The originality of Chinoiserie-style garden architecture in England in the XVIII century

Yui Zhengyang PhD in Art History Postgraduate student; Department of the History of Russian Art; St. Petersburg State University 190000, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Vilkitsky Blvd., 6, sq. 671 chzhenyan@mail.ru

Chinoiserie, which means "Chinese style" in French, is a European artistic phenomenon that originated in the XVII century and reached the peak of its popularity in the XVIII century. The style reflected the fascination of Europeans with Oriental cultures, in particular Chinese, Japanese and other Asian cultures. It represents the use of Chinese things in the interior, imitation of Chinese patterns and their interpretation in painting, architecture, landscape design and decorative and applied arts ^{[1, pp. 1-3]}. The style developed as an intra-style trend of the Rococo widespread in that period, known for its dynamism, quirkiness and asymmetry.

The purpose of this work is to identify the specifics of the arrangement of English gardens and parks in the Chinoiserie style. The subject of the study is the stylistic features of the embodiment of Chinoiserie gardens and parks. The object of the study is parks and garden architecture in the Chinoiserie style in England. The relevance of the study is justified by the current trend towards rethinking the interaction of cultures of European and Eastern countries. The processes of cultural exchange and dialogue are the basis for building mutual understanding and cooperation between countries. In the course of the research, historical, historical-genetic, historical-comparative methods were used. In the study of specific objects of landscape architecture, methods of art criticism analysis were applied - formal, stylistic and comparative. The novelty of this work lies in the fact that the features of the Chinoiserie style in the landscape architecture of England were highlighted and a comparison of English architectural objects in the Chinoiserie style with Chinese analogues was carried out.

The active trade of European countries with China contributed to the emergence of European interest in Chinese culture. Chinese products brought from the sea expeditions of the East India Company quickly became an indicator of the good taste of their new owner. To meet the growing demand, European artists, who often had never seen the originals, began to make their own products in the Chinese style, which gave rise to a unique symbiosis of Western and oriental art ^[2].

During the same period, European countries began to be interested in unusual Chinese gardens, whose descriptions and images they could get acquainted with in various treatises, books by travelers who visited a distant eastern country. Missionaries who visited China often drew attention to the towering pagodas in the gardens, descriptions and drawings of which they kept in travel notes. This gave rise to the "pagoda fever" in eighteenth-century Europe ^[3]. Europeans were drawn to the Chinese culture, which was unusual for them, considering its gardens to be examples of sophistication and sophistication, unlike the already familiar English gardens.

The Chinoiserie style was especially popular in the landscape architecture of England. He proved to be in great demand and was warmly received by British society due to the fashion for the exotic. Such an unusual landscape and garden architecture attracted the attention of many English architects. The colonial activity of Great Britain also contributed to the spread of oriental goods, books and cultural exchange in the country. Chinese art has inspired garden designers, architects, and sculptors to use new shapes, materials, and colors ^[4].

In the XVII century, Dutch and French gardens, that is, regular gardens, were common in England. The English poet Joseph Addison wrote that typical "English gardens, instead of adapting to nature, often contradict it." The trees planted "according to the ruler" in the form of geometric shapes do not please the eye and are inferior in beauty to ordinary and "natural" trees ^[5]. Not everyone agreed with this opinion, but the Chinoiserie style, which quickly became popular, definitely brought a unique charm. The strange asymmetrical design of Chinese gardens was very different from the monotony and uniformity of European–style gardens - the emphasis was on the beauty of nature, square and rectangular linear designs of traditional European gardens were avoided. Due to the different natural conditions, it turned out to be problematic to completely transfer the Chinese garden landscape to English soil. However, pavilions, pagodas, bridges and other small architectural forms were built in Chinoiserie-style Chinese gardens in England. The Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew with a Large Pagoda, Painshill Park with a Chinese Bridge, where Chinese architectural elements served to convey oriental flavor, as well as many other parks and gardens were created ^[6].

This style of landscape design significantly influenced the formation of public taste and culture in England of the XVIII century. For representatives of high society, it has become an indicator of their status, education and cultural erudition. Various scientific studies and treatises have been devoted to the Chinoiserie style in landscape architecture in England. These works analyze the influence of Chinese architecture on European landscape art. Chinese parks and buildings appeared not only in England, but also on the territory of continental Europe in Germany (Chinese House in Sans Souci Park, Chinese Tea house in Pillnitz Park), France (Chinese House on the territory of Chantilly Castle), Sweden (Chinese Pavilion in the gardens of Drottningholm Palace) and Russia (Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum Park, a creaking Chinese gazebo and a Chinese village in Catherine Park).

