The chinoiserie style in the work of the French decorator Jean Pillement

The article focuses on the artworks of Jean Pillement, a French painter and decorator, as one of the significant representatives of Chinoiserie tradition within the dominant Rococo style. Rococo succeeds Baroque and appears in France as a chamber style, with a stylized shell as a principal symbol. In the 18th century, the pan-European influence of the Chinoiserie aesthetics became widespread due to emergence of a pseudo-Chinese style initiated by French decorators, which was characterized by a combination of refined rocaille lines coupled with a variety of exotic motives and fantasy-type zoomorphic creatures. The iconography of the French manner in the Chinese tradition became popular not only due to the export of finished products in the Chinoiserie style and the creation of many fine deluxe editions, but also through the direct participation of the decorators themselves in a variety of projects at the monarchial courts and manufactories in the leading European capitals. Many works by Jean Pillement, made in various European capitals, have not survived, but the well-preserved collections of engravings may enable contemporaries to become aware of Pillement’s creative manner. One of the evidence-based collections allows the author to analyze the stylistic features and compositional techniques, which are characteristic of this artist’s manner in the Chinoiserie style. The creative way of Jean Pillement in Europe helps to trace the pan-European impact of the French art on the development of the Chinoiserie style in the XVIII century.