China and the Church: Chinoiserie in Global Context

Examines decorative Chinese works of art and visual culture, known as chinoiserie, in the context of church and state politics, with a particular focus on the Catholic missions' impact on Western attitudes toward China and the Chinese. “A fascinating and provocative thesis that ties early modern European representations of China and the Chinese into a cohesive narrative.”—Diane Fourny, University of Kansas “Cogently argued in refreshingly lucid prose, China and the Church offers a provocative and wholly new perspective on European chinoiserie. Bringing an impressive array of new research to bear on the subject, the book presents a vivid and powerful account of the cultural, political, and artistic contexts that produced chinoiserie. Johns seriously reconsiders chinoiserie as a cross-cultural phenomenon, deeply shaped by cultural exchange, trade, and global politics.”—Melissa Hyde, University of Florida This ground breaking study examines decorative Chinese works of art and visual culture, known as chinoiserie, in the context of church and state politics, with a particular focus on the Catholic missions' impact on Western attitudes toward China and the Chinese. Art-historical examinations of chinoiserie have largely ignored the role of the Church and its conversion efforts in Asia. Johns, however, demonstrates that the emperor's 1722 prohibition against Catholic evangelization, which occurred after almost a century and a half of tolerance, prompted a remarkable change in European visualizations of China in Roman Catholic countries. China and the Church considers the progress of Christianity in China during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, examines authentic works of Chinese art available to the European artists who produced chinoiserie, and explains how the East Asian male body in Western art changed from "normative" depictions to whimsical, feminized grotesques after the collapse of the missionary efforts during the 1720s.