Japonaiserie & Japonisme in the 16th ～ 18th Centuries, Part 2
Table of Contents
1. The Japonisme of Marie Antoinette
2. The Sino-Japanese Roots of the 'Picturesque'
Folding fan, Japonisme Museum
First uploaded 2023/8/5; updated and re-uploaded 2023/8/16
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The Japonisme of Marie Antoinette (1755-1793)
Le Hameau de la Reine
Lustrous Urushi Lacquer of the 16th～18th Centuries
Sparking the Picturesque and Romantic Imagination
Yasutaka Aoyama
Marie Antoinette's Japonisme rather than Japonaiserie
The 17th and 18th centuries witnessed the spread of Japanese lacquer, textiles, and porcelain to Europe, Asia, and to some extent, the Americas. This was not merely a process of consumption; these items remained as treasured collections and became an impetus to artistic and technological innovation in the countries which acquired them. They set an example which spurred the development of new industries in ceramics and lacquer, or an increase in the sophistication of pre-existing ones, such as textiles. New skills in craftsmanship, and a shift in aesthetic sensibilities among artists and aristocrats occurred---this is, at least, what is implied by 'japonisme' here.
On the other hand, the term 'japonaiserie', while often used interchangeably with japonisme, emphasizes the aspect of acquisitive interest or fancy for things evidently Japanese as they are, or as they are thought to be. It is a combination of curiosity and admiration for something openly acknowledged as fashionable. This phenomenon may be identified quite easily, while the workings of japonisme may remain unknown, hidden in the heart of the artist or inventor, or work indirectly upon society through its objects or ideas, without a conscious attempt at imitation.
The term japonisme rather than japonaiserie, therefore, is appropriate in discussing Marie Antoinette's Le Hameau de la Reine, or the Queen's Hamlet, at Versailles. For unlike the Chinese Pavilion of Queen Lovisa Urilka of Sweden in Drottningholm, which in name was Chinese, but (despite its recognizably oriental roof ornamentation) in conception of its architecture essentially European; Marie Antoinette's 'hamlet' as we shall see, was the reverse: in name not Oriental, nor in appearance immediately recognizable as such; but in conception, design, and in spirit---strongly influenced, we will argue, by imagery specifically from the Japanese art of urushi lacquer-ware.
Marie Antoinette's Japanese Lacquer Collection
As an introduction, the following commentary from the exhibition of Marie Antoinette's Japanese Lacquer Collection at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, encapsulates the key facts regarding the formation and fate of the collection:
"In November 1780 Marie-Antoinette's beloved mother, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, died in Vienna. The empress left almost the entirety of her prized collection of Japanese lacquer to her youngest daughter. Once her mother's legacy of fifty small boxes arrived in France, Marie-Antoinette had her private sitting room in Versailles, the cabinet doré, redecorated specifically to showcase the precious works. The queen was so taken with the collection that she added about thirty pieces to it over the next eight years.
After a revolutionary mob invaded Versailles and forced them to move to Paris in Oct 1789, Marie asked a trusted art dealer to return to the palace and collect some of her most treasured possessions--chiefly the lacquer boxes. An inventory was made, and it is from this that the original location of each piece in the cabinet doré is known. A few examples were placed on small tables. The majority of the boxes were displayed on shelves in a glass fronted cabinet. Because of the quick action of the art dealer, Martin Eloy Lignereux, the lacquer collection was carefully packed and kept safe in Paris until it was ordered to be transferred to the Museum central des Arts after the queen's execution in 1793."
J. Paul Getty Museum, 'A Queen's Treasure from Versailles: Marie-Antoinette's Japanese Lacquer' 2018.
Even when her own life was at risk, among countless possessions and works of art at Versailles, it was the fate of her Japanese lacquerware that was a pressing concern for her. Something surely then, close to her heart, she had the foresight as well to recognize their historic value, and arrange for their safety.
Below is a portrait of Marie Antoinette (1782) by Louis Marie Sicard, surrounded by a sampling of her cherished urushi collection. Included are a few pieces of custom-made furniture, with Japanese urushi panels fitted onto them.
Photos from: Nihon no Bijutsu 11, No. 426 and 12, No. 427; 'A Queen's Treasure From Versailles', Getty Museum; Forum de Marie Antoinette website, among others to be noted.
See Les laques du Japon. Collections de Marie-Antoinette 2001 (catalogue for the exhibitions at Versailles and Munster) by well-known lacquer researchers Monika Kopplin and Christian Baulez, for a more complete coverage of Marie Antoinette's Japanese lacquer collection.
Even from the few examples above, we find aspects of landscape design that echo Marie Antoinette's hamlet: 1) Landscape shaped around a small body of water, with structures jetting out towards the water. 2) Different types of rustic buildings with different roof shapes, some thatched, are clustered while others stand in isolation, none on a palatial scale. 3) They dot the shore with small bridges over small streams or inlets. 4) Each is usually visible from the other, and 5) the overall scene and individual structures are characterized by pronounced asymmetry. That applies not only to the buildings, but in the lay of the vegetation and shape of the terrain. These we will see, are also characteristics of what Marie Antoinette had made for herself in her hamlet; and it is thought she was instrumental in determining what the grounds and buildings would be like.
Buildings and landscape are found on a wide variety of lacquer objects besides large cabinets in the Marie Antoinette collection, of which the following shown below are illustrative examples:
1) The combination of a small tower with an attached house and an open kiosk for enjoying the scenery, with rocky formations on the water's edge, similar in concept to the Marlborough Tower and its attached structures.
2) Rustic houses with heavy thatched roofs as found on various building on the Hamlet grounds, including the Maison de la Reine, Boudoir, and Maison du Garde, of which the Maison de la Reine and the Boudoir have similar thatched 'irimoya' gabled type roofs as in the lacquer image.
3) Pavilions and towers are supported by stilts (or partially supported by stilts) surrounding a somewhat semi-circular area, with the tower on a rocky promonotory clearly visible from the pavilion in the foreground, and free growing trees of different types and sizes. All this is again similar conceptually to the basic landscape and structural setting of the Queen's Hamlet.
The combination of extended eaves, complex and asymmetrical roof lines, including staggered sashikake roof levels and danchigai (skillion) roofs in several of the buildings on the Hamlet premises, all with a pronounced degree of asymmetry, which was meant to be noticeably different from that usually found in traditional farmhouses in France, but nothing surprising in Japan.
Making the Picture Come True: The Queen's Hamlet as a Realization of the Ideals found in Lacquerware Imagery
The images of idyllic retreats for aristocrats found on Japanese lacquerware, like those shown above and below, take as their model images that already existed on much older 'emaki' picture scrolls, such as those portraying scenes from the Tale of Genji. The scenes include landscapes and wildlife, recreational scenes of picnicking and boating, as well as quiet study and literary activity. They convey an idea of man appreciative of nature and in harmony with his fellow companions---or rather we should say women appreciative of nature and in harmony with her fellow companions, for women are portrayed just as often as men on Japanese lacquerware---seeming to have grasped that illusive goal of true contentment. This perhaps, is one of the reasons why Marie Antoinette was so enamored with these lacquer pieces. For they do not convey any sense of the high lording it over the low; men and women, noble and commoner, adult and child, at least in the world of urushi imagery, are equal and at ease with each other. Women are at times engaged in games or leisure with men, but are often standing on broad balconies and pavilions by themselves, just women enjoying each other's conversation or quiet company, while enjoying the scenery.
