Plate 117: Garden Chairs, from "A New Book of Chinese Designs" 1754

Matthew Darly created this print of garden chairs as part of "A New Book of Chinese Designs," likely sometime in the 1750s or 60s. This was a period when Europe was gripped by "chinoiserie," an artistic style that reflected a fascination with Chinese and other East Asian motifs. But it’s worth asking, what did "Chinese design" mean to Darly and his audience? The fanciful, almost grotesque forms of these chairs, rendered in delicate lines, speak more to European imagination than to any authentic Chinese aesthetic. It’s a reminder that artistic styles are never pure. They're always shaped by the social and cultural contexts in which they're produced and consumed. To understand this print fully, we might delve into trade histories, examining the flow of goods and ideas between Europe and Asia. We could also explore the design books and pattern books that circulated at the time, influencing taste and shaping the production of decorative arts. Art history, at its best, is a form of cultural history.