English Heritage - Marble Hill House, Chinoiserie

‘Evoking the Orient’ at MARBLE HILL HOUSE, TWICKENHAM

The Origin of Chinoiserie Cathay, as China was known in medieval times, was first described by Marco Polo (1254-1324), who wrote of a romantic world, populated by astonishing animals and plants and bursting with treasures.

Trade with China was difficult, even in the 17th century. Although European trading stations or ‘factories’ had been established, the Chinese Emperor limited western access in China to Canton (now Guangzhou). During the early 18th century, inventive European artists and craftsmen began to produce their own imitations of Chinese goods to meet demand for Eastern imports, particularly for the luxuries of porcelain and lacquer.

A hybrid style began to develop, which became known as Chinoiserie. The term encompasses both objects made in China for the European market, and goods made in Europe with an oriental inspiration.

The names of these exotic objects – ‘India chest’,‘Japan cabinet’, ‘all things Chinee’ – do not always reflect their place of origin, rather their character and style.

For example, as the East India Company, established in 1600, was the sole English trader to the Far East,‘India’ was commonly used to describe any item supplied by them.

Chinoiserie at Marble Hill

The European Factories in Canton byWilliam Daniell c.1808 In the early 1700s buildings could only be rented for a season. It was not until the 1760s that permanent factory sites were established.

Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, USA/ The Bridgeman Art Library.

Chinoiserie was avidly collected throughout Europe, and fashionable houses boasted lacquer furniture, porcelain and Chinese-style objects both Far Eastern and European in origin.

Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk (1689-1767), was an early collector of Chinoiserie. The 1767 inventory taken four days after her death at Marble Hill, listed at least 12 pieces of ‘Japan’ and ‘India’ furniture, cabinets and chests. However, Lady Suffolk’s greatest collection of oriental objects was of porcelain, and she had even built a complete ‘China room’ (now demolished) to display it.

The original contents of Marble Hill were dispersed before the property came into public ownership in 1902.

Since that time, the house has gradually been refurnished in a manner suited to the status and tastes of its first owner, Lady Suffolk. Some of the objects on display are known to have belonged

Chinese Wallpaper

to her; others are contemporary. The unifying theme of Chinoiserie through the house remains to this day, and the installation of new wallpaper is an important step towards re-presenting Lady Suffolk’s 18th century home.

Above Large blue and white china vases would decorate fireplaces during the summer.

Far left Portrait of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk by Charles Jervas, c.1724.

Above The table has been set for tea. Traders claimed the new Chinese leaf introduced to England in the 17th century had medicinal properties. By the 1730s tea had become fashionable to drink as refreshment rather than as a cure for ailments.

Accounts from travellers in the 18th century recorded that, to decorate a room, the Chinese ‘whiten the Chamber or glew Paper upon it’. Paper seems usually to have been plain white, crimson or gold. It is thought that the Chinese tradition of painting panelled screens, scrolls and decorative window papers provided the inspiration for early Chinese-style wallpaper in Europe.

An itemised bill is the first surviving evidence we have that Lady Suffolk had ‘India Paper’ installed in her new dining room in 1751. The paper’s journey would have begun in Canton, where it was decorated by unknown Chinese artists.

It would then have travelled on one of the heavily-armed ships of the East India Company. Ships’ captains and senior officers often brought back papers

The Wallpaper Project at Marble Hill

to sell privately. As an unofficial part of the cargo – usually tea, porcelain and lacquer – early wallpapers were rarely recorded in a ship’s manifest.

Hand-painted Chinese papers could take 12 to 18 months to arrive in England and were usually supplied in sets, each different in design. Being hand-painted, these paper-hangings were exorbitantly expensive. Lady Suffolk paid £42 2s for the original Marble Hill wallpaper, at a time when her cook probably earned around £8 a year, and the annual rental for a house on London Bridge was £12.

Left An East Indiaman discharging cargoes from China at Blackwell, 1750.

Museum of Docklands.

Far left A detail of the historic wallpaper at Dalemain, Cumbria, supplied by Thomas Bromwich in 1756, and still in situ.

No fragments of the original Chinese wallpaper at Marble Hill have survived and no evidence remains of the designs it carried. A specialist wallpaper company, de Gournay of Old Church Street, Chelsea, was approached with a brief to design new wallpaper inspired by documented existing examples dated to the 1750s.

After considerable research, it was decided the new paper should be of the bird-andflower pattern, popular in the 1750s. Several original such Chinese papers survive elsewhere, elements from which were used as inspiration for the Marble Hill design. After agreeing content and patterns in London, the paper was produced and painted at the de Gournay studio in central China. In all, the artists spent in excess of 1,000 hours on the project.