The Queen's Hamlet (Le Hameau de la Reine) thus shares not just the form, but the spirit of those lacquerware images. As the Chateau de Versailles official website explains: "Contrary to the deeply-entrenched public image of Marie-Antoinette, the queen and her entourage did not “play at being farmers” amidst these bucolic surroundings, complete with sheep trussed up in ribbons. The queen actually used the hamlet as a place for relaxing walks, or to host small gatherings. The fact that the hamlet was also a functioning farm, a point upon which the queen insisted, meant that it served an educational role for the royal children."
Above a panel from the Rijksmuseum chest with scenes of women enjoying themselves in a variety of leisurely or cultural activities, indoors and outdoors, often with children.
Below are some comparisons of Le Hameau de la Reine from a bird's eye view and some images from lacquerware that she owned, or those near her owned, or representative of what the higher echelons of society in France or Vienna owned, the kind of lacquerware she could have seen during her lifetime in either place. The van Diemen box was in the possession of those quite close to the royal court, such as the duchesse du Maine and Madame Pompadour, then passing to Randon de Boisset, and in 1777 to the dukes of Bouillon (Cluzel, 2018).
The roofed, elevated, bending outdoor walkway is a common feature of Japanese lacquerware imagery, as the two examples below (left and right) show, and is a prominent feature of La Maison de la Reine, or the Queen's House (center).
The Rijksmuseum (Mazarin) Chest: A Prototypical Design for La Maison de la Reine, or the Queen's House
Below is the lid of the Mazarin chest now at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (shown in its entirety in the previous article of this page), which the museum describes as "of matchless quality" and "one of the most luxurious specimens that 17th-century Dutch merchants brought back from Japan." The panels on all sides depict various landscapes and palace scenes from the Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji), a classic work of Japanese literature from the early 11th century. Minutely detailed, and decorated with high-quality urushi, makie (mother-of-pearl), silver, gold/tin foil, and powdered gold in many colours and grain sizes, it is a testimony to the virtuosity of lacquer craftsmanship attained in Japan at the time, unrivaled in both Asia and Europe.
The Mazarin Chests also remind us of the layout of actual historic Heian period villas that were built as clusters of buildings around a body of water. The most renown of these being perhaps the 'Toba Rikyu' (Toba Detached Palace), a retreat built by Emperor Shirakawa (which included a number of pagodas, one very tall) and was used by retired emperors between the 12th and 14th centuries.
Below: Rijksmuseum (Mazarin) Chest, close-up of the section with a design extremely similar in concept to the main building on the Hamlet grounds, La Maison de la Reine, shown further below. Note on the Rijksmuseum chest the distinctive curved roofed corridor raised on stilts connecting the two main building structures, and to the side, a nearby bridge crossing a stream, as in the Queen's House (see aerial view above).
A striking equivalence of conception, from the individual structure to its relation with the environment. Note correspondences of details: how on one side there is a flight of outside stairs in the Japanese lacquer picture and the house of the queen. And in both cases, the side opposite to it is larger, the main structure. As mentioned earlier, a bridge and small detached structures are nearby in the lacquer image above, as in the Queen's House. Other Japanese lacquerware images below depict winding corridors connecting buildings and structures with different style roofs, round and square, clumped together on stilts, as in the Queen's House.
Below comparisons of depictions of towers in lacquer cabinets and the Marlborough Tower at Le Hameau. They are characterized by winding bridges and elevated pathways leading to the towers, with rocky formations at their base, and attached lower structures, as in Marlborough Tower.
Below: The Watermill at the Queen's Hamlet compared to lacquerware images. Note the corresponding combinations of variously shaped thatched structures of different wall types on staggered levels as in 1) In the Rosenborg Castle (Denmark) lacquer cabinet detail and 2) the watermill viewed from ground level. Now compare 3) the round lacquerware image and 4) the watermill viewed from above. The parallels between these last two images are especially striking. Observe in the watermill and lacquer images, how the structures are linked by multiple curving stairways, staggered and interconnected building levels, where small squarish structures have wrap around type balconies; water flows close and between the structures, and bushes seem to grow out of or near the roofs.
Below: An analogous conception of communing with nature; in the lacquer piece from Marie Antoinette's collection on the left, a literati composing perhaps a few verses on the changing of the seasons in a small one room structure with a thatched roof, open to the outdoors (sometimes it is a pair of good friends depicted conversing in these kiosk like structures). Is this not the same idea behind the structure below to the right, next to the house adjacent to the Marlborough Tower?
Below: Toba Rikyu (Toba detached villa/palace, 12th to 14th centuries) from an outdoor sign in the environs of where the villa once stood. An artist's reconstruction based on archaeological remains and contemporary descriptions. A somewhat staid and simplified reconstruction of the pavilions, pagodas, and landscape; in all likelihood they had much more character and charm, but the general similarity of concept with the Queen's Hamlet can be surmised.
Afterword: Dark Worlds Aglitter and Premonitions of the Romantic
Regard the panel below from the Rijksmuseum Mazarin Chest lid (inside). For men and women only familiar with the landscape of Europe, who beheld such images for the first time, images quite alien from their own, would they have not seemed deeply mysterious? Human and animal figures creating a panorama of oranges and gold, set in skies of black and mountains of silver, with golden dragons encircling the skies---life of every kind was full of animation, yet enshrouded by mystic serenity. Here was a window to another world, opened by the powers of art and the imagination, yet something perhaps they had not even dreamt of before.
Note: The horizontal crack in the upper part of the lid has been partially removed by editing to show what it would have looked like in its more pristine state the 17th century.
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Observations on the River Wye (1792)
by William Gilpin (1724-1804)
The Case for the 18th Century Sino-Japanese Origins of the 'Picturesque'
Lecture handout 2016.1.12, Architectural Juxtapositions, p. 46
Revised and transferred from the 'Japonisme Theory and Architecture' page on 2024.3.20
Yasutaka Aoyama
William Gilpin's Observations on the River Wye (and several parts of south Wales, &c. relative chiefly to picturesque beauty, made in the summer of 1770) published in 1792, has been considered the first fully developed treatment of the picturesque in architecture, according to popular books surveying architectural concepts (eg. Richard Weston's 100 Ideas that Changed Architecture). But in fact Gilpin's book is not concerned with architecture as its primary focus, but with landscape, just as it was in earlier treatises on the picturesque. Its use started during or before Sir William Temple's writings from a century earlier. Thus it was a term well-established by Gilpin's time; so there is no defining of the term, nor recognition of any debate regarding its usage, in Gilpin's book. Gilpin assumes a settled meaning for the word, with which he intends to show that the subject he has chosen, the River Wye, is an outstanding example.
Architecture is simply one ornament, albeit a key ornament, along with rocks, trees, and waterways, in completing the picturesque scene. As Gilpin explains: "The various buildings, which are everywhere on the banks of the Wye, form the last of its ornaments; abbeys, castles, villages, spires, forges, mills and bridges. One or other of these venerable vestiges of the past, or cheerful habitations of the present times, characterise almost every scene."