Publications such as "China and Gardens of Europe of the Eighth Century" by Oswald Sayren ^[7], one of the first European historians who studied Chinese art, as well as "The English Garden" by Lawrence Fleming and Alan Gore ^[5], contain the history of the development of the Chinoiserie style in Great Britain and other European countries as well as valuable descriptions of Chinese parks and various Chinese-style buildings that have not survived to the present day or have not been preserved in their original form. These publications are significant studies of the influence of Chinese culture on landscape gardening in Europe in the XVII–XIX centuries. Modern researchers such as Golosova E. V. ^[2], Neglinskaya M. A. ^{[8, 9]}, highlight the origin of the Chinoiserie style in gardens and parks in Europe, as well as its influence on the development of European architecture.

William Chambers (1723-1796) is considered one of the most famous and respected specialists in the history of horticulture. He was an employee of the Swedish East India Company and made 3 trips to China and Bengal. There he studied local languages, mathematics, but above all architecture, in which Chambers had a special interest since childhood. In his treatise "Dissertation on Oriental Gardening" in 1772, Chambers described in detail the structure of Chinese gardens, which subsequently inspired many European architects to experiment with the Chinese style and use asymmetric shapes, curved lines and other elements associated with Chinese aesthetics ^{[7, pp. 62-63]}. After completing his service with the East India Company, William Chambers was appointed personal architect to Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales and mother of George III. His main project was the construction of a Large Pagoda in the Royal Gardens of Kew, one of the most famous Chinoiserie buildings that have survived to this day.

For Chinese gardens, the main model is nature itself. Before starting the construction of various pavilions, pagodas and bridges, the natural landscape is carefully studied, whether the terrain is mountainous, the presence or absence of waterfalls, rivers, whether there is enough shade from trees. First of all, a Chinese garden should organically fit into nature, emphasizing its advantages and hiding its shortcomings. The Chinese are not used to walking a lot in gardens and parks, unlike the British, so they have places to relax and admire nature close to each other. Landscape designers sometimes create artificial streams or rivers so that strollers in the garden can listen to the sound of water, and also, using existing crevices in rocks, buildings and other special holes, create the illusion of voices from the noise of the wind. The climate in China is much hotter than in England, so there is a lot of water in their gardens. If the position of the place allows, gardeners create reservoirs and small rivers, leaving only paths for easy movement from gazebo to gazebo. As we said earlier, in English gardens it was customary to plant trees and other vegetation "according to the ruler" and give them an unnatural shape. In China, when planting trees, they tried to give them a different look and color, planting different types of plants nearby to create a more natural landscape ^[10].

The classical garden in China was designed in accordance with the teachings of Feng Shui and geomancy, which linked the features of the local landscape, vegetation with the positions of the celestial bodies and with the energy fields of the planet. Therefore, gardeners and architects had to follow certain rules to achieve the principles of universal harmony. Almost every aspect of the Chinese garden is not accidental. In ancient China, there was a belief that spirits were able to move exclusively in a straight line, for this reason, the Chinese gave all paths and bridges in gardens a curved shape ^[11]. When the Chinoiserie style began to spread in Europe, the emphasis was more on imitating architectural styles and creating copies of various decorations than on the philosophy underlying the creation of a Chinese garden. Great Britain, being a Christian country, did not attach much religious importance to pagodas. They served as garden decorations and viewing platforms. Bridges, symbolizing in Chinese culture the transition from the world of bustle to solitude, were used for their intended purpose to cross from island to island or across a river. Each building in the structure of the Chinese garden performs its own special functions and sets a certain mood. Terraces were provided for admiring the scenery, gazebos for tea or reading ^[12]. These structures were also implemented in Kew Gardens and were used as a place to relax and admire the views of nature. Despite the fact that English gardens did not follow all the canons of garden construction, various Chinese elements were adapted to English culture and climatic conditions.

Chinese gardens in 18th-century England were a mixture of Oriental aesthetics and European style, which gave the space a unique atmosphere of foreign culture and harmony of architecture with nature. The most common characteristics of these gardens are a large area, poorly intersected terrain, the presence of reservoirs, as well as a combination of small architectural forms in different styles.