The materials used at Marble Hill are the same as in the 18th century. The fine, painted paper is composed of white mulberry paper mounted on superfine silk, backed with another layer of mulberry paper. The designs were

Historic papers from Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk (left), installed in 1752 and Dalemain in Cumbria (below and below left), installed in 1756, informed the new Marble Hill designs.

Centre One of the new wall panels for Marble Hill, designed by de Gournay.

painted with watercolour, gouache and tempera, applied thinly in order to prevent cracking when rolled up for shipping.

The Origin of Chinoiserie Cathay, as China was known in medieval times, was first described by Marco Polo (1254-1324), who wrote of a romantic world, populated by astonishing animals and plants and bursting with treasures.

Trade with China was difficult, even in the 17th century. Although European trading stations or ‘factories’ had been established, the Chinese Emperor limited western access in China to Canton (now Guangzhou). During the early 18th century, inventive European artists and craftsmen began to produce their own imitations of Chinese goods to meet demand for Eastern imports, particularly for the luxuries of porcelain and lacquer.

A hybrid style began to develop, which became known as Chinoiserie. The term encompasses both objects made in China for the European market, and goods made in Europe with an oriental inspiration.

The names of these exotic objects – ‘India chest’,‘Japan cabinet’, ‘all things Chinee’ – do not always reflect their place of origin, rather their character and style.

For example, as the East India Company, established in 1600, was the sole English trader to the Far East,‘India’ was commonly used to describe any item supplied by them.

Chinoiserie at Marble Hill

The European Factories in Canton byWilliam Daniell c.1808 In the early 1700s buildings could only be rented for a season. It was not until the 1760s that permanent factory sites were established.

Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, USA/ The Bridgeman Art Library.

Chinoiserie was avidly collected throughout Europe, and fashionable houses boasted lacquer furniture, porcelain and Chinese-style objects both Far Eastern and European in origin.

Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk (1689-1767), was an early collector of Chinoiserie. The 1767 inventory taken four days after her death at Marble Hill, listed at least 12 pieces of ‘Japan’ and ‘India’ furniture, cabinets and chests. However, Lady Suffolk’s greatest collection of oriental objects was of porcelain, and she had even built a complete ‘China room’ (now demolished) to display it.

The original contents of Marble Hill were dispersed before the property came into public ownership in 1902.

Since that time, the house has gradually been refurnished in a manner suited to the status and tastes of its first owner, Lady Suffolk. Some of the objects on display are known to have belonged

Chinese Wallpaper

to her; others are contemporary. The unifying theme of Chinoiserie through the house remains to this day, and the installation of new wallpaper is an important step towards re-presenting Lady Suffolk’s 18th century home.

Above Large blue and white china vases would decorate fireplaces during the summer.

Far left Portrait of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk by Charles Jervas, c.1724.

Above The table has been set for tea. Traders claimed the new Chinese leaf introduced to England in the 17th century had medicinal properties. By the 1730s tea had become fashionable to drink as refreshment rather than as a cure for ailments.

Accounts from travellers in the 18th century recorded that, to decorate a room, the Chinese ‘whiten the Chamber or glew Paper upon it’. Paper seems usually to have been plain white, crimson or gold. It is thought that the Chinese tradition of painting panelled screens, scrolls and decorative window papers provided the inspiration for early Chinese-style wallpaper in Europe.

An itemised bill is the first surviving evidence we have that Lady Suffolk had ‘India Paper’ installed in her new dining room in 1751. The paper’s journey would have begun in Canton, where it was decorated by unknown Chinese artists.

It would then have travelled on one of the heavily-armed ships of the East India Company. Ships’ captains and senior officers often brought back papers

The Wallpaper Project at Marble Hill

to sell privately. As an unofficial part of the cargo – usually tea, porcelain and lacquer – early wallpapers were rarely recorded in a ship’s manifest.

Hand-painted Chinese papers could take 12 to 18 months to arrive in England and were usually supplied in sets, each different in design. Being hand-painted, these paper-hangings were exorbitantly expensive. Lady Suffolk paid £42 2s for the original Marble Hill wallpaper, at a time when her cook probably earned around £8 a year, and the annual rental for a house on London Bridge was £12.

Left An East Indiaman discharging cargoes from China at Blackwell, 1750.

Museum of Docklands.

Far left A detail of the historic wallpaper at Dalemain, Cumbria, supplied by Thomas Bromwich in 1756, and still in situ.

