Cham7 |
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| 6 | 1772-1773 |
Chambers, William. A dissertation on Oriental gardening. (London : W. Griffin, 1772). = 2nd ed. with additions ; to which is annexed an explanatory discourse by Tan Chetqua. (London : W. Griffin, 1773). http://www.bsb-muenchen-digital.de/~web/web1022/bsb10228541/ images/index.html?digID=bsb10228541&pimage=1&v=pdf&nav=0&l=de. |
Publication / ChaW2 |
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| 7 | 1775 | Chambers, William. Über die orientalische Gartenkunst : eine Abhandlung aus dem Englischen des Herrn William Chambers. [Übers. von Johann Hermann Ewald]. (Gotha : Ettinger, 1775). Übersetzung von Chambers, William. A dissertation on Oriental gardening. (London : W. Griffin, 1772). = 2nd ed. with additions ; to which is annexed an explanatory discourse by Tan Chetqua. (London : W. Griffin, 1773). | Publication / Cham10 |
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| 8 | 1776-1787 |
Le Rouge, George-Louis ; Chambers, William ; Richard, Claude. Jardins a la mode et jardins anglo chinois. Vol. 1-21. (Paris : Chez Le Rouge, 1776-1788). Inhalt : 1er cahier. Détails des nouveaux jardins à la mode. 2e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois à la mode (includes Kew as do succeeding cahiers). 3e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois (including Roissy and Ermenonville and 9 leaves of plans by "Thiemé jardinier decorateur"). 4e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois (chiefly garden structures). 5e cahier. Jardins chinois. 6e cahier. Serrail et jardins du grand seigneur (includes Richard's Trianon gardens). 7e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois (with Tableau de la plantation générale de tous les arbres ... par Richard, jardinier de la Reine, et Le Rouge ...). 8e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois (includes German and Austrian gardens). 9e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois. 10e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois (includes Monceau). 11e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois à la mode. (cont.) 12e cahier. Jardins (including Table des jardins chinois pour les cahiers de Le Rouge). 13e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois (including Désert de Retz). 14e cahier. Jardins chinois, contenant les XI principales maisons de plaisance de l'Empereur de La Chine (double size, folded). 15e and 16e cahier. Jardins chinois : Jardins de l'empereur de la Chine. 17e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois : Maisons de plaisance de l'empereur de la Chine. 18e et 19e cahier. Jardins anglais, contenant ceux du Bagno à Steinforten Westphalie. 20e cahier. Jardins anglais. 21e cahier. Jardins anglo-chinois ... vue du jardin anglais sur la ville de Steinfort. |
Publication / LeRo1 | |
| 9 | 1796-1806 | Ideenmagazin für Liebhaber von Gärten, Englischen Anlagen und für Besitzer von Landgütern : um Gärten und ländliche Gegenden, sowohl mit geringem als auch grossem Geldaufwand, nach den originellsten Englischen, Gothischen, Sinesischen Geschmacksmanieren zu verschönern und zu veredeln. = Recueil d'idées nouvelles pour la décoration des Jardins et des Parcs : offertes aux amateurs des jardin anglois et aux proprietaires jalous d'orner leur possessions. Unter der Aufsicht von Johann Gottfried Grohmann. (Leipzig : Friedrich Gotthelf Baumgärnter, 1796-1806). Ht. 46. [Enthält Eintragungen über William Chambers]. | Publication / Ideen1 |
Secondary Literature (10)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1756-1765 | Die Kunst, Gärten anzulegen bey den Chinesern, von Herrn Chambers, Architekten und Mitgliede der Kaiserlichen Academie der Künste zu Florenz. In : Bremisches Magazin zur Ausbreitung der Wissenschaften, Künste und Tugend. (Hannover : Förster, 1756-1765). [Übersetzung der Zusammenfassung von William Chambers Designs of Chinese buildings im Gentlemen's Magazin. (1759). | Publication / Chamb10 |
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| 2 | 1775 | Ki'en Long : a Chinese imperial eclogue. Translated from a curious oriental manuscript. And inscribed by the translator to the author of an heroic epistle to Sir William Chambers, Knight. (London : Printed for J. Almon, 1775). [A satire occasioned by the poem by William Mason]. | Publication / Kien1 | |
| 3 | 1776 |
Hirschfeld, Christian Cajus Lorenz. Widerlegung des herrschenden Begriffs von den chinesischen Gärten. In : Gothaisches Magazin ; Bd. 1 (1776). [Betr. William Chambers]. http://books.google.ch/books?id=VktGAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP7&lpg= PP7&dq=gothaisches+magazin&source=bl&ots=2tARdsXi5P&sig= D8VwrY0Y9TXfJTq2CXJ-nxV_B74&hl=de&ei=e42WTsf2EaeB4 gSr5dmGBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved= 0CCMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false. |
Publication / Hirsch1 |
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| 4 | 1779-1785 |
Hirschfeld, Christian Cajus Lorenz. Theorie der Gartenkunst. (Leipzig : Bey M.G. Weidmanns Erben und Reich, 1779-1785). [Enthält Eintragungen über China und William Chambers]. http://www.bsb-muenchen-digital.de/~web/web1029/bsb10295957 /images/index.html?digID=bsb10295957&pimage=1&v=pdf&nav=0&l=de. |
Publication / Cham12 | |
| 5 | 1798 | Sulzer, Johann Georg. Allgemeine Theorie der Schönen Künste in einzelnen nach alphabetischer Ordnung der Kunstarten aufeinander folgenden Artikeln. (Leipzig : Weidmann, 1786-1798. Theil 2 (1798). [Enthält eine Eintragung über William Chambers]. | Publication / Sulz2 | |
| 6 | 1950 | Bald, R.C. Wir William Chambers and the Chinese garden. In : Journal of the history of ideas ; vol. 11, no 3 (1950). | Publication / Cham4 |
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| 7 | 1997 | Sir William Chambers und der Englisch-chinesische Garten in Europa. Hrsg. von Thomas Weiss. (Ostfildern-Ruit bei Stuttgart : G. Hatje, 1997). (Kataloge und Schriften der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten Wörlitz, Oranienbaum, Luisium ; Bd. 2). [Internationales Symposium Oranienbaum, 5.-7. Okt. 1995]. | Publication / Cham8 |
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| 8 | 2008 | Porter, David. "Beyond the bounds of truth" : cultural translation and William Chamber's Chinese garden. In : Dinographies : writing China. Eric Hayot, Haun Saussy, and Steven G. Yao, eds. (Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 2008). | Publication / Cham5 |
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| 9 | 2010 | Porter, David. The Chinese taste in eighteenth-century England. (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2010). | Publication / PorD1 | |
| 10 | 2013 |
Zhuang, Yue. "Luxury" and "the surprising" in William Chambers' "Dissertation on Oriental gardening (1772) : commercial society and Burke's sublime-effect. In : Transcultural studies ; no 2 (2013). http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/transcultural/index. |
Publication / ChaW10 |
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