The Chinese house in Stowe Gardens in Buckinghamshire, the first mention of which dates back to 1738, is considered one of the first Chinese-style buildings in the gardens of England. Its architect was William Kent, a famous designer and architect of gardens in the first half of the XVIII century ^[13]. The Chinese house stood in the middle of the pond on wooden poles. It attracted attention with a gable roof with two dolphin figurines on the roof ridge and small windows with decorative bars. It is believed that the walls outside were covered with painted canvas, and the inside was decorated with paintings. Inside the house there was a statue of a sleeping Chinese woman. The Chinese house has not been preserved in its original form, but there are descriptions of contemporaries. From them, we learn that the interior design of the house was inspired not only by the culture of China, but also India and Japan. This indicates that it was common in England to mix different oriental styles, but to name them by one of the most popular terms ^{[7, pp. 30-31]}.

Fig. 1. The Chinese house in Stowe House, Buckinghamshire, England. Source: green-design.pro

Numerological teaching is of great importance in traditional Chinese architecture. The ancient Chinese believed that the twofold nature of this teaching is revealed in arithmetic and geometric images. "Heavenly" and "earthly" in numerology were interpreted as odd and even (arithmetically) or round and square (geometrically). The use of a square and a circle in buildings carried a certain symbolism, they personified yin and yang. Since the Han era, most buildings in China had a square plan, inside which a circle could be inscribed ^[14]. The size of the Chinese house in Stow is 380 x 280 x 340 cm, which does not fit the shape of a square. Most likely, the English architects did not have sufficient knowledge of architectural canons, so they unintentionally violated the traditional layout. Also, when building Chinoiserie-style buildings, the architects were not guided by the same philosophical teachings as Chinese architects, but were only inspired by the aesthetics of these buildings. The roof of the Chinese house in Stow Gardens is also somewhat different from the traditional curved Chinese roofs. The roof of the Chinese house was straight gable, the corners of the roof were not bent, as was customary in China. With the help of decorative elements, the architect tried to create the illusion of curved corners near the roof, but these elements are too small and invisible. Traditional Chinese roofs are usually covered with glazed clay tiles, but instead of this material, William Kent used a lead coating ^[7].

Chinese-style bridges are a frequent element in Chinoiserie gardens. Built in 1760, the Chinese Arch Bridge in Painshill Park in Surrey reflected the aesthetics of the Chinoiserie style in the 18th century. The original version of the bridge has not been preserved, however, during the restorations, the bends and elements inherent in its original Chinese design were preserved ^[6]. The arched bridge type was popular in China during this era. Such bridges were characterized by high strength and were convenient for crossing small rivers or reservoirs. The arches could be of various shapes, in particular arched and semicircular, and of different heights. Built in the same decade, the Yudaqiao Bridge in Yiheyuan Park in Beijing resembled a semicircle in shape ^[15]. Chinese and Japanese arched pedestrian bridges are also commonly referred to as lunar bridges. The spread of the Chinoiserie style in Europe led to the appearance of such bridges in gardens and parks. So, similar bridges were also erected in the Chinese Village in the Alexander Park of Tsarskoye Selo in St. Petersburg.

Fig. 2. Chinese Bridge, Painshill Park, Cobham, Elmbridge, Surrey. Source: painshill.com.uk

The Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew in south-west London are considered one of the most striking examples of the influence of the Chinoiserie style on the garden architecture of England. The Princess of Wales commissioned the Royal architect William Chambers to build new pavilions for the Royal Gardens. Of the 23 building projects, more than 2/3 were executed in classical style, one building in Moorish and Turkish style and 2 buildings in Chinese style ^{[7, pp. 72-75]}. The British landscape gardens of the XVIII century were multicultural spaces where styles and aesthetics of different cultures were combined ^[16]. Chambers, as is sometimes mistakenly believed, did not recognize that the Chinese architectural style is better than the European one, but rather wanted to introduce European architects to a different approach to creating a garden landscape, with unusual techniques and techniques. Of course, Chinese architects and gardeners managed to masterfully fit gazebos, pagodas and bridges into the natural landscape without destroying it, but only emphasizing the connection of man with nature. Chambers tried to give the gardens more variety, being inspired by cultures far away from Europe.

Chambers' responsibilities included landscape creation, water management, and garden landscaping. In his notes, he mentioned some pavilions of Kew Gardens that have not survived to the present day. For example, such pavilions as "Medicinal or exotic garden", "Flower garden and aviary", "Park parterre", "Menagerie or aviary for pheasants", "Wildlife and lake". Contrary to popular belief, the Great Chambers Pagoda was not the first building in the Royal Gardens designed in the Chinoiserie style. On the shore of the lake, next to the temple of Aeolus, there was a Chinese octagonal pagoda known as the House of Confucius. Its walls were painted with grotesque ornaments and historical inserts relating to Confucius and the Christian missions in China. The architect of this pagoda, built in the first half of the XVII century, is considered to be Joseph Goopy, and William Kent designed sofas and chairs for the interior of the pagoda.

