Monstrous Beauty

Curiosity and critique foreground this novel history of porcelain that unravels the cultural myths of Chinoiserie, Europe's fantasy of the East

Monstrous Beauty presents a bold cross-cultural history of porcelain told through a feminist lens. Prized for its delicate quality and whiteness, porcelain was first imported to Europe from China in the early modern period and gained lasting associations with Chinoiserie, a style that encapsulated associations of mystery and enchantment with Asia. This book probes the collective anxieties around gender, race, and sexuality lurking under the surface of this ornate style, derided by some eighteenth-century critics as monstrous and unnatural. In interconnected essays, Iris Moon unpacks Chinoiserie's language of curiosity and exoticism. Here, close looking at garnitures, plates, teacups and saucers reveals how the desire to collect and possess porcelain created entrenched cultural myths of the Asian woman, and how it later extended into such mediums as photography and film. In addition, sixteen readings by contemporary artists and scholars, of works ranging from the sixteenth century to the present, respond to this fraught history by asking how we can engage in meaningful dialogues about Chinoiserie today.

Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

Exhibition Schedule:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(March 25-August 17, 2025)