The House of Wittelsbach and the Middle Kingdom - 400 years of Relations between China and Bavaria

A unique ensemble of chinoiserie worship was created in the Porzellan Manufaktur in 1757: Franz Anton Bustelli’s “Chinese in the temple”. The valuable pieces document the fascination with the unknown and the exotic that gave rise to a chinoiserie fashion across Europe beginning in the sixteenth century. The Bavarian National Museum is presenting Bustelli’s masterful figurine cycle until 26 July, together with 300 other exhibits made available by international lenders, impressively tracing the growing awareness of China in Bavaria.

As the exhibition title (“The House of Wittelsbach and the Middle Kingdom”) suggests, the Bavarian rulers were the driving force in this rapprochement with China. As early as the 16th century, Bavarian Dukes had begun collecting Asian arts and crafts for their renowned Munich Kunstkammer. As the Wittelsbach princes, drawn to such evolving splendour, continued to acquire valuable Chinese porcelain and Japan works into the eighteenth century, gradually more began to take and apply the newly interpreted ideal to inspire projects, furniture, textiles and porcelain figures (like those of Franz Anton Bustelli) in the Chinese style.

The display is accompanied by an extensive supporting programme, for example by a porcelain painting workshop, in which a painter from the Nymphenburg workshops offers insight into the artful manufacturing and guiding techniques involved in painting a Nymphenburg plate.

The exhibition catalogue is available in the participating museums and in the Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg shops.