Chinoiseries

by Bernd H. Dams and Andrew Zega
Contribution by Hubert de Givenchy

Originally published as a limited edition for collectors that sold for $1,100, this affordable reprinted edition of Chinoiseries presents 42 captivating watercolor images, the results of more than a decade of study of exotic and fanciful designs for European garden architecture and ornaments that drew their inspiration from the East. The vogue for these fantastical pavilions and picturesque pagodas reached its peak in the late 18th century.

Thirty-six of the works presented here delve into the past, reconstructing exceptional historical structures from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The remaining are the authors’ original designs, beautifully detailed works inspired by these exotic and whimsical structures.

Hubert de Givenchy, in his preface to Chinoiseries, describes these images as "precious documents [that] retrace an époque when taste, extravagance, and a sense of fantasy were an essential part of the way in which parks and gardens were embellished, by perfectly inscribing them in nature, then furnishing them with dreams."

Trained as both architects and historians, Andrew Zega and Bernd H. Dams are skilled artists known for their expert restitutions of historic buildings, rendered in a realistic watercolor technique that has become their trademark.

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