FEATURES ARCHIVE

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Western travelers to the East were fascinated by the porcelain, lacquer and other exotic wares they encountered abroad. These travelers returned with tantalizing tales and Oriental objects of desire, helping to foster a passion for all things Oriental amongst sophisticated European aesthetes. Trading companies like the East India Company in England and the Compagnie des Indes in France capitalized on the Western fascination with Eastern goods by importing them in large quantities. Denmark established its own significant commercial ties with the Far East. In 1616, King Christian IV established the Danish East India Company to facilitate trade between Denmark and the Orient. King Frederick IV and his son Christian VI subsequently revived this lucrative trade with a new company in 1732, The Royal Danish Asiatic Company, which imported tea, porcelain, silks and other wares via supercargo ships.

Chinese lacquer furniture was one of the primary imports through these trading companies. Much of the furniture produced in the East for export to Western audiences was based on Western prototypes, with Western designs supplied directly to the Chinese craftsmen so they could follow the forms closely. This richly lacquered bureau is one such piece which bears a royal Danish inventory mark, probably that of Frederik V (1723–1766) when he was crown prince. Reigning from 1746–1766, Frederik V was an important patron of the arts who founded the Royal Danish Academy of Art in 1754 and initiated a series of important building projects in Copenhagen. The bureau is also marked with an inventory number for Charlottenlund Castle, the royal residence in Copenhagen where the bureau resided, probably in the 19th century.