Image courtesy of Anne Hayworth
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22nd July
Carried on Galleons, Borne by the Winds: Porcelain, Silk, and the Lustrous Arts of Cathay
by Anne Haworth
For centuries, rare and desirable luxury goods were traded from China to Europe. This far-distant and seemingly fabulous land of gardens, temples and sacred mountains, its culture rich in myth and legend, was known in the West as Cathay. Spanish galleons sailed on trade winds across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, their cargoes of treasures such as lustrous Chinese blue and white porcelain destined for the Habsburg Court. Portuguese carracks and Dutch and English ships of the East India Companies followed different trade winds across the Indian Ocean, laden with vast quantities of porcelain as well as magnificent silks, lacquer screens, wallpaper, fans and enigmatic figures of deities. Tea was introduced to Europe by the 17th Century and became the most lucrative commodity in an ever-expanding trade. Coveted by princely collectors, precious artefacts from China adorned palaces across Europe. By the mid-18th Century, the popularity of these luxury arts from China inspired a passion for chinoiserie: the imaginative recreation of a fanciful vision of Cathay in porcelain, silver, furniture and architecture:
Images: Wiki Commons Public Domain
Anne Haworth has been a lecturer and guide at the Victoria and Albert Museum for more than 20 years and has given regular gallery talks at the British Museum. She was a lecturer for the Royal Collection Trust for 14 years, including 10 years guiding private tours of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace. She is a visiting lecturer for Sotheby's Institute and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Since 2008, she has been a member of the London faculty of Eckerd College, Florida, teaching Art History. She lectures extensively for private groups, including the Arts Society and has lectured on William Morris for the British Council and British Higher School of Art and Design in Moscow. After studying Modern History at Durham University, she trained and became a senior specialist in ceramics at the head offices in London of Bonhams (1981-1986) and Christie's (1987-1995). From 1995 to 2002, she was resident in Shanghai, China and gave lectures on the history of the China trade and European Chinoiserie to the international community of diplomats and expatriates in Shanghai and Beijing. On returning to London in 2002, she worked on a short project cataloguing Chinese ceramics at Kensington Palace and became Hon Membership Secretary and Treasurer of the French Porcelain Society.
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