Cleveland Museum of Art

Box (Boîte)

Date

1730–40

Medium

enamel and gold leaf on copper mounted in silver

Culture

possibly France, mid-18th century

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Chinoiserie in 18th-century France incorporated imitations of East Asian motifs, designs, and ornaments into European art. These imitations were often distorted by the European imagination and were not accurate representations of the cultures from which they drew inspiration. Motifs typical of chinoiserie can be seen in this box’s floral patterns and repeated representations of pagodas, dragons, and peacocks. The depictions of various animals and plants on this box have been covered in a very thin layer of gold called gold leaf.

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