Sicilian Chinese Art Collections and Chinoiserie
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ARCHITETTURA, ARTI E PIANIFICAZIONE DIPARTIMENTO DI ARCHITETTURA L-ART 04 – MUSEOLOGIA E CRITICA ARTISTICA E DEL RESTAURO SICILIAN CHINESE ART COLLECTIONS AND CHINOISERIE IL DOTTORE IL COORDINATORE Mei Xiaoxue Prof. Marco Rosario Nobile IL TUTOR CO TUTOR Prof. Pierfrancesco Palazzotto Dr. Alexander Auf der Heyde CICLO XXX 2018 ABSTRACT L'Europa ha creato uno stile unico di design decorativo nei secoli XVII-XVIII che è stato profondamente ispirato allo stile orientale di Cina, Giappone e India. Lo stile europeo è rimasto sconosciuto alla Cina in quel momento, ed è anche raramente menzionato nella storia dell'arte moderna e del design cinese. Tuttavia, la Chinoiserie ha rappresentato un tema ricorrente all'interno degli stili artistici europei, che non si presenta come una moda regionale, ma bensì come un movimento d'arte complesso e variabile in tutta Europa. La significativa ricerca sul design Chinoiserie è stata intrapresa nei XX-XXI secoli, con centinaia di monografie e articoli pubblicati in inglese, francese, tedesco e italiano, discutendo direttamente e indirettamente della Chinoiserie. La Sicilia, la più grande isola del Mediterraneo, ha un brillante patrimonio storico e culturale. Nella prima metà del XIX secolo, la Sicilia e il Regno di Napoli furono uniti nel Regno delle Due Sicilie dalla Casa di Borbone. La Chinoiserie fu introdotta in Sicilia un po' più tardi come stile decorativo ben sviluppato dopo essere stato influenzato in un certo grado negli altri paesi europei. Nonostante il numero limitato di prodotti orientali in Sicilia, le opere d'arte uniche qui sono encomiabili. Questa tesi interpreta la Chinoiserie Siciliana in quattro aspetti principali: le opere d‘arte tradizionali della Cina, i prodotti cinesi di esportazione, i prodotti mimetici dell‘Europa e la Chinoiserie siciliana all'interno del movimento d'arte europeo. Le opere d‘arte tradizionali cinesi e i prodotti cinesi di esportazione provenivano entrambi dalla Cina per soddisfare il gusto estetico europeo. I prodotti mimetici europi e le Chinoiserie siciliana all'interno del movimento d'arte europeo sono entrambi provenienti dall'Europa, ma sono stati create per perseguire il gusto estetico orientale. Tutto è riflessi di Chinoiserie con diversi angoli di apprezzamento e gradi di accettazione dell'arte cinese. Questo modo di discutere è diverso dal modo comune di classificazione basato sullo stile artistico europeo dello stesso periodo, ad esempio, Chinoiserie in periodi barocco, rococò e neoclassico. Questa dissertazione considera la Chinoiserie come un fenomeno artistico, e cerca di analizzare come una pura arte orientale si sia sviluppata passo dopo passo in uno stile decorative, cosa che sembra paradossale a quello orientale e occidentale. La Chinoiserie è il risultato della collisione tra arte orientale e occidentale in Europa. Con i buoni auguri dei patroni, missionari europei, uomini d'affari e viaggiatori hanno portato la cultura orientale tangibile e intangibile in Europa, l'interpretazione degli europei di queste culture straniere ha evocato questa arte decorativa a livello materiale, la Chinoiserie, che è stata ampiamente accettata dal pubblico grazie alla seconda diffusione guidata dal capo di opinione. Questo processo si è verificato nel corso di trecento anni, essendo un processo dinamico e ciclico di comunicazione dell'arte. ii ABSTRACT Europe developed a unique style of decorative design in the 17th-18th centuries, being deeply inspired by oriental style from China, Japan and India. This European style remained unknown within China at that time, and is rarely mentioned even in modern Chinese art and design history texts. However, Chinoiserie subsequently became recurring theme within the European artistic styles, presenting not just as a regional fad but as a complicated and variable art movement across the Europe. Significant research into Chinoiserie design has been undertaken through the 20th and 21st centuries, with hundreds of monographs and articles discussing Chinoiserie, both directly and indirectly, published in English, French, German and Italian. With the rapid increase of Chinese comprehensive national strength, sinology and related disciplines have also enjoyed resurgence in interest. With greater exhibitions of Chinese export artworks being held in China, and frequent cultural exchanges between Chinese and foreign scholars, China now plays a growing and indispensible role in this field of research. Sicily, the largest of the Mediterranean islands, has a varied historical and cultural heritage. In the first half of the 19th century, Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples were merged into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by