‘Frailty, thy name is China’: women, chinoiserie and the threat of low culture in eighteenth‐century England

Alayrac-Fielding, Vanessa

doi:10.1080/09612020903112398

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Her meticulous signalling of the characteristics which distinguish Japanese lacquer as superior to Chinese also serves as an important rebuttal to lingering stigmas surrounding women and chinoiserie. Male art critics and collectors in the eighteenth and early‐ nineteenth century had framed chinoiserie as ‘an early form of kitsch’ in order to suggest that female collectors preferred ‘novelty and curiosity’ over ‘real [aesthetic] beauty’ (Alayrac‐Fielding, 2009, p. 665). This stigma survived in the mid‐ and late‐nineteenth century association of ‘commercial’ and ‘decorative arts’ with women's fondness for Japonisme (Emery, 2020, p. 3), and continues to influence contemporary studies of art and material culture.…”

Section: ‘So Few Are the Curiosity Hunters Who Can Discern…’mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Porcelain collecting had been specifically associated with femininity since the eighteenth century, both as a metaphor for feminine attributes, and because porcelain objects were popular as home decorations. As a result, many critics argue that male collectors avoided porcelain for fear of appearing effeminate (Alayrac‐Fielding, 2009; Stammers, 2021). d’Almeida's joint investment with her husband complicates a simplistic association of porcelain with women and domesticity.…”

Section: ‘So Few Are the Curiosity Hunters Who Can Discern…’mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Victorian women travellers and amateur art collecting in Japan, 1863–1893

Gray

2023

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The majority of interdisciplinary studies on nineteenth‐century Japonisme perpetuate an assumption that most connoisseurs of Japanese art in Victorian Britain were men. Despite recent feminist studies which have restored women to histories of private collecting and curatorship across Europe, there is a lack of consideration of how travelogues by women contributed to public discussions of Japanese art and anthropology in Victorian Britain—including accounts which complement or predate publications by celebrated connoisseurs such as A.W. Franks, James Lord Bowes, and Charles Holme. This article will examine brief passages from travelogues by Anna d’Almeida (1863), Alice Frere (1870), Isabella Bird (1880), and Mary Bickersteth (1893) which chronicle the authors' experiences purchasing ceramics and lacquerware in Japan. The women's careful attention to the history and features which distinguish valuable, antique art pieces from lesser factory productions contradicts the Victorian characterisation of female collectors as indiscriminate participants in commercial or ‘decorative’ trends. Furthermore, the women redress false Victorian conceptions of ‘Japanese’ aesthetics and report on the changing conditions of art production in post‐feudal Japan. In context with the popularity of the travel genre across classes and genders in the mid‐ and late‐nineteenth century, d’Almeida, Frere, Bird, and Bickersteth's accounts simultaneously signal their competence as discerning collectors of authentic Japanese art while providing an accessible introduction to Japanese art and aesthetics for aspiring lay‐collectors of ‘things Japanese’.

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Section: ‘So Few Are the Curiosity Hunters Who Can Discern…’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ‘So Few Are the Curiosity Hunters Who Can Discern…’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Victorian women travellers and amateur art collecting in Japan, 1863–1893

Gray

2023

Literature Compass

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“…Factors influencing consumption are the subject of two articles. Alayrac‐Fielding highlights the enthusiasm for all things Chinese in eighteenth‐century English society and considers why, when it was at the height of fashion, negative aesthetic judgements emerged regarding chinoiserie. She concludes that it was the female appetite for chinoiserie that led to it being perceived as a manifestation of perverted taste and a threat to English aesthetics.…”

Section: (Iv) 1700–1850 Anne L Murphy University Of Hertfordshirementioning

confidence: 99%