Shanghai in the 1920s was a cosmopolitan melting pot of East and West. As the gateway to China, travellers from across the globe visited the city and often brought back carved jades, lacquered boxes and traditional Chinese calligraphy as souvenirs. These objects inspired designers in Europe and America, who began to combine Chinese techniques and symbolism with the modern geometric designs of Art Deco.  

 

Curated by fashion historian Meredith Etherington-Smith, Shanghainese Deco: Vanities in the Roaring Twenties contains over 40 pieces from top jewellers Cartier, Lacloche, and Van Cleef & Arpels, including an elaborate black lacquer compact set with carved jade panels and diamond-cut Chinese calligraphy. Each piece portrays orientalism at its height, reflecting the synthesis of cultures and modernity that characterised Shanghai before the outbreak of the Second World War in the 1930s.