Page from 'Cahier de six Barques Chinoises' 1772 - 1779

Jeanne Deny made this etching, called "Page from 'Cahier de six Barques Chinoises'," in eighteenth-century France. It’s an elaborate fantasy of Chinese aesthetics; a figure that might be Chinese juggles atop a pagoda-like structure, all framed by stylized flora. This kind of imagery was widespread in Europe at the time. It speaks to a fascination with the Far East but it also tells us something about European attitudes. "Chinoiserie", as it was called, was a fashionable style that reflected the expansion of global trade networks and European imperial ambitions. These exoticized and often inaccurate depictions of Chinese culture served to reinforce a sense of European superiority and to justify colonial endeavors. The Rijksmuseum's collection records the history of Dutch trade, and the institutional context helps us understand this image as part of a broader history of cultural exchange and appropriation. To understand this image better, one might research eighteenth-century French decorative arts, the history of Chinoiserie, and the role of institutions like the Dutch East India Company in shaping European perceptions of China.