ABSTRACT
The first chapter of this book introduces the Ionides Collection of European style Chinese export porcelain, the nucleus from which all subsequent object and collection histories begin. Starting with the production of this specialist category of porcelain in China, key characteristics and design features are explored, highlighting aspects of shape and form, decoration, colour, and technical innovations which have come to define this distinctive style of porcelain. Through selected pieces in the collection, artistic and cultural interactions through trade and commerce can be further understood, primarily between China and Europe but also within China and other regions of Asia, across numerous sites of production and amongst a variety of consumers. In each case, Chinese porcelain acted as a vehicle for European design, offering a window on contemporary European fashion, aesthetics, and taste during the long eighteenth century.
Today, the historical value of the Ionides Collection is understood but this has not always been the case. Through the history of the collection, this chapter explores shifting attitudes towards Chinese porcelain, in European style, questioning notions of authenticity, Chinese, and Britishness during the second quarter of the twentieth century when it came into being, and its later fragmentation between the public sphere of the museum and the art market.
