Pictorial print 1781 - 1791

This pictorial print was created by Jean-Baptiste Huet I in France, sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. It reflects the fashion for chinoiserie. This was a European artistic style that took inspiration from China and other East Asian countries. The scenes depicted here, the figures and structures, are European fantasies of Asia, not depictions of the real thing. It was made during a period when French society had a fascination for the exotic and the decorative. Yet the creation of luxury goods like these, which were made for the wealthy, often relied on exploited labour both at home and abroad through colonialism. Historians use a wide variety of sources – accounts of the fashion industry, records from textile mills, even literature – to better understand the social context and cultural meanings of artworks such as this. In so doing, we come to appreciate the complex relationships that exist between art, society, and the structures of power.