A pioneering publication which contributed to the Chinoiserie craze which swept across Europe.
Sir William Chambers (1723-1796), a Swedish-Scottish architect, gained fame for his Neo-Classical design of Somerset House as well as the Chinese Pagoda in Kew Gardens. Between 1740 and 1749 he made three voyages to Canton in the service of the Swedish East India Company which sparked his interest in Chinese architecture and gardens. There he managed to make a number of detailed drawings of both architecture (incl. bridges and pavilions) as well as furniture, ceramics, boats, and costumes, which are here published for the first time.
Chambers also includes a 6pp essay on “the Art of laying out Gardens among the Chinese”:
“They likewise form artificial rocks; and in compositions of this kind, the Chinese surpass all other nations. The making [of] them is a distinct profession ; and there are at Canton, and probably in most other cities of China, numbers of artificers constantly employed in this business. The stone they are made of comes from the southern coasts of China. It is of a bluish cast, and worn into irregular forms by the action of the waves. The Chinese are exceeding nice in the choice of this stone ; insomuch that I have seen several tael [of silver] given for a bit no bigger than a man’s fist, when it happened to be of a beautiful form and lively colour… In gardens they employ a coarser sort, which they join with a bluish cement, and form rocks of a considerable size. I have seen some of these exquisitely fine, and such as discovered an uncommon elegance of taste in the contriver. When they are large they make in them caves and grottos, with openings, through which you discover distant prospects…”
Owing to the popularity of this title, a French edition was printed in the same year.
Includes a list of over 160 subscribers. Colas 592; Harris 113; Lipperheide 12; Millard 12.
