Examples of Chinese Ornament

Illustration: Pattern from a painted ceramic bottle, from Owen Jones Examples of Chinese Ornament, 1867.

In 1867, Owen Jones published the luxurious volume Examples of Chinese Ornament: Selected from Objects in the South Kensington Museum and Other Collections, to give it its full title. The book contained over ninety full colour portfolio pages of Chinese decoration and pattern work. It was to be used as guidance for designers, decorators, historians, critics and any of the general public that had a particular interest in the subject and could afford the book.

Illustration: Pattern from a painted ceramic bottle, from Owen Jones Examples of Chinese Ornament, 1867.

What is particularly interesting about Jones homage, if you will, to Chinese decoration, is the fact that he was able to peel back generations of European Chinese style decoration, or Chinoiserie, to reveal work that was pure in its essence. Jones was a campaigner for authenticity and correctness within pattern design, decoration and ornamentation from the many different decorative traditions that went to make up the universal human culture. There was to be no room for European interpretations within his studies of decoration.

Illustration: Pattern from a painted ceramic vase, from Owen Jones Examples of Chinese Ornament, 1867.

Jones 1867 book did its part in helping to correct some of the longstanding misinterpretations of European ideas concerning Chinese decorative and ornamental work, both conscious and unconscious, that was at the heart of Chinoiserie. Although not perceived to be particularly harmful, in itself, Chinoiserie did in fact often give a distorted, confusing and patronising interpretation of Chinese pattern work, history and culture. Chinoiserie had more or less become a European institutionalised style since its fashionable height in the eighteenth century, often waxing and waning in popularity but never really going away. With the publication of Jones concise Examples of Chinese Ornament, which could well have been titled Examples of REAL Chinese Ornament, studies could now be made from genuine examples, rather than those of European origin.

Illustration: Pattern from a gourd shaped painted ceramic vase, from Owen Jones Examples of Chinese Ornament, 1867.

It is interesting to note that many of the Chinese examples were copied by Jones from the collection of the South Kensington Museum, which was eventually to become the Victoria & Albert Museum. William Morris, amongst others, were frequent visitors to the collection and it is interesting to note how similar in style and composition some of the Chinese examples are to the very English themed textile and wallpaper pattern work produced by Morris and his company. It seems unlikely that this is mere coincidence.

Illustration: Pattern from a blue-and-white ceramic bottle, from Owen Jones Examples of Chinese Ornament, 1867.

These examples of Chinese decorative work show the real beauty of composition, colour tone and balance that was the result of centuries of constant experimentation and innovation by generations of Chinese artists and designers. Certainly a long way from the overly fussy and often trite European version that was Chinoiserie.

Further reading links:
Grammar of Chinese Ornament
The Complete "Chinese Ornament": All 100 Color Plates (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)
Owen Jones' Chinese Ornament CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art)
Chinese No 3, Plate LXI, from The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones Giclee Poster Print by Owen Jones, 18x24
Pattern Sourcebook: Chinese Style: 250 Patterns for Projects and Designs
Chinese Patterns (Agile Rabbit Editions)
Jade flowers and floral patterns in Chinese decorative art
Chinese Art (World of Art)
Chinese Art and Culture
Chinese Art: A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery
Art in China (Oxford History of Art)
Chinese Porcelain: Art, Elegance, and Appreciation (Art of China) (Arts of China)