"This Little Paradise": Aviaries in 18-19th century Guangzhou gardens

I am happy to have been given 4 pages to discuss 18-19th century Guangzhou aviaries in the latest issue of Historic Gardens Review! For now it is only a preview on their website and the physical journal, but in the future it will be available as an online article.

I notably included rare pictorial evidence of aviaries in Guangzhou and Macao, as well as comparisons with British vision of Chinese aviaries and their feathery inhabitants. I found that it was  a good way to capture the difference between chinoiserie and actual examples of Chinese garden buildings with contemporary evidence!

For a taste of what the article starts with, I invite you to read Patrick Baty's blog post on the aviary at Dropmore Park. The aviary as illustrated by Barbara Jones, was made with tiles from Canton and in a style reminescent of Chambers' chinoiserie, but surprisingly appears relatively close to what a late 18th- early 19th century aviary in Guangzhou or nearby Macao might have looked like.

New topic, new talk! Botanical Art, Botanical Commerce: Britain meets China at the Dawn of Modernity

I only recently passed my viva for my PhD on Hong merchant's gardens in Guangzhou during and after the Canton System. While I am writing corrections, I already have started a post-doc on a closely related topic: Sino-Western botanic exchanges!

This will be my first talk as part of my new project:

Botanical Art, Botanical Commerce: Britain meets China at the Dawn of Modernity

Oxford, March 24th

 

Learn more about the botanical interactions between Britain and China in the 18th century in this talk focused on an exceptional as of yet underused primary source.
    
Former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew Sir Peter Crane, author and expert in the history of science, medicine and culture Jordan Goodman and expert in Sino-British exchanges and China Trade paintings Josepha Richard discuss the John Bradby Blake collection.
     
Crane is inaugural President of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Virginia, USA, which contains the archive of 18th-century East India Company supercargo John Bradby Blake. Blake first visited Canton in 1767/68 as a trader and, before his death in 1773, his collaboration with the Chinese artist Mauk-Sow-U produced over 150 striking and botanically accurate paintings of Chinese plants. These paintings and the associated archives provide details of an interesting life and previously little-known dimensions of late 18th-century social and scientific interactions between the British and Chinese, including British attempts to secure living plants that could prove useful at home and in its colonies.
 
The panel is part of FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival and will be introduced by deputy editor of FT Weekend Jane Owen.

This event is part of a series for FT day at the festival and lasts 45 minutes.

Book tickets here.