They comprise, as in traditional Sino-Japanese brush (ink wash) painting, or 'suiboku-ga', a rather small feature of the picture, an intentionally miniatured element of the landscape placed off to one side, as part of a 'set,' that includes craggy rocks, horizontally extending branches, winding rivers or paths, misty peaks, and darkly shaded groves, all arranged in asymmetrical "sharawadgi" style---a word with Far Eastern, probably Japanese origins, that was used to describe the essence of the picturesque from the 17th century (see next article). And indeed, greater care is given in explaining the creation of picturesque beauty with rocks than with architecture. At times Gilpins expostulation sounds like a first hand description of a Japanese temple rock garden where stones are "best tinted with mosses and lichens of various hues" and should be "adorned with shrubs and hanging herbiage connected with "wood, water, and broken ground.."
As for the drawings, they were executed by an unnamed "young man, a relation of mine says Gilpin, whom he calls unexperienced, but has been "tolerably successful in giving what is essential, the effect of the whole". Yet we should give this unnamed artist, working years before JMW Turner, more credit than that in having acquired some of the principles of Far Eastern painting, especially in the Japanese style, which often simplifies and clarifies the complexity of richly layered and intricate Chinese works.
Shown below, together with illustrations from Gilpin's book, are a few examples of Japanese suiboku-ga from the British Museum in London. Notice the close correspondences between the pictures, lettered from A-G, in terms of compositional format, details of form, and characteristics of shading.
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A Note on Thomas Gainsborough
'Mountainous Landscape With a Boat on a Lake' 1777-80
and
Georges-Louis Le Rouge
Jardins Anglois-Chinois 1775-86
Yasutaka Aoyama
Thomas Gainsborough, 'Mountainous Landscape With a Boat on a Lake' (1777-80) Ink and wash on paper, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
If we are to take Gilpin at his word, and there is no reason not to, his visits to the River Wye with his anonymous young relative as painter occurred in 1770, and the watercolors his relative did of them too, were painted at this time. It is then a surprising achievement; for it would be almost a decade later that Thomas Gainsborough, much later in life, would paint his ‘Mountainous Landscape with a Boat on a Lake’(1777-80), a painting with one of the first indications of clear suiboku-ga influence in a Gainsborough work.
To understand Gainsborough’s painting, of which little information seems to exist, if we were to rely on what we can observe of it only, we see that it too, like the illustrations in Gilpin’s book, shows attributes of suiboku-ga painting. But with Gainsborough, instead of general compositional similarities, extremely characteristic combinations of suiboku-ga style rock formations can be identified.
For the sake of gaining perspective, if we turned our eyes to continental Europe, we would see that there were indications of a new turn in art being stimulated by Far Eastern influence. Georges-Louis Le Rouge (1707-1790)'s Jardins Anglois-Chinois, published over the years 1775-1786, is a book that displays a preoccupation with rock formations that would become characteristic of artists in the following decades, a work whose illustrations follow authentic Chinese and Japanese suiboku-ga rather closely, in terms of the specific images of the rocks themselves, and also in the manner of presenting examples of them in book form.
Below is an illustration from Tachibana Morikuni (橘守国 1679-1748)’s E-hon Oshukubai (絵本鶯宿梅 1740; vol. 6) juxtaposed to one from Le Rouge's Jardins Anglois-Chinois. Observation reveals almost one to one correspondences between individual rocks from one book to those in the other. The correspondences have been labeled A-A', B-B', and C-C'. The idea is not necessarily that it must have been this particular page of Morikuni (though it could have been) that Le Rouge used, but that there are certain kinds of rocks illustrated in such Eastern painting manuals to the extent that those rock types can be identified in Le Rouge's illustrations.
Starting with Rock A in Morikuni and A' in Le Rouge; note one particularly large rock is portrayed, how both are more darkly shaded and 'hairy' with vegetal growth compared to the other rocks, whose shape emphasizes the leaning aspect. In B and B' we have two extremely similarly 'beaked' rocks that are creature-like, but in Morikuni we see it from the back side, while in Le Rouge it has been rotated to face us. With C and C' we see a rock that has a clearly distinguishable flatish, dish-like section, attached to a more nondescript form, with a much smaller rock accompanying it. Further comparisons might be made, but suffice to say that there are sufficient parallels to conclude that Le Rouge has not simply included the word 'Chinois' for effect, but has clearly imitated Eastern drawing manuals of rock formations. And here again we have a case of what might have been a Japanese drawing manual being used as a model by Le Rouge, which he nevertheless called 'Chinois', as so often was the case in 18th century Europe.
In other words, in the later 18th century, with perhaps faint indications in the 1760's, but primarily from the 1770’s onward, both British and French painters start to draw very peculiar rock formations that are sometimes openly credited to Eastern models; then a decade or so later, in the 1790's, no mention is made of Eastern precedents. This all follows, by the way, the arrival of Japanese prints and illustrated books in Britain starting in 1753 (discussed in the following chapter of this website), during an era in Japan characterized by a great surge in the printing of painting manuals.
Gainsborough’s rock formations are not only similar to those in oriental painting manuals in their individual shapes; they are angled, combined, and distributed according to suiboku sansui ('mountain and water') compositions as well. An example from Sesshu Toyo (雪舟等楊 1420-1506) is provided below. More specifically speaking, as in suibokuga, in Gainsborough's watercolor we can identify rocks atypical for the English countryside, that is extremely large and protruding angular rock formations along a river, with exaggerated tilting, where there are slabs facing one direction with clear directionality drawn into the rock surface, and another adjacent to it facing in the other direction, but together forming a unity as in suiboku painting. This is contrasted with other rock group formations that are at a distance from it, where the rocks are bumping up into each other, colliding or merging, again with the tilting aspect strongly emphasized, precisely as in Eastern painting.
We should add here that we are speaking of the case of England and France; in the case of Holland, much earlier, in the 17th century, there was a sudden appearance of suibokuga type rock formations, discussed earlier, in which certain artists such as Roelandt Savery and his pupil Allart van Everdingen reveal conspicuous similarities with Eastern ink wash painting, not only in terms of rock formations, but trees, waterfalls, and other aspects of landscape form and composition. But it seems that in Britain and France that influence would not be felt until a century later, perhaps coinciding with the arrival in Britain and France of Chinese and Japanese painting manuals, along with other illustrated books, prints, and possibly scroll paintings in the 18th century.
Sesshu Toyo, 'Mountain and Water Long Scroll' (山水長巻), scroll 1 of 'The Four Seasons Mountain and Water Scroll' (四季山水図巻), 1486
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Constantijn Huygens and William Temple
The 17th Century Japanese Origins of the Picturesque in Garden Design
Uploaded 2023.5.6, transferred from 'Japonisme Theory and Architecture' 2024.3.20
Yasutaka Aoyama
To more fully account for the origins of the picturesque we must go back, before William Gilpin's time, across the English Channel to Holland and the unique 'Hofwijck' garden of the Dutch state secretary and poet Constantijin Hugyens (1596-1687).
Huygens saw his garden as the fulfillment of a new aesthetic philosophy that relished irregularities, contrary to the Vitruvian one exalting predictable symmetries. Sir William Temple (1628-99), of a generation younger than Huygen, who is considered to be the first in Britain to develop the ideas that would come to define the picturesque garden, was a regular visitor to the Hofwijck garden of Huygens.
Representative of Huygens' philosophy is a poem of his about the garden, expressing sentiments antithetical to the Vitruvian one exalting geometrical perfection, and instead contemplating the lure of asymmetry and the unpredictable, which is a mirror to an opposite world--where lies Japan (bold--this author's):
"I see, or think I see, the other side of the globe
As if, beyond Banda in Japan I stood."