No fragments of the original Chinese wallpaper at Marble Hill have survived and no evidence remains of the designs it carried. A specialist wallpaper company, de Gournay of Old Church Street, Chelsea, was approached with a brief to design new wallpaper inspired by documented existing examples dated to the 1750s.

After considerable research, it was decided the new paper should be of the bird-andflower pattern, popular in the 1750s. Several original such Chinese papers survive elsewhere, elements from which were used as inspiration for the Marble Hill design. After agreeing content and patterns in London, the paper was produced and painted at the de Gournay studio in central China. In all, the artists spent in excess of 1,000 hours on the project.

The materials used at Marble Hill are the same as in the 18th century. The fine, painted paper is composed of white mulberry paper mounted on superfine silk, backed with another layer of mulberry paper. The designs were

Historic papers from Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk (left), installed in 1752 and Dalemain in Cumbria (below and below left), installed in 1756, informed the new Marble Hill designs.

Centre One of the new wall panels for Marble Hill, designed by de Gournay.

painted with watercolour, gouache and tempera, applied thinly in order to prevent cracking when rolled up for shipping.

Paper Designs Delicate peony and magnolia trees meander up towards the cornice on each panel, their characteristic whitened leaves and flowers enlivened by perching birds and occasional butterflies and insects. There is a concentration of natural colour on the lower third of the paper, where plants and flowers such as hydrangea, ginger lily, celosia and chrysanthemum are depicted in a stylised but accurate way.

Amongst the various birds are a paired pheasant and grouse, a motif similar to that found at Uppark, Dalemain and Felbrigg Hall.

Only flora and fauna seen in contemporary papers are included. The slightly awkward poses held by the birds, the naïve and ‘incorrect’ shadows and modelling, the limited colour palette, and the level of detailed brushwork, are characteristics of Chinese papers of this era.

Chinoiserie in the House

Left New Hall teapot.

Presented by the Rosemary and Monty Lazenby Bequest, through the National Art Collections Fund 1988.

Below A plate of English Delftware, from the William Kretchmer collection.

Presented by his family through the National Art Collections Fund 1986.

As you walk through Marble Hill, look for the porcelain and lacquer furniture evoking the Orient so beloved

by Henrietta Howard. If you wish to read about the objects in more detail, please look for the object folders on each floor.

Porcelain Since at least the 9th century, the Chinese had exported porcelain to Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East, but it was only with the arrival of the Portuguese in 1514 that they began to export large quantities to Europe. In the 18th century, porcelain became a key import for the East India Company.

Early Chinese pottery was mostly blue and white, and throughout the house many of the chimney-pieces are displayed with clusters of Chinese export porcelain.

In the 2nd floor Gallery, you can see a variety of English Delftware. Chinese in inspiration, it is actually tin-glazed pottery, much softer and creamier in colour than true porcelain. The secret of hard-paste Chinese porcelain lay in the essential ingredients – two types of decomposed granite, kaolin (china clay) and petuntse (china stone) – and a kiln capable of firing at extremely high temperatures. True porcelain would not be made in Europe until 1715 at Meissen, Germany.

Also look out for the tea service made in the Staffordshire New Hall factory about 1810, which has a Chinoiserie design and a motif unique to New Hall – the knop on the lid of the teapot is modelled as a Chinese hat.

Below One of a pair of large Chinese jars; the decoration reflects the Famile Verte palette of colours, in which the dominant colour is a brilliant green.

Lacquer and Japanning

Silks

The magnificent Chinese lacquer screen in the Great Room, one of Lady Suffolk’s personal possessions, would have been made to order in China. The armorial, or crest, situated in the top right corner displays the arms of the Earls of Suffolk on the left, and the Hobart family on the right (Lady Suffolk’s maiden name).

Two such screens are known to have existed in the Great Room.

The key ingredient for making true lacquer is the sap of the tree Rhus verniciflux. The sap could not be imported in its raw state, as it would dry out on the journey. Although Europeans tried to copy the lacquer finish using local equivalents, they could not match the hard lustrous quality of the original, and instead created a process called Japanning. The English japanner used a size and whitening mixture which was applied in successive layers to the wood, then blackened or coloured, varnished and polished.

Japanned furniture became very popular and items were usually identified as ‘Japan’ whether they were actually japanned or lacquered.

Silk was probably the first exotic Far Eastern material to arrive in Europe.

Great quantities of Chinese silk passed along the caravan trails of Central Asia from the days of the Roman Empire.

