Pagoda 18th century

This textile, "Pagoda," was made by Nixon & Co., and presents a red-on-white pastoral scene. It demonstrates the West’s fascination with Asian motifs, known as "chinoiserie," that became popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Here, pagodas are interspersed with romanticized vignettes of figures in leisure. The scenes are neither fully Western nor Eastern, but a hybrid reflecting colonial trade and cultural exchange. These textiles would adorn the homes of the European elite. In this way, the domestic interior became a space to display global aspirations. Historians use a variety of sources, from trade records to personal letters, to piece together the complex social context. We examine the ways the circulation of goods influenced aesthetic tastes and cultural values. These patterns were, in essence, a fabric of global connections and social hierarchies.