In an "antipodean Japan" (to use the Dutch scholar Wybe Kuitert's phrase) people must have different, opposite ideas about how to regard things, one where matters are informal and irregular:
"And when I pondered whereto a thing like this resembles
I ended up with the unequal of the Japanese robe
The incomprehensible of its staining so bewildered
That makes the dress a decoration, but makes me ill at ease;
And if I would happen to read such paths,
Methinks it would be like a gamble, or whatever,
Where this tree would stand, or where that path would end."
In Japan, the paths are turning, like the spinning of his head in an antipodal world:
"I would be discomfited, and where I came to turn,
There would my head be turning, just like the planter did
Who carelessly had everthing diverged from its correct position."
As Kuitert points out, the Japanese kimono known as 'Japonsche rock' (rock here meaning gown or dress and perhaps being the etymological root of frock), which was extremely popular and being frequently worn in Holland (even by students) and by high society in England (including Sir William Temple, see his portrait of 1675 by Caspar Netscher at the National Portrait Gallery of London) which were often decorated with boldly asymmetrical designs of plants and garden constructions.
In Sir William Temple's famous essay on landscape design, 'Upon the Gardens of Epicurus' (1690) he called the aesthetic quality of pleasing irregularity in gardens "Sharawadgi", a Chinese concept according to him. However, a matching Chinese term of such or near pronunciation is lacking, and the consensus of recent scholarship with knowledge of East Asian languages points to the word as of Japanese origin, possibly 'sorowaji' meaning unaligned, or perhaps 'shara-aji' or 'share-aji', a term referring to sophisticated, unhackneyed taste. It is this author's opinion that the problem may lie in the nature of English orthography that impedes a precise transliteration of the pronunciation, a problem which often occurs when clearly enunciated vowels occur consecutively in foreign words. If the word was originally shareaji, for instance, writing 'shareadgi' or 'sharewadgi' might only lead to more gross mispronunciations than 'sharawadgi'. And much like how 'hara-kiri' came to be pronounced 'hari-kari' in English, when a train of vowels appear in one word, pronunciations are often conveniently switched to an easier vocalization for English speakers.
That aside, Temple refers to Japanese kimonos as "Indian Gowns" and mentions painted "Skreens" (screens, i.e. likely Japanese folding byobu screens) which were actively painted and brought over from Japan (as well as highly valued 'japanned' (lacquered) chests and cabinets) rather than India or China in the mid-17th century. It is not at all improbable that his "Chineses" meant or included Japanese, as he has "heard of it from others, who have lived much among the Chineses"--but while Englishmen had been living in Japan since William Adams' time from the beginning of the 17th century, extended stays in China would happen only after Temple's era. At the very least then, his reference to designs "without order" on gowns and screens likely refers to things Japanese, though his mention of "Purcellans" (porcelains) could refer to both China and Japan in years before the publication of his essay in 1690. Temple writes:
"...the Chineses; a People, whose way of thinking, seems to lie as wide of ours in Europe, as their Country does. Among us, the Beauty of Building and Planting is placed chiefly, in some certain Proportions, Symmetries, or Uniformities; our Walks and our Trees ranged so, as to answer one another, and at exact Distances. The Chineses scorn this way of Planting, and say a Boy that can tell an hundred, may plant Walks of Trees in strait Lines, and over against one another, and to what Length and Extent he pleases. But their greatest Reach of Imagination, is employed in contriving Figures, where the Beauty shall be great, and strik the Eye, but without any order or disposition of parts, that shall be commonly or easily observ'd."
To be continued.
Bibliography (Partial)
Farrington, Anthony. 'The English in Japan 1613-1623'. The Hakluyt Society (Founded 1846) Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for 1992. London: The Hakluyt Society, 1992.
Kreiner, Josef (ed). Deutschland, Japan : Historische Kontakte. Bonn: Bouvier, 1984.
_____________. 'Doitsu no naka no nihon bunka (The Japanese Culture (existing) Inside of Germany)'. Session B, pp. 26-38 in Umi wo wattata bunkazai: samazama na sugata to waza (Cultural Treasures that Crossed the Seas: A Variety of Forms and Skills). Proceedings of the 13th Symposium on Science and Universities. Tokyo: Kuba Pro, 1999.
Kuitert, Wybe. 'Japanese Art, Aesthetics, and a European Discourse: Unraveling Sharawadgi'. Japan Review, 27 (2014), pp. 77-101. International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, National Institute for the Humanities, Kyoto.
_____________. 'Japanese Robes, "Sharawadgi", and the Landscape Discourse of Sir William Temple and Constantijn Huygens'. Garden History 41, No. 2, Winter (2013), pp. 157-176.
Murray, Ciaran. 'Sharawadgi: The Japanese Source of Romanticism'. The Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 4th series, 13 (1998), pp. 20-33.
_______________. 'Sharawadgi Resolved'. Garden History 26, No. 2, Winter (1998), pp 208-213.
Shimada, Takau. 'Is Sharawadgi derived from the Japanese Word Sorowaji?' The Review of English Studies, New Series 48, 191 (1997), pp. 350-52.
Summerson, John. The Pelican History of Art: Architecture in Britain 1530-1830. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1970.
Temple, William. 'Upon the Gardens of Epicurus; Or of Gardening in the Year 1685'. In Miscellanea, the Second Part, in Four Essays. London: Printed by I.R. for Ri. and Ra. Simpson, 1690.
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Written in March 2024; uploaded 2024.7.16. Under construction.
Family names first for Chinese, last for English
William Chamberlain's
A Dissertation on Oriental Gardening, 1772
Its Close Relation to Chinese Gardening and Reports of Chinese Gardening
Yasutaka Aoyama
The architectural historian and Victoria & Albert Museum curator, John Harris, self-proclaimed English country house "snooper" (see Telegraph Obituaries, 3 June 2022)', starts his 1972 introduction to Chamberlain's classic book on oriental gardening with a flat denial---as is often the case in modern scholarship regarding things called 'Oriental' in the 18th century:
"In spite of its title, it is not a description of Chinese gardens and has no more to offer on that subject than what is contained in the essay titled 'Of the Art of Laying Out Gardens' that Chambers had published in his Designs of Chinese Buildings in 1757. The Chinese are merely the unwitting protectors of a polemic on English gardening in which Chambers pits his own views against Brown's. Unfortunately, however, the ruse backfired. His fantastic flights of imagination eclipsed his serious ideas, and ultimately discredited his authority on Chinese matters."
---or so Harris says. But in order to determine whether or not the Chinese are merely the unwitting protectors of a polemic on English gardening or not, would seem to require some knowledge of, and comparison with, actual Chinese gardening principles---which he does not do for us, and for all this author can determine he has never really studied (nor is interested) in the gardening of the Far or Near East.
The question, of course, is not whether what Chamberlain presented was complete or faithful in every sense to the Oriental or Chinese (or perhaps Japanese versions of the Chinese) gardens. Even in the case of 'japonisme' in the 19th century, the works of a Whistler, van Gogh, or Monet cannot be called faithful representations of Japanese art, but that does not mean they were not meaningfully influenced by Japanese aesthetics. Indeed, more differences could be pointed out than similarities---but that is besides the point---the relevant question is whether Chamberlain's ideas were influenced by Oriental, and in particular Chinese or otherwise East Asian conceptions or qualities of gardening.
