Book Description

Plunder and pleasure is the first book of its kind to provide an in-depth study of the role played by dealers and collectors of art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the Western craze for East Asian art was at its peak. The book comprises an overview of Japonisme and the translation into English of two important French texts detailing the trade in Asian art at this time: Notes d'un Bibeloteur au Japon by the art dealer Philippe Sichel (1839/40-99) and Souvenirs d'un vieil Amateur d'Art de l'Extrême-Orient by the collector Raymond Koechlin (1860-1931). Both translations are extensively annotated. A discussion of the content and significance of the translations as well as short biographical sketches of Sichel and Koechlin are also included. Plunder and Pleasure casts new light on the subject of Western tastes for East Asian art during this period and furthers our understanding of the cultural relations between the Far East and the West that were going on at this time.