Hidden in Plain View: Chinese Wallpapers in Britain and Ireland

For three hundred years, western interior decoration has incorporated Chinese wallpaper. From flourishing trade in the seventeenth century to today’s design choices, there is a global demand for Chinese art and design.

Today we can find examples of sumptuously painted wallpapers preserved in historical homes across the UK and yet, despite their prevalence, how much do we know about how these papers were produced and what stories and artistic traditions they represent?

Join expert Emile de Bruijn as he enriches our understanding of Chinese wallpaper and explains how Europeans fell for them, how the Chinese market and artisans responded to this new demand, the original meanings and contexts of Chinese paintings, prints and wallpapers, and the way they are used in British and Irish interiors from the late seventeenth century onward.