Rococo decorated clock and porcelain figure

A little clock ornamented with gilt bronze rocaille foliage supporting the mechanism with its enameled dial. The central figure represents a chinese figure in porcelain sitting on a bunch of wood. This Napoleon III clock takes up the popular theme of chinoiseries in 18th century.
Since the Middle Age China has fascinated the West but in the early 18th century produced a new phenomenon. The Europeans are still trying to discover the Orient secrets. But it is no longer content to imitate, the works from the Orient stimulate the imagination of artists and artisans. The result is original creations, the exotic is now the medium of dreams and fears that haunt the mind of the Christian world. This Orient of fantasy, inhabited by Westerners dressed in strange costumes famous Chinese and Japanese, appears now as a world of pure oddity, where there is extravagance and absurdity, sometimes as an ideal world, free of vice and violence that are tearing Europe.
The Goncourt said about Boucher, one of the artists have the most brilliantly exploited Chinese themes, he had «made China a province of the rococo. » At this time the lightness and fantasy should be called chinoiserie. The charming curios that have been produced so deserve our attention, because behind them lie futility concerns very seriously. With the concern of Europe realized that it was neither the center of the world, nor the only model of civilization, chinoiserie make a facetious reply, before the romantic rise storms.


Bibliography:Musée Cernuschi, Pagodes et dragons, exotisme et fantaisie dans l'Europe rococo, 1720 - 1770.24 février - 17 juin 2007, p 16