Chinoiserie Furniture
CHINOISERIE STYLE
Emerging in the 17th century, chinoiserie appropriated the aesthetics and imagery of popular East Asian design for European-made versions. Reflecting the exoticization of China, Japan and other countries in this era, the word directly translates from French to “Chinese-esque,” which reveals its shortcomings as a style of furniture and decor that often stereotypically and reductively mimics Asian culture rather than showcasing and paying tribute to its artistic traditions.
The enthusiastically decorative chinoiserie style was propelled by influential tastemakers including French King Louis XIV, whose Trianon de Porcelaine in 1670 was inspired by Chinese architecture. Expanded trade between the East and West led to a demand for porcelain, lacquer objects, silk and other goods, which further informed the fanciful furniture being crafted in Europe.
Artisans working in the chinoiserie style used materials and elements like pagoda shapes, bamboo, lacquer surfaces, bird and flower motifs and other interpretations of Asian design on pieces that were frequently set against vibrant wallcoverings. This whimsical approach yielded chinoiserie furniture that boasted dramatic flourishes drawing on the natural world and reflected the dominance of Rococo during the 18th century.
As chinoiserie was shaped by approximations of Asian design by European creators, it had regional variations, such as Chinese Chippendale in England where cabinets, chairs and tea tables had wooden fretwork designs and “japanned” surfaces intended to resemble lacquer work that was created in East Asia. In North America, furniture makers in Boston and New York integrated chinoiserie-painted scenes into Queen Anne furniture.
Antique chinoiserie furniture has continued to be fashionable, from its popularity with decorators of the Hollywood Regency era — James Mont, Tommi Parzinger, William Haines and Samuel Marx favored the style — to contemporary interior designers, although it brings with it a complex history.
Find a collection of chinoiserie bedroom furniture, cabinets, decorative objects and more on 1stDibs.
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Style: Chinoiserie
Creator: Bow Porcelain
Coffee Can Blue and White "Peony & Bamboo" Bow Porcelain, circa 1754
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early coffee can, painted in under-glaze blue with peonies and bamboo. The painting links with the William Pether 1754 jug.
The decoration is taken directly from Chinese examples, and was intended to compete with Chinese imports.
Peonies and bamboo are both commonly depicted in Chinese porcelain decoration. Peonies, also known as the "king of flowers," are often depicted in Chinese art as a symbol of wealth, nobility, and good fortune. Bamboo, on the other hand, is a symbol of integrity, resilience, and longevity. Together, peonies and bamboo are often used to symbolize the harmonious balance between wealth and integrity.
Chinese porcelain with peony...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Cup with Famille Rose decoration, Bow Porcelain, circa 1750
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
A direct copy of a Chinese shape, decorated with chinoiserie painting of typical motifs in the famille rose palette.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Famille Rose Tea Bowl & Saucer, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1755
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
A delicate tea-bowl and saucer, decorated after the Chinese in the Famille Rose palette. This style of painting, known as 'wet enamelling', is very attractive but quite scarce in Bow...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Dessert Plate, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1760
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Circular plate, the well outlined and transfer printed in black/brown outline and filled-in with 'wet' enamels all with Chinese figures in a garden and a child playing with an excite...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Plate Disheveled Birds, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1767
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Of silver shape with lobed and gilt dentil edge; the well with a landscape of exotic birds enameled in a brilliant palette all on a festoon of dense green-black foliage, the rim with insects and exotic butterflies.
The bird painter...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Egg Cup, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1752
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Modelled after a small Chinese blanc-de-Chine wine cup of Dehua, Fujian Province; the bowl with three single prunus sprigs. Thick glaze with some crazing around base. Green translucency. Base glazed but partially wiped.
Provenance: Taylor Collection; Parkside Antiques Melbourne...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Pair of Famille Rose & Prunus Plates, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1753
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
A fine pair of plates with raised decoration of prunus, and painted with a famille rose pattern.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Punch Powl, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1755
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
A rather splendid punch bowl from the Bow Porcelain Factory, enameled with flowers and insects in the Famille Rose style. A good size, at almost nine inches in diameter.
Famille R...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Teapot in the Famille Rose Style, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1752
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Small pot with loop handle, curved spout and domed cover with ball finial, the body painted after the Famille rose with chrysanthemum, flowers and leaves, all from mauve rocks on gre...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Blue and White "Swans & Pagoda", Bow Porcelain, circa 1765
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Decorated with an under-glaze blue print of a Chinese landscape, featuring a man at the window of a pagoda, admiring swans on the lake.
Bow didn't produce very much in the way of ...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Covered Vase, Famille Rose Decoration, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1749
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
A vase and cover, decorated with peonies &c in the Famille Rose style. Incised R mark group.
Prov Taylor Collection; Simon Spero; Joseph Handley.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Blue and White "Scholar's Rock" Bow Porcelain, circa 1751
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early coffee can, painted under the glaze with a Scholar’s Rock and associated items.