Has Harris at least been to the 'Humble Administrator's Garden' or the 'Lion Grove Garden' in Suzhou, or seen with his own eyes at least one literati garden and one imperial garden of China? What works on Chinese gardening had he consulted, or for that matter, European first-hand accounts of Chinese gardens, to justify his denial?
This is a site for investigating Japanese cultural interactions with the world, and not a site for investigating Chinese aesthetic influences, to which it could do no justice to in any case; but it is worthwhile to examine at least one case of chinoiserie as it is not unrelated to japonisme, as a prime example of an ongoing tradition of denying substantive oriental influence in the West, whether it be from Japan, China, or the Middle East.
Let us look at Chamberlain's text itself, to judge for ourselves, whether it does or does not have anything to do with the gardening principles of the Orient. We will place quotes from modern scholarship on Chinese gardening, as well as first-hand 18th century European accounts of Chinese gardens, next to those from Chamberlain's book, for the reader to decide whether they are similar or not. The reader can than see if Chamberlain merely used the Orient as a protective shell, void of its substance as Harris claims, or if in fact, much to Harris' chagrin, who might believe we will never check the primary sources, we find the opposite to be true.
Key phrases have been highlighted in bold.
Chamberlain's first thesis is the high status and conception of garden design in the Orient:
"Among the Chinese, Gardening is held in much higher esteem, than it is in Europe; they rank a perfect work in that Art, with the great productions of the human understanding; and say, that its efficacy in moving passions, yields to that of few other arts whatever. Their Gardeners are not only Botanists, but also Painters and Philosophers, having a thorough knowledge of the human mind, and of the arts by which its strongest feelings are excited." ... In China, Gardening is a distinct profession, requiring an extensive study; to the perfection of which few arrive. The Gardeners there, far from being either ignorant or illiterate, are men of high abilities, who join to good natural parts, most ornaments that sudy, travelling, and long experience can supply them..."
Consider the above in light of the following excerpt from Wai-Yee Li, Professor, Harvard University, 'Gardens and Illusions from Late Ming to Early Qing:
"As an act of creation, building a garden has intrinsic affinities with painting and writing. In the words of the late Ming scholar-official Qi Biaojia (1602-1645), famous among other things for his writings on gardens and on drama, creating a garden is like "a great artist painting: not a single uninspired brushstroke is allowed; it is like a great author writing: not a single discordant word is allowed." (Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 72, No. 2 Dec. 2012, pp. 295-336)
Or that of
Lu Zhou, Professor, Tsinghua University, 'Development of Gardens in Ancient China, and Pure Land and Pure Land Gardens':
"The development process of Chinese gardens can be seen mostly as a process of being influenced increasingly by the literati. ... In this process, a top priority was given to emphasis on picturesqueness like poems and paintings. The method of emphasizing picturesqueness like poems and paintings in Chinese gardens was different in each region, and continued to change as time went by." (Paradise and gardens in eastern Asia: final report of the international expert meeting on paradise and garden in eastern Asia. Department of Cultural Heritage, Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, 30-Nov-2009, pp.22-35.)
We must not forget here that the nature of literati education was philosophical in nature; that training always involved learning the precepts of Confucianism, of ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy---thus Chamberlain's observation is correct.
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain on the creation and viewing of landscape scenes (analogous meanings added in bold):
"The usual method of distributing Gardens in China, is to contrive a great variety of scenes, to be seen from certain points of view [framed landscape]; at which are places seats or buildings, adapted to the different purposes of mental or sensual enjoyments. The perfection of their Gardens consists in the number and diversity of these scenes; and in the artful combination of their parts; which they endeavour to dispose in such a manner, as not only separately to appear to the best advantage [framed or leaking landscape], but also to unite in forming an elegant and striking whole [beauty of harmony]. (p. 19)
Though the Chinese artist have nature for their general model, yet are they not so attached to her as to exclude all appearance of art; on the contrary, they think it, on many occasions, necessary to make an ostentatious show of their labour.
Where the ground is extensive, and many scenes can be introduced, they generally adapt each to one single point of view; but where it is confined, and affords no room for variety, they dispose their objects so, that being viewed from different points, they produce different representations [symbolic meanings]; and often such as bear no resemblance to each other. They likewise endeavour to place the separate scenes of their compositions in such directions as to unite, and be seen all together, from one or more particular points of view, whence the eye may be delighted with an extensive, rich and variegated prospect [poetic feeling and picturesque composition]. They take all possible advantage of exterior objects; hiding carefully the boundaries of their own grounds [hiding landscape]; and endeavouring to make an apparent union between them and the distant woods, fields and rivers [borrowed landscape]: and where towns, castles, towers, or any other considerable objects are in sight, they artfully contrive to have them seen from as many points, and in as many directions as possible." (p. 20)
Liu Xiaoming, Beijing Forestry University, 'The Art of the Chinese Imperial Gardens in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)':
"The imperial gardens in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), located in Beijing and Chengde, created the North Style Gardens by means of incorporating the heritage of former gardens, addressing local natural and cultural contexts, and learning from the South Style Garden and the Scholar's Gardens. They are regarded as landmarks in the history of Chinese gardens. ... Better than nature though from nature was the main idea in creating these imperial gardens. Their artistic characters explored: (1) beauty of harmony, (2) symbolic meanings, (3) poetic feeling and picturesque composition, (4) borrowed landscape, (5) framed landscape, (6) leaking landscape, (7) blocking landscape, and (8) facing landscape." (Abstract of article from Acta Horticulturae 759, 8, 2007, pp. 125-135)
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain on garden livestock and wildlife menageries:
"... In all their open groves are kept young broods of peasants, partridges, pea-fowls, turkies, and all kinds of hansome domestic birds, who flock thither, at certain times of the day, to be fed' they also retain in them, by the same method, squirrels, small monkies, crocattos, parrots, hog deer, spotted capritos, lambs, Guinea pigs, and many other little beautiful birds and animals." p. 87.
Ouyang Zhesheng, 'The “Beijing Experience” of Eighteenth-Century French Jesuits A Discussion Centered on Lettres édifiantes et curieuses écrites des missions étrangères' excerpt of Gerbillon’s letter of 1705:
"There are also many pools and pastures for deer, roe deer, wild mules, and other brown-furred beasts; livestock sheds for raising domestic animals; fallow fields, meadows, orchards, and even several plots of cultivated land sown with seed; in short, everything that is refined in bucolic life is here in abundance." (Chinese Studies in History, vol. 46, no. 2, Winter 2012–13, pp. 35–57).
Lu Zhou, Professor, Tsinghua University:
"The imperial gardens built during the Han dynasty were extensive in scale. Basically, the large majority of these gardens were pieces of natural landscapes with limited artificial modifications (including construction of a huge pond and introduction of natural streams) designed for playing, hunting, and growing plants. This garden-building style influenced the gardens of aristocrats and wealthy people at the time. According to literature, the garden of Yuan Guanghan (name of a wealthy person) was characterized by rapid streams carried in from outside the garden, expansive water surfaces home to birds and fish, sandbars and artificial hills, etc., as well as a number of trees and flowers. As well, animals such as rhinoceros were kept." ('Development of Gardens in Ancient China, and Pure Land and Pure Land Gardens', 2009)
Jean Denis Attiret's A Particular Account of the Emperor of China's Gardens Near Pekin: In a Letter from F. Attiret, a French Missionary, Now Employ'd by that Emperor to Paint the Apartments in Those Gardens, to His Friend at Paris (1747) regarding the Yuan Ming Yuan palace garden:
"There are also on the Banks of this Lake, a great Number of Network-houses, and Pavilions; half on the Land, and half running into the Lake, for all sorts of Water-fowl: as farther on upon the Shore, you meet frequently with Menageries for different sorts of Creatures; and even little Parks, for the Chase.
