Siting China in Germany

Chinoiserie-the use of motifs, materials, and techniques considered "Chinese" in ceramics, furniture, interior design, and landscape architecture-has often been associated with courtly decadence and shallow escapism.In Siting China in Germany, Christiane Hertel challenges conventional assumptions about this art form by developing a fresh, complex perspective on collections, gardens, andliterature in the long eighteenth century. Fromthe extraordinary porcelain palaces at Dresden andRastatt andthe gardensofWilhelmsthal and Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel to theliterary and artistictranslation practices in Dresden andThomas Mann's historical novelLotte in Weimar,Hertelinterprets the extensive history of chinoiserie within but also beyond court culture.In particular, her study focuses on howmanifestations of chinoiserie in Germanyoscillated between theimagination, judgment, and critique ofcultural and historical difference as well as identity. Hertel's erudite analysis of the cultural significance of German chinoiserie will interest art historians and scholars of Orientalism, German Sinophilia, and German Sinophobia.