In 1762, the construction of the Great Pagoda, one of the most famous European structures, stylized as the architecture of China, was completed. The architect managed to reproduce the Chinese architectural style, but the standard proportions were not observed, so the pagoda turned out to be too narrow compared to its height. This octagonal structure consists of 10 tiers, the diameter of the lower tier is 15 m, which decreases with each new tier above. The even number of floors in the tower was somewhat contrary to traditional practice in Buddhism, since most pagodas consisted of an odd number of floors. The tower consists of 243 steps. The height of the architectural caprice is 50 m. Each of the tiers was emphasized by a curved tile roof and decorated with glazed dragons and decorative balustrades ^{[7, pp. 72-75]}. In European culture, dragons were considered evil creatures, but in China, dragons are ancient mythical creatures with a long body covered with scales and four legs. Dragons symbolize power, superiority, perseverance and luck, which is why European architects liked to use images of dragons as decorations ^[17]. The Large pagoda was not designed in the likeness of any one pagoda in China, however, historians identify several models that William Chambers could have been inspired by when creating the Large Pagoda. Many researchers believe that the most likely prototype was the Porcelain Pagoda in Nanjing, the most famous Chinese building for the Europeans of the XVIII century. The tall tower, built of white brick that resembled porcelain, was covered with ceramics of green, red and yellow colors and created a truly incredible impression. However, the Large Pagoda looked little like a Porcelain pagoda, its walls were built of red brick and were not so decorated. Other researchers claim that Chambers primarily focused on pagodas, which he could see with his own eyes on his trips to China. The Chigan Pagoda and the Pazhou Pagoda in Canton (now known as Guangzhou) really look like the Chambers Pagoda. Both Chinese pagodas are 50-60 m high, they are octagonal structures, each new tier of which is gradually decreasing. The roofs of the Big Pagoda and the Pazhou Pagoda are straight, not curved, as was most often customary in China. Chambers used wooden brackets to support the roofs, but a different technology was used in Chinese pagodas – rows of bricks were laid out in such a way that each of them protruded above the other to match the cornices ^[18].

Fig. 3. The Large pagoda in London in Kew Gardens. Source: hrp.com.uk

The Large pagoda was and remains the most tangible evidence of China's influence on European architecture in the 18th century. Due to its eclecticism and flexibility in the use of various styles and elements, Kew Gardens remain popular and continue to inspire designers and architects in our time, and also play an important role in the preservation and development of Chinese architectural styles in modern landscape design.

Having analyzed the formation of the Chinoiserie style in the landscape and architecture of England and the main buildings in this style, it is possible to identify the main features of the Anglo-Chinese style, explaining the originality of the Chinoiserie style in England and its differences from the traditional Chinese style in this area.

1. Most of the Chinoiserie-style buildings, gardens and parks were created by architects and designers who had never traveled to China and had not seen Chinese designs with their own eyes. They started from other people's descriptions and their own traditions when creating Anglo-Chinese gardens, made all sorts of assumptions and conclusions about Chinese gardens and embodied them in English realities.

2. The canons of Chinese landscape art were often not followed. Chinese gardens were designed in accordance with the teachings of Feng Shui and geomancy. During the construction of buildings, knowledge of numerological teaching was also necessary. In 18th-century England, the aesthetics of Chinese landscape art most often prevailed over philosophical content and functionality.

3.      The Chinoiserie style developed as an internal Rococo trend, therefore it represented primarily European art using Chinese motifs.

4. When creating Chinoiserie-style designs, architects replaced some materials and technologies with more traditional ones for European architecture.

5.      Chinoiserie's style is based not only on imitation of Chinese art, but also of all oriental, in particular Japanese, Moorish, and Indian, since the British did not always understand the differences between these cultures and mixed stylistic techniques from different countries.

Thus, English Chinoiserie-style gardens and parks have a pronounced national specificity in their approach to design and design in the Chinese style. Chinese elements were used primarily as decorative decoration to create an atmosphere of a distant and mysterious culture. None of the Chinoiserie-style objects were built according to all the canons of Chinese landscape art, nor were Chinese designers and architects involved in the work. Instead, a new style was created, based on which Chinese and European styles were combined. Later, such eclecticism became widespread in other European countries, and the style originated in England was called "Anglo-Chinese park". Anglo-Chinese gardens were characterized by a mixture of styles in both landscape design and architecture.