© Musée de la Compagnie des Indes - Ville de Lorient / G. Broudic

It is often said that more trade has flowed through Macao than through Venice. Obligatory port of call for several centuries, Macao turned out to be a hub at the beginning of world trade in the 18th century.
L’Amphitrite, first French vessel to make the voyage to Canton returned to Lorient in 1700 with its precious cargo of goods from China. The cargo sold in Nantes consisted mainly of tea, porcelain and silk. In the mid 18th century Lyon became the silk capital and dealt with all the European royal families. Chinese style influenced design, textile and fashion and Queen Marie-Antoinette decorated her salon des jeux in Versailles with “pékins” a silk fabric.
The items on display, including textiles, costumes, oil paintings, prints and porcelain, are on loan from famous French museums such as Musée de la Compagnie des Indes – Ville de Lorient, Musée des Arts décoratifs – Département Mode et Textile (Paris), Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, and Musée de la Toile de Jouy.

Chinese patterned wallpaper with birds and flowers (detail)
China, Canton area, 18th century (2nd half)
Paper pulp (mulberry, bamboo), gouache, 180 x 118 cm