CIRCA 1870, PROBABLY BELGIUM

Details

A SUITE OF 'JAPONISME' ROOM PANELLING
CIRCA 1870, PROBABLY BELGIUM
The polychrome and parcel-gilt burgundy-ground canvases decorated with oriental motifs including cranes, storks, parasols, lanterns and foliage applied with asymmetric sections of split bamboo creating fantastical scenes, some later additions, reconfigured and rebacked; together with loose lengths of split bamboo and eighteen later floating shelves
The panelling in sixteen sections, comprising ten large panels: 82 1⁄2 in. (209 cm.) high and closely similar; six wide panels with widths between 58 in. (147.5 cm) and 68 1⁄2 in. (174 cm.); two panels 28 in. (71 cm.) and two narrow panels 13 in. (33 cm.) wide; together with six smaller panels, two 27 x 58 3⁄4 in. (68.5 x 144 cm.) wide; four 58 1⁄4 x 11 in.(148.5 x 28 cm.)

Provenance

Philippe Denys, Biennale de des Antiquaires, Paris, late 1980s.
Supplied by François-Joseph Graf.

Special notice

Following the auction, this lot will be stored at Crozier Park Royal and will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day after the sale. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 I Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The opening of Japan from 1854 captivated the imagination of the Western world and would inspire the and inform European and North American decorative arts for the remainder of the 19th century. The influence of the Japanese art and design perhaps reaching its apogee during the 1870s and 80s with the Japonisme in Northern Europe and the Aesthetic movement in Great Britain and the U.S.A.

This panelling is an impressive manifestation of this influence, showing the immersive appeal of this exotic form of decoration at its height. Very much in keeping with the Parisian interpretation of the Japanese influence, this remarkable survival is said to have come from a Belgian house before being carefully restored and installed to great effect in its last home on the shores of lake Geneva.

Parallels can certainly be drawn with the acclaimed Peacock Room created by James Whistler and Thomas Jeckyll between 1876 and 1877 for the Kensington, London, mansion of the shipping magnate Fredrick Richards Leyland, which is now in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. That room was conceived for the display of porcelain and likely inspired the addition of the asymmetric shelves edged with split bamboo to this panelling for the display of porcelain in dramatic contrast to its rich backdrop.

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