A Wedding Gift and Transculturation: Chinese Porcelain in Norway and the Danish Asian Company in China in the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

Norwegian museums have large collections of chinaware, dating from the eighteenth century; most of it imported after the foundation the Danish Asian Company in 1732. I have selected a tea and coffee service in the collections of Norsk Folkemuseum: Norwegian Museum of Cultural History as a passageway to trace the entanglement of Norwegian consumers in cultural interactions with China. The service is part of a broader history of transculturation. This is a history of encounters and exchanges involving the cultural translation of Chinese designs in Europe, and Western designs in China. Into the transculturation is entangled the enthusiasm with Chinese porcelain in Europe, and the negotiations by which Chinese potters and painters translated European demands for particular shapes, decorative motifs and fashionable designs into porcelain products for export. Through the engagement of the Danish Asian Company in China, I will discuss the impact of these processes in Norway, and their influence on the tastes and preferences of Norwegian consumers.