Porceleinkamer in het Koninklijk Paleis van Aranjuez 1862 - 1876

Jean Andrieu made this stereoscopic photograph of the Porcelain Room in the Royal Palace of Aranjuez sometime in the mid-19th century. The image presents the interior design of the room as a total work of art, where the boundaries between art, craft and decoration were deliberately blurred. This aesthetic trend coincided with a period of profound social and economic change in Europe as the Industrial Revolution drove the production of decorative objects. The photograph documents the revival of chinoiserie, a European interpretation of Chinese and East Asian artistic traditions, reflecting the growing global trade and colonial reach of European powers at that time. Photographs such as this one encouraged the conflation of elite taste with political power by documenting the private spaces of the Spanish royal family. To understand the photograph fully, scholars consult archives of aristocratic taste, design history, and the history of photography as an instrument of social documentation. The image helps us to examine the relationship between art, power, and cultural exchange in 19th-century Europe.