There they sow Wheat, Rice, Pulse, and all other sorts of Grain. They make their Harvest; and carry in the Produce of their Grounds. In a Word, they here imitate every thing that is done in the Country; ... and all the plain Manners of a Country Life, as nearly as they possibly can."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain and Jean Denis Attiret's Descriptions of the Yuan Ming Yuan
As the Encyclopedia Britannica correctly informs us: "the account of Father Attiret, a Jesuit at the Manchu (Qing) court, published in France in 1747 and in England five years later, promoted the use of Chinese ornament in such gardens as Kew and Wroxton and hastened the “irregularizing” of grounds." We should therefore look to see what other parallels may exist between Chamberlain and Attiret in determining to what extent Chamberlain's work is simply a polemic shield, or in fact has an Oriental core.
Outdoor map of a bird's eye view reconstruction of the Yuan Ming Yuan. Various features of Chinese gardens as described by Chamberlain may be observed, from the layout of lakes, islands, bridges, structures, walkways, and the like. Meanwhile the gardens of the Summer Palace at the Forbidden City had particularly extensive and elaborately made grounds, and is probably the reason why Chamberlain notes that "Their summer scenes compose the richest and most studied parts of their Gardens." (p. 24 )
Chamberlain: "As China, even in the northern provinces, is exceedingly hot during summer, much water is employed in their Gardens. In the small ones, where the situation admits, they frequently lay the greatest part of the ground underwater, leaving only some islands and rocks; and in their large compositions, every valley has its brook or rivulet, winding round the feet of the hills, and discharging themselves into larger rivers and lakes. (p. 63)
Their lakes are made as large as the ground will admit; some several miles in circumference: and they are so shapped, that from no sigle point of view all their terminations can be seen; so that the spectator is always kept in ignorance of their extent. The intersperse in them many islands; which serve to give intricacy to the form, to conceal the bounds, and to enrich the scenery. Some of these are very small, sufficient only to contain one or two weeping willows, birch, larch, laburnum, or some other pendant plants, whole branches hang over the water: but others are large, highly cultivated, and enriched with lawns, shrubberies, thickets, and buildings: or they are rugged, mountainous, and surrounded with rocks and shoals;..." (p. 65)
Attiret regarding the Yuan Ming Yuan: "The Bottoms of these Valleys are water'd with clear Streams; which run on till they join together, and form larger Pieces of Water and Lakes. The Bottoms of these Valleys are water'd with clear Streams; which run on till they join together, and form larger Pieces of Water and Lakes.
I have already told you, that these little Streams, or Rivers, are carried on to supply several larger Pieces of Water, and Lakes. One of these Lakes is very near Five Miles round; and they call it a Meer, or Sea. This is one of the most beautiful Parts in the whole Pleasure-ground. On the banks, are several Pieces of Building; separated from each other by the Rivulets, and artificial Hills above-mentioned."
We should add here that, as Professor Lu Zhou notes: "Water is an important element in Chinese gardens. Water gives movement to gardens, and embodies poetic and painting inspirations. Poems composed by Bai JuYi about gardens give clear descriptions about water. Water landscapes of Zhuyupian, Yihu and Jinxiequan can be found in Wang Wei’s Wangchuanzhuang. Water is also an integral component in imperial gardens, where water is not simply one of the landscape elements but also a certain meaning symbolizing, for instance, the territory and the land of divine immortals, etc."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain: "The Chinese Gardeners take nature for their pattern; and their aim is to imitate all her beautiful irregularities. Their first consideration is the nature of the ground they are to work upon: whether it be flat or sloping; hilly or mountainous; small or of considerable extent; abounding with springs and rivers, or labouring under a scarcity of water; whether woody or bare, rough or even, barren or rich; and wheter the transitions be sudden, and the character grand, wild or tremendous; or whether they be gradual, and the general bent placid, gloomy or cheerful."
Attiret: "They go from one of the Valleys to another, not by formal strait Walks as in Europe; but by various Turnings and Windings, adorn'd on the Sides with little Pavilions and charming Grottos: and each of these Valleys is diversify'd from all rest, both by their manner of laying out the Ground, and in the Structure and Disposition of its Buildings."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain: "Upon their lakes, the Chinese frequently exhibit sea fights, processions, and ship-races; also fire-works and illuminations: in the two last of which they are more splendid, and more expert than the Europeans. On some occasions too, not only the lakes and rivers, but all the pavilions, and every part of their Gardens, are illuminated by an incredible number of beautiful lanterns, of a thousand different shapes, intermixed with lampions, torches, fire-pots, and sky-rockets; than which a more magnificent sight cannot be seen. Even the Girandola, and illumination of St. Peter's of the Vatican, though far the most splendid exhibitions of that sort in Europe, are trifles, when compared to these of China."
Attiret: "To let you see the Beauty of this charming Spot in its greatest Perfection, I should wish to have you transported hither when the Lake is all cover'd with Boats; either gilt, or varnish'd: as it is sometimes, for taking the Air; sometimes, for Fishing; and sometimes, for Justs [jousts], and Combats, and other Diversions, upon the Water: but above all, on some fine Night, when the Fire-works are play'd off there; at which time they have Illuminations in all the Palaces, all the Boats, and almost on every Tree. The Chinese exceed us extremely in their Fire-works: and I have never seen any thing of that Kind, either in France or Italy, that can beat any Comparison with theirs."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain: "...all of them elegantly finished with incrustations of marble, inlaid precious woods, ivory, silver, gold, and mother of pearl; with a profusion of ancient porcelain, mirrors, carving, gilding, painting, and lacquering of all colours." (p. 29)
Attiret: "...you see all the most beautiful things that can be imagin'd, as to Furniture, Ornaments, and Paintings, (I mean, of those in the Chinese Taste;) the most valuable Sorts of Wood; varnish'd Works, of China and Japan; antient Vases of Porcelain; Silks, and Cloth of Gold and Silver."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain: "... most of them are sufficiently capacious to lodge the greatest European lord, and his whole retinue."
Attiret: "Every Valley, as I told you before, has it's Pleasure-house: small indeed, in respect to the whole Inclosure; but yet large enough to be capable of receiving the greatest Nobleman in Europe, with all his Retinue."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain: "There is likewise, in the same garden, a fortified town, with its port, streets, public squares, temples, markets, shops, and tribunals of justice: in short, with everything that is at Pekin; only upon a smaller scale." (p. 32)
Attiret: "It has Four Gates, answering the Four principal Points of the Compass; with Towers, Walls, Parapets, and Battlements. It has it's Streets, Squares, Temples, Exchanges, Markets, Shop, Tribunals, Palaces, and a Port for Vessels. In one Word, every thing that is at Pekin in Large, is there represented in Miniature."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain: "In this town the emperors of China who are too much the slaves of their greatness to appear in public, and their women, who are excluded from it by custom, are frequently diverted with the hurry and bustle of the capital; which is there represented, several times in the year, by the eunuchs of the palace' some of them personating merchants, others artists, artificers, officers, soldiers, shop keepers, porters, and even thieves and pickpockets."
