Classic Furniture: Craftsmanship, Trade Organisations and Cross-Cultural Influences in East and West

This publication presents a selection of essays on Chinese and European furniture making, stylistic influences and workshop practices during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Single chapters focus on the similarities and differences in cabinetry in East and West, and the overwhelming impact of chinoiserie on the design of furniture in early modern Europe. Individual masterpieces by cabinetmakers in France, England and Germany further exemplify the wide-reaching effect of an ‘exotic’ stylistic vocabulary and the development of an eighteenth-century fashion in the decorative arts.

Florian Knothe trained as a furniture maker and conservator. Previously he worked as a furniture historian for the Huntington Collection and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the US, and has published widely on European furniture and decorative arts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In recent years, this focus has shifted towards European and cross-cultural influences in China and the reception of artistic styles in East and West. As Director of The University of Hong Kong Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG), he is responsible for the development of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary art exhibitions and educational programming, and he also teaches courses in art history and the social sciences.

HKUP Spring 2017