Chinese Art for Western Interiors

On Thursday Colin Sheaf spoke at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 'Chinese Art for Western Interiors'. This was the second lecture in our occasional series of art talks focusing on aspects of Chinese Art; a series which is a joint initiative with our Chinese Congregations.

Linking Asian craftsmanship with evolving Western tastes in interior decoration and passion for Chinoiserie, the ‘China Trade’ facilitated the arrival in London of principally Chinese artefacts and traditions like tea-drinking, which greatly enriched English polite society between about 1600-1850. Colin's lecture explored this exotic yet fundamentally commercial maritime relationship, illustrating some of the fine lacquers, ‘Export-taste’ ceramics, silks and wallpapers which the ‘Honourable East India Company’ regularly imported.

Colin Sheaf has been Head of Asian Art at Bonhams since 2001. He has had a distinguished 37-year career in the auction industry after reading Modern History at Worcester College Oxford. A world authority on Asian ceramics and Chinese Art he directs Asian Art specialist teams on four continents, holding sales in London, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He is also Chairman of the Sir Percival David Foundation, the world's finest private collection of Imperial Chinese porcelain.

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Ding Yi Music Company - Moonlit River In Spring.