Silk was unique to China and remained so until the eggs of the mulberry silk moth were smuggled into Rome in the 6th century. Chinese silk cloth was used for luxurious dresses and waistcoats, and to decorate rooms. Raw silk was woven

This lacquer screen is one of the most significant pieces of original furniture to have been found and returned to Marble Hill.

Japanned bookcase, the legs designed to imitate bamboo. Bamboo was an important Chinese design motif and, within Chinese culture, was seen to represent the human qualities of flexibility and patience.

Look out for the lacquer cabinet in the Red Bedroom. Often such cabinets were made in Europe from imported lacquer panels from China which were simply cut to size regardless of the pattern. Others were altered to fit a room. This cabinet is set on a gilded stand made in England.

European craftsmen continually looked for ways of imitating Chinese originals using new techniques. As early as 1660 Thomas Allgood of Pontypool discovered a way of japanning on metal – which became known as Pontypool Japan; two examples can be seen in the small tea and coffee containers in the Wrought Room on the 2nd floor.

Lacquer cabinet in the Red Bedroom.

into wall-hangings, like those you can see in Lady Suffolk’s Bedchamber.

Painted Chinese mirrors An unusual group of Chinese paintings on English glass may be seen in the rooms on the 2nd floor. They reveal the remarkable cultural exchange that took place to produce Chinoiserie objects to cater for Western fashions. China did not manufacture its own mirror glass.

Mirrors made inVauxhall, London, would be transported to Canton for Chinese artists there to decorate.

The mixing of styles and cultural influences central to Chinoiserie continues to be popular to this day and, as at Marble Hill, often produces surprising and effective results. The decorative motifs of flowers, birds and oriental landscapes, which might seem frivolous, lend sophistication and beauty; an exotic contrast to the classical interiors of a Palladian villa.

An Oriental Beauty This mirror painting was produced in a Chinese workshop by an artist who was probably copying the figure from a print, as the lady’s face has a distinctly European appearance.

Golden Pheasants Pheasants were a popular motif, commonly appearing on wallpapers, porcelain and, as here, on mirrors.

Paper Designs Delicate peony and magnolia trees meander up towards the cornice on each panel, their characteristic whitened leaves and flowers enlivened by perching birds and occasional butterflies and insects. There is a concentration of natural colour on the lower third of the paper, where plants and flowers such as hydrangea, ginger lily, celosia and chrysanthemum are depicted in a stylised but accurate way.

Amongst the various birds are a paired pheasant and grouse, a motif similar to that found at Uppark, Dalemain and Felbrigg Hall.

Only flora and fauna seen in contemporary papers are included. The slightly awkward poses held by the birds, the naïve and ‘incorrect’ shadows and modelling, the limited colour palette, and the level of detailed brushwork, are characteristics of Chinese papers of this era.

Chinoiserie in the House

Left New Hall teapot.

Presented by the Rosemary and Monty Lazenby Bequest, through the National Art Collections Fund 1988.

Below A plate of English Delftware, from the William Kretchmer collection.

Presented by his family through the National Art Collections Fund 1986.

As you walk through Marble Hill, look for the porcelain and lacquer furniture evoking the Orient so beloved

by Henrietta Howard. If you wish to read about the objects in more detail, please look for the object folders on each floor.

Porcelain Since at least the 9th century, the Chinese had exported porcelain to Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East, but it was only with the arrival of the Portuguese in 1514 that they began to export large quantities to Europe. In the 18th century, porcelain became a key import for the East India Company.

Early Chinese pottery was mostly blue and white, and throughout the house many of the chimney-pieces are displayed with clusters of Chinese export porcelain.

In the 2nd floor Gallery, you can see a variety of English Delftware. Chinese in inspiration, it is actually tin-glazed pottery, much softer and creamier in colour than true porcelain. The secret of hard-paste Chinese porcelain lay in the essential ingredients – two types of decomposed granite, kaolin (china clay) and petuntse (china stone) – and a kiln capable of firing at extremely high temperatures. True porcelain would not be made in Europe until 1715 at Meissen, Germany.

Also look out for the tea service made in the Staffordshire New Hall factory about 1810, which has a Chinoiserie design and a motif unique to New Hall – the knop on the lid of the teapot is modelled as a Chinese hat.

Below One of a pair of large Chinese jars; the decoration reflects the Famile Verte palette of colours, in which the dominant colour is a brilliant green.

