I am reading a fascinating book by Jonathan Hay called Sensuous Surfaces, about the role of the decorative objects in early modern China. Hay describes how the growth of the population and of the economy in China towards the end of the sixteenth century caused a surge in conspicuous consumption.
The burgeoning middle classes expressed their new identity by creating richly patterned interiors using intricately crafted luxury objects. They favoured bright colours, contrasting materials and surface texture.
This middle class taste that developed from the late Ming to the middle of the Qing period (i.e. from about 1570 to about 1840) was a conscious departure from the very lavish but stylistically more restrained court style.
Here I have tried to bring together a few objects from National Trust collections that seem to exemplify this wonderfully ‘bling’ taste, to cheer us all up a bit in this sober post-holiday period.