The Fashion for Japan in Europe: From the Mazarin Chest to Madam Butterfly

In the 17th Century, rare and wondrous Japanese works of art, such as the magnificent black lacquer chest decorated in gold with scenes from the Tale of Genji and known today as the 'Mazarin Chest', arrived on Western shores from far-distant Japan. Now a treasured object in the collection of the V&A Museum, this chest and other works of art were highly prized objects of desire sought after by wealthy European collectors. Commercial exchanges expanded in the late 19th Century, with a profusion of art objects destined for fashionable Victorian aesthetic interiors. Together with kimonos and woodblock prints, these finely crafted exotic objects were variously reinterpreted in Royal Worcester and Minton porcelain wares, in paintings by James McNeil Whistler and in the tragic operatic story of Madame Butterfly.

Lecturer: Anne haworth

Time

10:15 – 10:45 Registration

10:45 – 11:45 Lecture 1

11:45 – 12:05 Comfort Break

12:05 – 13:05 Lecture 2

13:05 – 14:20 Lunch (not included in ticket price)

14:20 – 15:30 Lecture 3 and Q & A session

Host or Publisher Shahida Osman