Prov. Taylor Collection; Stockspring Antiques.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Sparrow-Beaked Jug, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1763
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
A small pear-shaped milk jug, with a transfer-printed outline, filled with wet enamels, in the Chinese Mating Chickens pattern; the rear with symbols of pomegranate, leaves and censer.
Prov: Taylor Collection; John Wilson Antiques 2008.
Catalogue Entry:
Of small pear shape on a high footrim; sparrow...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Blue and White "Desirable Residence", Bow Porcelain, circa 1758
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Painted in under-glaze blue with the Desirable Residence pattern, featuring telegraph poles, and unusual feature for this period.
Prov: Taylor Collection; Mercury Antiques Melbourne...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Blue and White Sauce Boat, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1751
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Of silver form; oval, double lipped, and with scroll handle with stylized mask to each side. The interior painted in blue underglaze with a songbird on a branch, a peony and an inner...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Blue and White "Banana Trees", Bow Porcelain, circa 1753
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early coffee can, painted in under-glaze blue with banana trees in a landscape.
Prov: Taylor Collection; Parkside Antiques.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Punch Pot in the Famille Rose Style, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1757
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
A large tea-pot, or perhaps a punch pot, of globular form with loop handle. Painted in a vibrant wet palette after the Chinese. A most attractive example, of...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Dessert Plate, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1756
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Plate, circa 1755-1760: Octagonal plate, the decoration after an oriental original (possibly from the region now modern Bhutan), with four robed ladies walking through a stylized lan...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Tankard with Famille Rose Decoration, Bow C5145
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Baluster-shaped tankard, decorated with a pattern taken form the Chinese, in the famille rose-verte palette. It is amusing to note how the house on a hill in the original has been me...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Pair of Sauce Boats, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1753
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Pair of Sauceboats, circa 1752-1755:
Of flat hexagonal form with waved top and scroll handle, painted after the Chinese in blue with the ‘desirable residence pattern’ of a building...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Chestnut Basket, Two Quail Pattern, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1758
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
A ‘spectacle basket’, probably for oranges, with Kakiemon decoration to the interior, featuring the Two Quail pattern.
Provenance: Taylor Collection
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Dessert Plate, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1759
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Plate, circa 1758-1760:
Small octagonal plate, the well printed in blue underglaze with La Dame Chinoise (also called the Promenade Chinoise) showing a tall oriental lady with tw...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Blue and White "Bamboo and Pagoda", Bow Porcelain, circa 1751
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early coffee can, painted under the glaze with Bamboo and a pagoda. Underglaze B mark.
Provenance: Taylor Collection; Sutherland; Aubrey Toppin; Charles Dyson.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Blue and White "Cross-Legged Man", Bow Porcelain, circa 1751
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early coffee can, painted under the glaze with the cross-legged man pattern. An early and unusual shape for this scarce pattern.
Provenance: Taylor Collection; Robyn Robb.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Bowl with Chinoiserie Decoration, Bow Porcelain Factory, circa 1752
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early example of Bow porcelain, decorated in ‘wet’ famille rose colours; featuring a peony, a bird on a branch, and another in flight. Sacred Scrolls to the interior.
A superb ...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Blue and White "Flowers and Insects", Bow Porcelain, circa 1755
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early coffee can, painted in under-glaze blue with flowers and insects. Painter’s mark 16 and a distinctive way of painting insects.
Prov: Taylor Collection; Christie’s.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Blue and White "Residence", Bow Porcelain, circa 1755
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early coffee can, painted in under-glaze blue with a large residence in a Chinese landscape.
Prov: Taylor Collection; Watney Collection.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Teapot in the White, Prunus Decorated, Bow, circa 1749
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Drum-shape teapot with applied double-prunus decoration, in imitation of the Chinese. Pots of this form and date are rare, and this example is unusual in the quality of its body and ...
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can: Blue and White "Stork & Banana Tree". Bow Porcelain C1753
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early coffee can, painted under the glaze with the Stork & Banana Tree pattern.
Provenance Taylor Collection; Sutherland Collection.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Blue and White "Man at the Window" Bow Porcelain, circa 1760
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Painted in under-glaze blue with a pattern possibly depicting a reluctant bride.
Provenance Taylor Collection; Mercury Antiques.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Blue and White "Ribbon Landscape", Bow Porcelain, circa 1753
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early coffee can, painted in under-glaze blue with a Chinese landscape.
Prov: Taylor Collection; Roderick Jellicoe.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Coffee Can, Polychrome "Strutting Bird", Bow Porcelain, circa 1752
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
An early coffee can from the bow porcelain factory, naively painted with the ‘Strutting Bird’ pattern.
Category
Mid-18th Century English Antique Chinoiserie Furniture
Materials
Porcelain
Chinoiserie furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a broad range of unique Chinoiserie furniture for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage furniture created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include decorative objects, serveware, ceramics, silver and glass, asian art and furniture and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with wood, ceramic and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Chinoiserie furniture made in a specific country, there are Europe, Asia, and East Asia pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original furniture, popular names associated with this style include Mason's Ironstone, Schumacher, Century Furniture, and Bow Porcelain. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for furniture differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $21 and tops out at $216,780 while the average work can sell for $1,701.
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