Wallpaper and wall coverings are, when of a high quality and chosen by a specialist, can last a remarkably long time once installed by a professional, with the main reasons for them being 

taken down being more a matter of adjusting to design trends rather than necessity.

Whilst there are some styles that do linger fondly in the memory, many wallpaper styles rise prominently and disappear after a few years as a major part of the design zeitgeist.

However, there was one particular wallpaper trend that would last for an entire century as a popular trend and has seen revival movements periodically ever since.

The chinoiserie trend was not limited to wallpapers, but it is primarily associated with wallpaper design today rather than pottery, furniture and garden design.

It was a blend of East Asian artistic styles (most commonly Chinese), some of which were actually made in the region, whilst others were made by artists who specialised in the highly theatrical Rococo or Late Baroque styles.

Whilst the popularity of a “Chinese room” has existed since the 17th century, the trend began in wallpaper in the 1740s, as Chinese merchants would trade for ornate wallpaper made from rice paper and handmade by Chinese artists, before being reproduced through printing processes.

It tended towards floral imagery, fantastical landscapes, birds and later creatures from Chinese mythology, such as dragons and phoenixes.

Because it intersected with other forms of art and featured themes that would ultimately be universally popular in wallpaper design, chinoiserie lasted a very long time, even inspiring a parallel movement in China known as “occidenterie”.

These were Chinese-made products made for Chinese consumers but in a European-inspired style.

As a design tradition, it lasted for a century before China became more isolationist in 1842 following the First Opium War, although there would be multiple revival movements of the style, most notably in the 1930s.