EARLY 18TH CENTURY

The term 'Coromandel lacquer' was originally coined for this type of Chinese lacquer by Europeans, who mistakenly thought that it originated from the Indian Coromandel Coast a result of its passing through the trading ports there en route to the West. This exotic, colourful lacquer-work offered great contrast to the decorative work available in Europe during the 17th century and quickly gained popularity. One British East India Company letter of 24 May 1690 gives some indication of the scale of demand for these exquisite new wares ‘...Of this size 500 tables, 200 black & gold, 200 red & gold, drawn with Birds; & 100 black, inlayed with mother of pearl with Figures’ (M. Jourdain and R.S. Jenyns, Chinese Export Art, p. 69). It was highly sought after by noble patrons, and in some cases entire rooms were lined with screen panels. One such room was the State Closet at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, which was installed in the 1690s by the royal cabinetmaker Gerrit Jensen (d.1715) but which sadly does not survive. The use of it in such a high status room shows the esteem in which such lacquer was held, and the luxury its use implied. Chinese lacquer would retain its status and continue to be associated with the most sumptuous fashionable interiors and furnishings well into the second half of the 18th century as evidenced by the important secretaire or ‘lady’s secretary’, mounted with Chinese lacquer removed from a screen, supplied to Edwin Lascelles in 1773 for Harewood House, Yorkshire, by the most important cabinet maker of the day, Thomas Chippendale (A. Coleridge, ‘A Tale of Two Secretaires’, Christie’s International Magazine, June 1997, pp. 44-47).