Chinoiserie and Chinese Art in Siam

Early 19th-century Siam enjoyed vigorous maritime trade with China that coincided with an influx of Chinese migrants to Bangkok, reshaping the city's culture. The wealth and prestige of the Qing Empire attracted admiration even from Thai royalty, who became fond of Chinese literature and decorative art. As this publication highlights, these two strands converged in the creation of a new artistic style, a kind of Siamese chinoiserie, that became fashionable among court-affiliated elites. Known as "the royal preference," this style was applied to numerous temples that were built or renovated during the Third Reign (1824–1851). It did not reproduce Chinese art and architecture, but adapted and altered specific forms, objects, and motifs to fit the devotional constraints of Theravada Buddhism and the exuberance of Thai aesthetics. Thai Buddhist temples presented as tangible sites of cross-cultural exchange between Siam and China Examines the concept of chinoiserie from a broader, non-Eurocentric perspective

Jessica Lee Patterson is an art historian with a Ph.D. in the History of Art from UC Berkeley. She taught in the Department of Art, Architecture and Art History at the University of San Diego, first as Assistant Professor, then as a tenured Associate Professor and Department Chair. She has published articles and monographs on Asian art in books such as The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism (2016), China and the West: Reconsidering Chinese Reverse Glass Painting (2023), and journals including Artibus Asiae and Archives of Asian Art. Since 2022, Patterson has retired from teaching and now manages a large private art collection.