Attiret: "The Emperor of China is too much a Slave to his Grandeur ever to show himself to his People, even when he goes out of his Palace. ... As the Emperors of China find themselves obliged to live in this strange sort of Solitude, they have always endeavoured to supply the Loss of all public Diversions, (which their high Station will not suffer them to partake,) by some other Means or Inventions, according to their different Tastes and Fancies. This Town therefore ... has been appropriated for the Eunuchs to act in it, at several times in the Year, all the Commerce, Marketings, Arts, Trades, Bustle, and Hurry, and even all the Rogueries, usual in great Cities."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain: "On the appointed day, each puts on the habit of his profession: the ships arrive at the port, the shops are opened, and the goods are offered to sale; tea-houses, taverns, and inns, are ready for the reception of company; fruits, and all sorts of refreshments, are cried about the streets: the shop-keepers tease the passengers to purchase their merchandise; ..."
Attiret: "At the appointed Times, each Eunuch puts on the Dress of the Profession or Part which is assigned to him, to drive about the Streets; another, as a Porter, carries a Basket on his Shoulders. In a word, every one has the distinguishing Mark of Employment. The Vessels arrive at the Port; the Shops are open'd; and the Goods are exposed for Sale. There is one Quarter for those who sell Silks, and another for those who sell Cloth; one Street for Porcelain, and another for Varnish-works. ... There are Coffee-houses too, and Taverns, of all sorts, good and bad: beside a Number of People that cry different Fruits about the Streets, and a great Variety of refreshing Liquors. The Mercers, as you pass their Shops, catch you by the Sleeve; and press you to buy some of their Goods."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain: "...and every liberty is permitted: there is no distinction of persons; even the emperor is confounded in the crowd: quarrels happen---battles ensue---the watch seizes upon the combatants---they are conveyed before the judge, he examines the dispute and condemns the culprit, who is sometimes very severely bastinadoed, to divert his imperial majesty, and the ladies of his train."
Attiret: "Tis all a Place of Liberty and Licence; and you can scarce distinguish the Emperor himself, from the meanest of his Subjects. Every body bauls out what he has to sell; some quarrel, others fight: and you have all the Confusion of a Fair about you. The public Officers come and arrest the Quarrellers; carry them before the Judges, in the Courts for Justice; the Cause is try'd in form; the Offender condemn'd to be bastinado'd; and the Sentence is put in Execution: and that so effectually, that the Diversion of the Emperor sometimes costs the poor Actor a great deal of real Pain."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain: "Neither are sharpers [swindlers] forgot in these festivals; that noble profession is generally allotted to a good number of the most dextrous eunuchs, who, like the spartan youths of old, are punished or applauded, according to the merit of their exploits."
Attiret: "The Mystery of Thieving is not forgot, in this general Representation. That noble Employ is assign'd to a considerable Number of the cleverest Eunuchs; who perform their Parts admirably well. If any one them is caught in the Fact, he is brought to Shame; and concemn'd, (at least they go through the Form of condemning him,) to be stigmatiz'd, bastinado'd, or banish'd; according to the Heinousness of the Crime, and the Nature of the Theft. If they steal cleverly, they have the Laugh on their Side; they are applauded, and the Sufferer is without Redress."
* * * * * * * *
Chamberlain: "The doors of entrance to these apartments, are circular and polygonal, as well as rectangular: and the windows by which they are lighted, are made in the shapes of fans, birds, animals, fishes, insects, leaves and flowers: being filled with painted glass, or different coloured gauze, to tinge the light, and give a glow to the objects in the apartment." (p. 29)
Attiret: "Thus, for instance, there is no People in the World who can shew such a Variety of Shapes and Forms, in their Doors and Windows, as the Chinese. They have some round, oval, square, and in all Sorts of angled Figures; some, in the Shape of Fans; others in those of Flowers, Vases, Birds, Beasts, and Fishes; in short, of all Forms, whether regular or irregular."
* * * * * * * *
Sometimes Chamberlain shifts the aspect of one thing described in Attiret to something else; but even in that case it still preserves the aesthetic spirit of it. Here Attiret's description of the edges of waterways becomes that of the walkways in Chamberlain; yet both are of an analogous conception:
Chamberlain: "The ground of the walk is either of turf or gravel; nether of them finishing exactly at its edges, but running some way intot he thickets, roves or shrubberies on each side; in order to imitate nature more closely and to take off that disagreeable formality and stiffness, which a contrary practice occasions in our European plantations." (p.52)
Attiret: "The Sides of the Canals, or lesser Streams, are not faced, (as they are with us,) with smooth Stone, and in a strait Line; but look rude and rustic, with different Pieces of Rock, some of which jut out, and others recede inwards; and are placed with so much Art, that you would take it to be the Work of Nature."
* * * * * * * *
There are many other observations of Chamberlain which are very much in tune with Chinese principles of gardening, which can be verified by anyone who choses to do so by visiting Chinese gardens of the 18th century or earlier, or by reading any scholarly work on the principles of Chinese gardening. The importance of the seasonal nature of a scene, the importance of the time of day, the importance of bridges, the importance of the owner's tastes, the importance of the angle of viewing, among various other similarities are to be found. A few more of Chamberlain's comments that are very much a description of Chinese gardens in Imperial times, are provided below:
The importance of the garden being deeply consonant with the patron's individual character and tastes in Chamberlain:
"They are also attentive to the wealth or indigence of the patron by whom they are employed; to his age, his infirmities, temper, amusements, connections, business and manner of living; as likewise to the season of the year in which the garden is likely to be most frequented by him: suiting themselves in their composition to his circumstances, and providing for his wants and recreations. Their skill consists in struggling with the imperfections and defects of nature, and with every other impediment; and in producing, in spite of every obstacle, works that are uncommon, and perfect in their kind. (p. 13)
The importance of the time of day, points of view, and seasons in Chamberlain:
In their large Gardens they contrive different scenes for the different times of the day; disposing at the points of view buildings, which from their use point out the proper hour for enjoying the view in its perfections. And in their small ones, where, as has been observed, one arrangement produces many representations, they make use of the same artifice. They have beside, scenes for every season of the year... (p. 22)
Speaking of Chinese garden pavilions Chamberlain says:
Some of these structures are entirely open; the roof being supported on columns of rose-wood, or cedar, with bases of Corean jasper; or upon wooden pillars, made in imitation of bamboo, and plantane-trees, surrounded with garlands of fruit and flowers, arfully carved, being painted and varnished in proper colours." (p. 28)
This too, is not far from the truth; and the following is rightly so in almost any Chinese garden:
"The Chinese Gardeners very seldom finish any of their walks en cul de sac; carefully avoiding all unpleasant disappointments: but if at any time the nature of the situation obliges them to it, they always terminate at some interesting object; which lessens the disappointment, and takes off the idea of a childish conceit. (p. 48)
Nor are they less various and magnificent in their bridges than in their other decorations. Some they build of wood, and compose them of rough planks, laid in a rustic manner upon large roots of trees... " (p. 71)
While sometimes the descriptions sound more Japanese than Chinese:
"The Chinese Gardeners do not scatter their flowers indiscriminately about their borders, as is usual in some parts of Europe, but dispose them with great circumspection; and, if I may be allowed the expression, paint their way very artfully along the skirts of the plantations: and in other places, where flowers are to be introduced. They reject all that are of a straggling growth, of harsh colours, and poor foliage; choosing only such as are of some duration, grow either large, or in clusters, are of beautiful forms, well leaved, and of tints that harmonize with the greens that surround them." (p.83)
* * * * * * * *
Qi Qi Guai Guai (奇々怪々)ーーThe Fantastic, Illusory, and Theatrical
Even Chamberlains' flights of fantasy, his "scenes of terror" his idea of dens of beasts, of wild animals of horror, echo Attiret's description, but of the Chinese impression of European cities: "They look upon our Streets, as so many Ways hollowed into terrible Mountains; and upon our Houses, as Rocks pointing up in the Air, and full of Holes like Dens of Bears and other wild Beasts." Chamberlain's "deep valleys", "barren rocks", "dark caverns", and "impetuous catracts", "trees ill formed" all have their counterparts in actual large scale Imperial Chinese gardens, though he tends toward hyperbole with his jackals howling in the forests and apparati of torture. Yet in the final analysis the kernel of what he says is true even here, that at times the intentionally bizarre or hair-raising, or at least eyebrow raising of effects were intended.
