Monday  30 March 2026

Chinoiserie

Jane Gardiner

This lecture will look at the opening up of trade routes between Europe and the Far East in the early years of the seventeenth century, the craze for all things Oriental, particularly porcelain and lacquer, that followed on from this, and the enormous impact this had on taste, collecting and display. It will then look at the ways in which European designers took inspiration from the subjects depicted on these imported goods to create a whimsical, sometimes fantastic and thoroughly European style based on an Oriental theme, which affected every branch of interior design and decoration throughout the eighteenth century. 

Jane Gardiner

Jane came to us last year to deliver an engrossing lecture about glass in paintings. She has an MA History of Art, University of London. She trained at the V&A and continues to lecture there, and was a Deputy Director of Sotheby's. Jane also lectures for the National Trust, the Art Fund, London University, Buckingham University, l'Institut d'Etudes Superieures des Arts in Paris, a private women's college in Saudi Arabia, on cruise ships and at antiques fairs and interior design conferences in America.

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