Drawing, The Chinese Room in the Royal Palace, Berlin, 1850

This Chinese Room reflects the royal taste and patronage in the 1820s and 1830s Berlin. Large panels of highly decorative hand-painted Chinese paper, with borders of gold Chinese characters on a blue background, line the walls. Black lacquered furniture upholstered in bright yellow silk, a curving banquette by Birkenholtz covered in blue damask and two Renaissance Revival chairs covered in rose velvet provide seating. A japanned cabinet is in partial view in the right foreground; large Chinese porcelains are on display; and a grand chandelier hangs from a whimsically painted ceiling evoking the heavens. The bare floor is of blond parquet.