The Chinese Room at Temple Newsam House in England features 18th-century Chinese wallpaper gifted by King George IV. Lady Hertford, known for her fashionable tastes, later added cut-outs of birds and butterflies from Audubon's The Birds of America.
However, Chinese art experts observed that these additions disrupted the artwork's intended harmony. The room exemplifies the cultural exchange between East and West, where Chinese wallpaper was a symbol of luxury and status.
#tracesofchina
However, Chinese art experts observed that these additions disrupted the artwork's intended harmony. The room exemplifies the cultural exchange between East and West, where Chinese wallpaper was a symbol of luxury and status.
#tracesofchina
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NewsTranscript
00:00So the Chinese room, or the Blue Room as it's sometimes referred to, is absolutely astounding.
00:14The wallpaper that we've got up is a choice by one of the characters who lived in the
00:19house, Lady Hartford, and she had a very illicit relationship, or so it's told, with the Prince
00:26Regent, who would go on to become George IV, and when he visits in 1806, he actually
00:31gifts her this wallpaper.
00:33So this is a portrait of the very famous Lady Hartford, and you can really tell that she
00:39was a real beauty of her day.
00:41When she put it up, she then decided that her taste had changed, and what she'd seen
00:46and loved in Brighton Pavilion, she didn't think fit this room.
00:50So she got a book that was incredibly popular at the time, called Audubon's Great Birds
00:54of America, and she got a pair of scissors and she cut all of her favourite birds and
00:59butterflies out, and she had them pasted on the wall.
01:02We did have a specialist who came looking at Chinese art, who told us that the spaces
01:08within the art that aren't filled are equally as important as the subject matter within
01:12that, and that's to give the piece enough room so it can breathe.
01:17So when she looked at this wallpaper and she saw all the additions that Lady Hartford had
01:21done, she said that it just made the whole room feel suffocated.
01:24A bit of a cultural clash, maybe.
01:25Absolutely, the coming together of East and West.
01:28So what can the wallpaper tell us about the relationships between the East and the West
01:32back then?
01:33So this wallpaper really talks about the luxury of those foreign imports.
01:38These were seen as hugely luxurious, desirable items.