A Dialectic of Taste: The Role of China in 18th-century British Country Houses and Gardens

This chapter charts the development of the taste for things Chinese in the British Isles during the 18th century, using interiors, objects and structures at seven country houses as case studies. The examples demonstrate how China tended to be admired early in the century, but without much understanding of Chinese culture, while in the late 18th century there was a greater awareness of authenticity, coupled with a growing exoticisation of China. Chinoiserie as a modality of Western decorative art increasingly became a distinct, self-referential phenomenon over the course of the 18th century.