Page 73 - Collecting and Displaying China's Summer Palace in the West

58 Kate Hill

Figure 4.2 Cloisonné incense burners probably owned by Lieutenant Charles Henry Cox in
the Chinese Court. London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company, The Inter -
national Exhibition of 1862. No. 85—Enamels, stereoview, 1862. Courtesy of
Graham Wood. 60

As to the excellence and beauty of these Chinese enamels, both in design and colour,
there can be no question, and they are often miracles of minute and laborious
workmanship . . . It is high time that our manufacturers should look to it,
and endeavor to revive, on a large scale, one of the most beautiful and durable
decorative processes with which we are acquainted. 61

Christopher Dresser, a major interpreter of Chinese cloisonné and ceramics, noted:
“There are a few fine porcelain vases in the Chinese department.” 62 Of the carpets
the Birmingham Journal wrote:

we may direct attention to (not as an example worthy of imitation, but of great
brilliancy of colour) the rug or carpet from the summer palace of the Chinese
Emperor which formed a portion of the “loot” taken therefrom. It is remarkable
for the strangely metallic, bronze-like hue which pervades it, two colours only
being introduced, i.e., a rich black and a bronze yellow . . . The importance of
good and correct design to our manufactures has induced us here to introduce
these remarks . . . 63

The North Devon Journal reported:

Some of the most curious articles were procured at the sacking of the Emperor’s
Summer Palace . . . splendid specimens of enamelled vases . . . and two carpets
of very characteristic pattern. The ground of one is yellow, the ornament being
composed of flowers and birds of various colours; that of the other is black, with
quaintly-shaped flowers and birds scattered over it, and coloured with red, blue
and green . . .

and stated that Asians excelled in:

. . . so combining lines and forms as to produce in a very high degree the effect
of variety and intricacy, and in so placing colours in juxtaposition as to produce
exquisitely harmonious chromatic results . . . Utterly ignorant as the natives are