Chinese Porcelain: The Unexpected Catalyst of Enduring Asian Stereotypes
The enduring archetypes of Asian and Southeast Asian femininity, such as the alluring temptress, the submissive beauty, and the ‘dragon lady,’ have been present in Western societal perceptions long before any substantial contact with women from those regions. A significant, and perhaps unexpected, contributor to these stereotypes were the Chinese porcelain artifacts that made their way to Europe by sea in the 16th century. These delicate, intricate pieces were brought by traders, initially used as stabilising weight for spice shipments.
The exceptional properties of the porcelain — opaque, radiant, and incredibly different from the accustomed earthenware — sparked an obsession. The cobalt-blue designs that adorned them, suggestive of obscure places, alien deities, and unknown populations, tantalized Western curiosity. The arrival of these items ignited a trend for ‘Chinoiserie,’ a decorative style that influenced not only ceramics, but rippled into the spheres of furniture, textiles, and fine arts, and endured until the 19th-century.
A captivating exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, named ‘Monstrous Beauty,’ amassed over two hundred artifacts ranging from the 16th century to the present, featuring works of seven contemporary women artists of Asian and Asian American descent. Its premise is a ‘feminist revision’ of Chinoiserie, inviting spectators to observe the porcelain exhibits not merely as decorative marvels, but as carriers of enduring racial and cultural stereotypes attached to the East, particularly about its female residents.
The exhibition argues that the motifs prominently featured on the porcelain pieces — such as palms, pagodas, dragons and females, despite seeming benign, have inadvertently shaped the West’s perceptions of Asia. This was possible due to the sheer ubiquity of their presence, causing people to scarcely recognize their potential implications.
Visitors are welcomed to the show by five towering ‘translated vases,’ courtesy of the Korean artist Yeesookyung. The craftsmanship involves sticking together fragments of thrown-away porcelain and patching up the crevices with golden leaf, in accordance with Asian principles which respect the object’s history by highlighting breakage. Yeesookyung’s sculptures go beyond mere restoration, they reinvent. The outcome is enigmatic shapes — simultaneously peculiar and stunning, encapsulating ‘monstrous beauty.’
These artistic creations fittingly raise the exhibition’s curtain, serving as suitable precursors for an event which, in its own words, aims ‘to shatter the lure of the exotic.’
The initial objects that made their way to Europe were crafted for markets other than Europe’s. Nevertheless, as the Portuguese, British, Dutch East India companies, among other traders, smelled the scent of profit, they started commissioning customized handiwork from Chinese manufacturers. These commissions were crafted to not only fit Western shapes and forms, but also cater to Western design sensibilities.
This exhilaration led to a frenzied search among Europeans to unravel the secret behind porcelain’s recipe, which had been closely guarded by the Chinese. Finally, in the mid-18th century, the Europeans stumbled upon the secret: kaolin, a white clay, was the special ingredient that made porcelain’s distinctive properties possible.