Chinamania November 25, 2010

Blue-and-white Chinese porcelain became a hot item in London in the 1870s, a craze the British press mockingly dubbed "Chinamania." James McNeill Whistler, an early collector of Chinese porcelain, helped stimulate this fad by depicting such wares in his paintings. The Chinamania exhibition at the Freer explores Chinese porcelain in Whistler's England, where it was first valued as aesthetic inspiration but soon proliferated as a commodity. Featured are twenty-three works of art: blue-and-white porcelain objects from the Peacock Room; eight wash drawings of Kangxi porcelain that Whistler produced for a collector's catalogue; and paintings, pastels, and etchings inspired by the artist's interest in porcelain.