the House of Bourbon. Being influenced by other European countries to a certain degree, Chinoiserie was introduced a bit later to Sicily as a well- developed decorative style. Despite the limited number of oriental goods found in Sicily, those unique artworks present are commendable for their quality and interest. This dissertation examines Sicilian Chinoiserie across four main aspects: traditional Chinese artworks, Chinese export commodities, mimetic European products and Sicilian Chinoiserie within the European art movement. Traditional Chinese artworks and export Chinese commodities both came from China, with the latter being produced to specifically cater for European aesthetic taste. Mimetic European products and Sicilian Chinoiserie are both from Europe, with the former distinguished by its pursuit of oriental aesthetic taste. Each of these four reflections is considered to be Sicilian Chinoiserie, though are separated by differing angles of appreciation and degrees of acceptance of Chinese art. This method of examination differs from the norm, where items are classified according to the European artistic style of the same period, i.e. Chinoiserie in Baroque, Rococo and neoclassical period. This dissertation considers Chinoiserie as an artistic phenomenon, and seeks to analyze the route via which a pure oriental art developed step by step into a decorative style that seems paradoxical to the Eastern and the Western. Chinoiserie is an artistic achievement arising through the collision of Eastern and Western art within Europe. With the good wishes of sponsors, European missionaries, business men and travelers introduced both tangible and intangible oriental culture into Europe, and the subsequent interpretation of these exotic cultural artifacts triggered this decorative art form at a material level- Chinoiserie, which was later widely accepted by the European populous thanks to a secondary dissemination by leading protagonists within the art scene of the time. This process repeated over the course of three hundred years, being a dynamic and cyclic process of art communication. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my PhD advisors Prof. Pierfrancesco Palazzotto and Dr. Alexander Auf Der Heyde, for supporting me during these past three years. I am thankful for Prof. Palazzotto for pointing out a fascinating area of research, which provided me a deeper understanding of cultural collision and greater room for self-improvement. I appreciate Dr. Auf Der Heyde, all his contributions of time and ideas, helping to take the rough edges off my PhD thesis, even to punctuation. Their valuable guidance, invaluably constructive criticism and friendly advice helped me throughout the research and writing of this thesis. Apart from my advisors, I would like to thank the rest members of my thesis committee: Prof. Paola Barbera, Prof. Emanuela Garofalo and Prof. Marco Rosario Nobile for their insightful comments and encouragement, also for their patience and support in overcoming numerous obstacles I encountered both in my research and life. I would also like to thank all the amiable and skilful professors in the Architecture department, who gave me suggestions with great patience. I thank my fellow doctoral students for their wonderful collaboration, feedback, and all the fun we had in the past three years. I also wish to express my gratitude to many anonymous librarians and curators of various libraries and museums in Europe and China. Particularly, who allowed me to visit their private residence and collections to help with my research. Some of them even offered me detailed explanations as valuable research materials. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents and all of my friends who supported me in writing and encouraged me to fight for my goal. They provided me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. I would like to thank all those people who made this thesis possible and an unforgettable experience for me. Thanks for all your encouragement! iv CONTENTS Abstract ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv 1 Introduction 1.1 Background and Research Significance .................................................................... 1 1.2 Conceptual Analyses ................................................................................................. 2 1.2.1 The understanding of Chinoiserie in English ................................................... 2 1.2.2 The understanding of Chinoiserie in Italian ..................................................... 3 1.2.3 The understanding of Chinoiserie in Asia ........................................................ 3 1.2.4 Chinoiserie and Japonaiserie ...........................................................................