Lacquer and Japanning

Silks

The magnificent Chinese lacquer screen in the Great Room, one of Lady Suffolk’s personal possessions, would have been made to order in China. The armorial, or crest, situated in the top right corner displays the arms of the Earls of Suffolk on the left, and the Hobart family on the right (Lady Suffolk’s maiden name).

Two such screens are known to have existed in the Great Room.

The key ingredient for making true lacquer is the sap of the tree Rhus verniciflux. The sap could not be imported in its raw state, as it would dry out on the journey. Although Europeans tried to copy the lacquer finish using local equivalents, they could not match the hard lustrous quality of the original, and instead created a process called Japanning. The English japanner used a size and whitening mixture which was applied in successive layers to the wood, then blackened or coloured, varnished and polished.

Japanned furniture became very popular and items were usually identified as ‘Japan’ whether they were actually japanned or lacquered.

Silk was probably the first exotic Far Eastern material to arrive in Europe.

Great quantities of Chinese silk passed along the caravan trails of Central Asia from the days of the Roman Empire.

Silk was unique to China and remained so until the eggs of the mulberry silk moth were smuggled into Rome in the 6th century. Chinese silk cloth was used for luxurious dresses and waistcoats, and to decorate rooms. Raw silk was woven

This lacquer screen is one of the most significant pieces of original furniture to have been found and returned to Marble Hill.

Japanned bookcase, the legs designed to imitate bamboo. Bamboo was an important Chinese design motif and, within Chinese culture, was seen to represent the human qualities of flexibility and patience.

Look out for the lacquer cabinet in the Red Bedroom. Often such cabinets were made in Europe from imported lacquer panels from China which were simply cut to size regardless of the pattern. Others were altered to fit a room. This cabinet is set on a gilded stand made in England.

European craftsmen continually looked for ways of imitating Chinese originals using new techniques. As early as 1660 Thomas Allgood of Pontypool discovered a way of japanning on metal – which became known as Pontypool Japan; two examples can be seen in the small tea and coffee containers in the Wrought Room on the 2nd floor.

Lacquer cabinet in the Red Bedroom.

into wall-hangings, like those you can see in Lady Suffolk’s Bedchamber.

Painted Chinese mirrors An unusual group of Chinese paintings on English glass may be seen in the rooms on the 2nd floor. They reveal the remarkable cultural exchange that took place to produce Chinoiserie objects to cater for Western fashions. China did not manufacture its own mirror glass.

Mirrors made inVauxhall, London, would be transported to Canton for Chinese artists there to decorate.

The mixing of styles and cultural influences central to Chinoiserie continues to be popular to this day and, as at Marble Hill, often produces surprising and effective results. The decorative motifs of flowers, birds and oriental landscapes, which might seem frivolous, lend sophistication and beauty; an exotic contrast to the classical interiors of a Palladian villa.

An Oriental Beauty This mirror painting was produced in a Chinese workshop by an artist who was probably copying the figure from a print, as the lady’s face has a distinctly European appearance.

Golden Pheasants Pheasants were a popular motif, commonly appearing on wallpapers, porcelain and, as here, on mirrors.

© COPYRIGHT ENGLISH HERITAGE 2006

Hanging the Paper Thomas Bromwich (d.1787) supplied the original Chinese paper and organised its installation. He traded from his workshop ‘at the Golden Lyon on Ludgate Hill’, and his invoice charges for ‘40 yds. of Linnon at 9d.1⁄2’ ,‘17 Quires of Paper, Paste and Tack’,‘62 Sheets of India Paper’,‘135Yards of Border’, and ‘47 days time in Hanging the Room’.

An expensive wallpaper would be protected from damp by being stretched on wooden battens slightly away from a wall. This also meant the paper could be taken down intact. We followed the same method of installation as Bromwich and his men when putting up the new paper in Spring 2006.

Highest quality artists’ canvas is stretched across the battens, followed by a lining paper. It took two carpenters four days to fix the battens, and two professional conservators four further days to hang the canvas and lining paper.

Firstly the walls were lined with wooden battens of Idigbo timber.

Native to West Africa, Idigbo is a tropical hardwood chosen because it is low in resin, tight-grained, and therefore less likely to warp or twist.

Linen was stretched and tacked onto the battens, followed by lining paper, which was glued to the fabric. After five days’ drying, the Chinese paper could be applied with traditional starch-based paste. The bamboo border, supplied separately, was hand cut by the paper hanger and pasted around the doors, dado and cornice edges.

Once hung, each sheet of the Chinoiserie paper must be left for about 20 minutes to allow the underlying paper and canvas to absorb the glue, before its neighbouring sheet can be applied.