Title: The Turn of Chinoiserie: On the Thriving of the Discourse of Chinese Antique Connoisseurship and Collection in England from the Second Half of the 19th Century to the Early 20th Century
Abstract: In the perspective of global history Chinoiserie in England experienced a turn from the vogue of Chinese cultural material consumption to the thriving of the discourse of Chinese antique connoisseurship and collection from the second half of the 19th century to the early 20th century. In the global network of Chinese antique sales, connoisseurship and collection polarized between China and England, the discourse of Chinese antique connoisseurship and collection involves three major sections such as the migration of antiques and knowledge, the museumification of antiques and the reconstruction of knowledge in site, and the appreciative aesthetic interpretation and creative translation of antiques as the quintessence of civilization at the highest level. Its knowledge production includes the following three main aspects: the sales, connoisseurship and collection network of Chinese antiques in the global system; institutions of Chinese antique connoisseurship and collection represented by the British Museum, the Burlington Fine Arts Club and the Oriental Ceramic Society; the connoisseurship of Chinese antiques in museums. The self-reflective and critical spirit of modern Western civilization symptomatic in Modernism corresponds to the superior form and achievements of ancient Chinese civilization, adds up to the thriving of the discourse of Chinese antique connoisseurship and collection, and generates the constant interpretation of the artistic spirit of ancient Chinese civilization and re-evaluation of different civilizations the worldwide which is parallel to Western Modernist avant-garde aesthetics.
Keywords: discourse of Chinese Antique connoisseurship and collection, Chinoiserie, global system, knowledge production
Author: Jiajun Tao, Professor, School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, China.
DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2025.03.007