China has always had a fondness for the '奇' and the '奇怪' emphasized '奇々怪々' (queer but precious, strange but alluring, rare and unfathomable---in any case possessing the qualities of weirdness and value in one---words difficult to translate with any exactness into English), in gardening, where the most spooky looking rock formations may be found. Recall also the ancient garden of Yuan Guanghan with its reputed rhinoceros. Lu Zhou quotes Emperor Hui Zong of the Sung dynasty who said, “Rocks, valleys, caves, tingge, pagodas, trees, plants, etc. are arranged high or low, far or near, out or in, lively or dying. When I walk around and look up, it feels as if I were at the bottom of a valley among deep mountains.”
The idea of garden as a world of illusions, or the fantastic, in Chamberlain tending toward the terrifying, while in China more of a paradise or dream world, but in any case a world of illusion similar to theater. Chamberlain in that sense was not wrong in his hyberbole; he was correct in the idea of the garden as an other worldly place, which he emphasizes throughout his dissertation.
"To the halls of the moon the Chinese princes retire" says Chamberlain, "with their favorite women, whenever the heat and intense light of the summer's day becomes disagreeable to them; and here they feast, and give a loose to every sort of voluptous pleasure."
According to him "there are, in other larger recesses of the thickets, more splendid and spacious buildings, where the women all meet at certain hours of the day, either to eat at the public tables, to drink their tea, to converse, bathe swim, work, romp, or to play at the mora, and other games known in China; or else to divert the patron with music, singing, lascivious posture dancing, and acting plays or pantomines; at all which they generally are very expert." (p. 28)
It sounds all to much like projections of his own fantasies onto an alien culture, but as Wai-Yee Li in 'Gardens and Illusions from Late Ming to Early Qing' explains: "Many romantic plays use the garden as the setting where lovers meet, whether in dreams or in "real" life; moreover, the performers in the actual garden were often courtesans, objects of desire for the literati audience. Some connoisseurs of the theater wrote perceptively about gardens---examples include Qi Biaojia, Zhang Dai (1597-1679), and Li Yu. Both theater and garden thrive on illusions and perceptual manipulations; both combine individual imagination with social conviviality."
Conclusion: Influence, and denial of influence, from Walpole to Harris
In the final analysis there is much that is sense and nonsense in Chamberlain; but that can be said of most literature about the rest of the non-European world in European literature up to and in the 18th century. There is certainly enough sense in it to say with certainty that it does convey key aspects of Chinese gardening, especially monumental gardening, making Harris's denial of it when he should know better something lacking in good faith.
That there was an attempt to enrich English gardens by the example of the Oriental is indisputable; even in William Mason's 'Heroic Epistle', which is sometimes characterized as a rebuttal, proves that: "Sir William says too modestly, 'that European artists must not hope to rival Oriental splendor.' The poet shows, that European artists may easily rival it; and, that Richmond gardens, with only the addition of a new bridge to join them to Brentford, may be new modelled, perfectly a la Chinois." A reading of Yu Liu's 'Changing Chinese Ideas into a Native English Tradition: The Complex Consequences of Horace Walpole’s Horticultural Nationalism' (2019) is enlightening as to this tradition of naysaying. Never willing to admit when they have been bested, claiming that all good comes from within themselves; is this not a perennial problem in some parts of the world?
Bibliography
Bertram, Aldous. 'Lord Macartney's Embassy to Peking, 1793: new light on China and the English landscape garden'. British Art Journal (Vol. 14, Issue 2) Autumn 2013.
Fu, Xiaoqian. 'L'architecture chinoise dans la pensée des jésuites du XVIIIe siècle'. Paris: Université de Paris VIII Doctoral Dissertation (in French). Excerpt: "Father Attiret is representative of this period. As soon as his letter is published, in 1747, Europe's interest grows on Chinese gardens, particularly Yuan Ming Yuan. His letter contributes then to the creation of parks and gardens "in the Chinese way" all over Europe. The third period is characterized by the works of Jesuits who stayed in China as long as the second part of the 18th century, mainly those who contributed to the "Mémoires concernant des chinois". Father Cibot is the most brilliant author about architecture, with his theory on the Chinese garden. His translation of a poem by Sima Guang shows the manner used by lettered Chinese people to create their own gardens, while deepens the European people's approach to the subject."
Jia, Jun. 'The Water Feature Design Art in the Private Gardens in Beijing'. Chinese Landscape Architecture, 2007, No.23, 57-59 (in Chinese).
Sze, Mai-Mai (ed. and transl.). The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, Chieh Tzu Yuan Hua Chuan, 1679-1701. A facsimile of the 1887-1888 Shanghai edition with the text translated from the Chinese and edited by Mai-Mai Sze. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1963.
Ouyang, Zhesheng. 'The “Beijing Experience” of Eighteenth-Century French Jesuits A Discussion Centered on Lettres édifiantes et curieuses écrites des missions étrangères.' Chinese Studies in History, vol. 46, no. 2, Winter 2012–13, pp. 35–57.
Wang, Yunda; Zhao, Jianye; Su, Chang; Takeda, Shiro; Zhang, Junhua. Journal of Environmental Information Science 2022Volume, No. 1. From the abstract: "The gardens in Group A have a large scale. “Earth mountains” and streams are the main shanshui features, which surround the garden space, isolating it from the outside world. In Group B, mountain and river features are scattered in a disorderly manner in the gardens, forming various types; In Group C, the shanshui model integrates the characteristics of groups A and B. Earth mountains are prevalent, surrounding the garden space, and water bodies are mostly banded, surrounded by mountain features. Group D is the largest, with concentrated characteristics. (Types and Layout Characteristics of Private Gardens in Beijing in the Qing Dynasty Based on the Planar Composition of “Mountain and Water” (Shanshui) Features."
Liu, Yu. 'Changing Chinese Ideas into a Native English Tradition: The Complex Consequences of Horace Walpole’s Horticultural Nationalism'. Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, Vol. 52, No. 3 (September 2019), pp. 37-60.
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The Japonisme Museum, Aoyama Archives
Shogoin Sannocho 16-18, Sakyoku Kyoto 606-8392
ジャポニスム ミュージアム 青山資料館
〒606-8392 京都市左京区聖護院山王町16－18
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