Chinese Art Objects, Collecting, and Interior Design in Twentieth-Century Britain

Description

This book explores the relationship between collecting Chinese ceramics, interior design and display in Britain through the eyes of collectors, designers and tastemakers during the years leading to, during and following the Second World War. The Ionides Collection of European style Chinese export porcelain forms the nucleus of this study – defined by its design hybridity – offering insights into the agency of Chinese porcelain in diverse contexts, from seventeenth-century Batavia to twentieth-century Britain, raising questions about notions of Chineseness, Britishness, and identity politics across time and space. Through the biographies of the collectors, this book highlights the role of collecting Chinese art objects, particularly porcelain, in the construction of individual and group identities. Social networks linking the Ionides to agents and dealers, auctioneers, and museum specialists bring into focus the dynamics of collecting during this period, the taste of the Ionides and their self-fashioning as collectors. The book will be of interest to scholars working in the fields of art history, history of collections, interior design, Chinese studies, and material culture studies. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures Preface Introduction Chapter 1 Chinese Porcelain in European Style: Visuality, Connectivity, and Otherness Origins: Refashioning and Repurposing Chinese Porcelain for Europe Rebranding Chinese Porcelain: Armorial Wares and Special Commissions Exclusivity and Connectivity: Chinese Porcelain in Eighteenth-Century Europe European Style Porcelain at the Eighteenth-Century Chinese Court Gendering Porcelain Consumption: Fact or Fiction? Collecting European Style Chinese Porcelain: The British National Collections The Ionides Collection of European Style Chinese Export Porcelain in the Public Sphere Notes Bibliography Chapter 2 Basil Ionides: Collecting, Interior Design, and Museums The Ionides Family: Collectors, Patrons, and Benefactors Basil Ionides: Architect and “Decorator” Professional Recognition and Commercial Success: Claridge’s Restaurant (1926–1927) “Modernism with a Chinese Flavour”: The Savoy Hotel and Theatre (1929) Interior Design in Print: Writing and Publishing (1922–1936) Colour Theory and Interior Decoration: Books by Basil Ionides Modernism and Chinese Art: Aesthetic and Cultural Debates The Bequest of “Eastern Ceramics with Armorial Decorations” at the V&A Basil Ionides the Collector Notes Bibliography Chapter 3 Fashioning the Collector: Nellie Ionides and Chinese Porcelain The Anglo-Jewish Elite and Art Collecting “Knew What She Wanted and Got It!” Nellie Ionides’ Chinese Porcelain Collection Social and Commercial Networks: Dealers, Agents, and Auctioneers Public Engagement: Museums, Art Galleries, and Exhibitions Nellie Ionides and the Chinese Art World Art, Identity, and Jewishness Notes Bibliography Chapter 4 Chinese Art and the English Country House: Elite Fashion, Taste, and Display The Historiography of Chinoiserie The Neo-Georgian Revival: Chinoiserie, the Chinese Room, and Chinese Porcelain Collectible Object/Article of Display? The Ionides at Buxted Park: Restoration and “Decoration” Before the War Shared Patterns of Taste in Elite Society Object as Artefact/Object as Ornament Gilded Buddhas, Ancestor Portraits, and Tang Figurines: Chinese Art as Interior Design Notes Bibliography Chapter 5 The Impact of War: Collecting Chinese Art 1940–1950 Buxted Park during Wartime: Destruction and “Rehabilitation” Cased Objects and Systematic Collecting The Wartime Activities of the Ionides The British Art Ecosystem: Auctioneers, Dealers, and Agents Private Purchase: The Circulation of Chinese Art Objects in Elite Society The Ionides and the Oriental Ceramic Society Post-War Aspirations: Collections, Museums, and the National Trust The Afterlife of the Ionides Collection Notes Bibliography Conclusion Index