Foreign Exchange | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Previously On View: January 28, 2022 through September 25, 2022

Drawing from Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection, this exhibition explores the unprecedented circulation of labor, skills, aesthetics, and luxury goods across international borders in the 18th century. It traces the movement of people, ideas, and objects across borders, challenging notions of foreign and domestic, community member and outcast, and national style.

The desire for luxury goods in Europe—from wallcoverings, furniture, and textiles to silver, glass, and porcelain—reached a peak at this time. The extensive network of overseas trading posts, established in Asia by the Dutch East India company and the British East India Company starting in 1602, brought new objects, new colors, and an inexhaustible array of patterns and finishes to European marketplaces. Translucent Chinese porcelain, gleaming Japanese lacquer, and brightly colored, hand-painted Chinese papers—all made for export and appealing to Western tastes—were highly sought for elite interiors across Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Germany to signal a homeowner’s wealth and impeccable taste.

Exhibition highlights

Gourd-shaped vase with chinoiserie figures rendered in shades of dark blue on pale blue background — Gourd-Shaped Vase; 1670-80; Nevers, France; Tin-glazed earthenware; Gift of Mrs. John B. Trevor, 1906-23-22; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution

Clock design decorated with urns, clawed feet, garlands, and scrolls, with designs in background — Print, Plate 4 from Nouveaux livre de boites de pendulles de coqs et etuys de montres et autres necessaire au Orlogeurs (New Book of Clock Cases, Housings, and Other Necessities for Horologists); After 1706; After Daniel Marot (French, active Netherlands and England, 1661–1752); Netherlands; Etching printed in red ink on paper; Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council, 1921-6-352-77; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution

An octagonal white porcelain bowl decorated with flowers and a human figure. — Octagonal Waste Bowl, from the Proposed Japanese Palace of Augustus the Strong; 1725-30; Manufactured by Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Meissen, Germany); Hard-paste porcelain, vitreous enamel; Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt, 1923-22-55; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution

Delicate lace-like carved ivory fan, spread open on a black background — Brisé Fan; ca. 1790; China, for export to Europe; Ivory, silk, metal; Bequest of Mrs. John Innes Kane, 1926-22-114; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution

Rectangular silver box with scrolling organic designs surrounding scenic panels — Tea and Sugar Caddies, 1742-53; Mark of William Cripps and Workshop (British, 1715-66); London, England; Silver; Gift of the Estate of James Hazen Hyde, 1960-1-1-a/d; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution

Cream colored silk with crisscrossing design of roses, flowers, and foliage — Panel of Brocaded Silk, 1740s; Spitalfields, London, England; Silk; Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund, 1981-39-1; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution

An embossed piece of leather with a floral motif in blue, green, bronze, and gold. — Panel of a Gilt Leather Wallcovering, mid-18th century; After design by Daniel Marot (French, active Netherlands and England, 1661-1752); South Netherlands (present-day Belgium); Leather, paint, silver; Museum purchase through gift in memory of Josephine C. Howell and through bequest of Edith M. Henderson and from Sarah Cooper-Hewitt Fund, 1989-34-2; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution

Elaborately carved mahogany or primavera chair inspired by Chippendale design; the upholstery is modern. — Armchair; late 18th century; Mexico, New Spain; Hardwood, silk damask (modern upholstery); Museum purchase from Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Fund, 2019-13-1; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution

Circular white porcelain shaving basin with a semi-circular section cut out at the bottom, elaborately decorated with blue and red enamel dahlia-like flowers and curling foliage accentuated with gold leaf, a double-headed bird sits in a blue-rimmed circle in the central bowl — Shaving Basin, 1690-1700; Jingdezhen, China, for export to Mexico, New Spain; Porcelain, vitreous enamel, gold; Museum purchase from Charles E. Sampson Memorial Fund, 2020-9-1; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution

Clear-glass wine glass with a wide rim, tapering body, thick stem accented with triangular crystallized segments, and a broad round base, a translucent galloping horse set against thin leafy trees is etched into the surface of the bowl — Wine Glass with Galloping Horse; 1780-89; Made in England and decorated in the Netherlands; Lead glass; Gift of Beatrice Taplin, 2021-9-1; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Photo: Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution

Curatorial statement

“A naturalized US citizen from Taiwan, I have crossed borders all my life, having lived in four countries and five states. This exhibition in three galleries was conceived partly when I was packing up my life in Detroit to relocate to New York at the end of 2018, around when the Trump administration’s efforts to build a wall along the US–Mexico border intensified debates over immigration in America. This made me want to celebrate the historical benefits of migration and immigration, particularly the cultural and economic contributions immigrants bring to host countries.”

—Yao-Fen You, Senior Curator and Head of Product Design and Decorative Arts

Support

Foreign Exchange: 18th-Century Design on the Move is made possible with generous support from the Esme Usdan Exhibition Endowment Fund. Additional support is provided by the Cooper Hewitt Master’s Program Fund.

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