The works, decorated in the technique of painted enamel, borrowed from Europe and used in Peking court workshops during the XVIII century, embody a peculiar version of the international style of chinoiserie, formed in China within the framework of the Qing court style. A study of Peking court art during the three great reigns of the Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) - Kangxi (1662-1722), Yongzheng (1723-1735), and Qianlong (1736-1795) - shows that many works at this time were created on the basis of an artistic compromise between Chinese and European arts. This compromise was a characteristic sign of the times and reflected the process of expansion of Western culture into the countries of the East, which began after the era of Great Geographical Discoveries. At the end of the Ming period (1368-1644), China, with its innumerable treasures of ancient civilization, became particularly attractive to European merchants and missionaries. The change of the reign of the autochthonous Ming Dynasty to the rule of the Manchu imperial house created favorable conditions for using various achievements of European civilization in the interests of the new government. The Qing emperors effectively monopolized contacts with Europe, introducing a blockade on international trade during the Kangxi years and limiting its conduct to four southern Chinese ports, and the stay of Europeans to Guangzhou (Canton) and Beijing. The development of the Qing court style was largely due to the multifaceted activities of European missionaries in the service of the Peking court. The new rulers of China, and in the recent past the "barbarians of the northeast"-the Manchu sovereigns-especially needed the services of qualified European specialists to compensate for the pressure of the authority of traditional Chinese culture, which they had fully mastered during the first half of the XVIII century, and to introduce innovations that could elevate the dynasty. It was the missionaries, pursuing their own goal ... Read more