24 – 25 Chinese House It holds a caduceus, the staff that Mercury received from Apollo in gratitude for the invention of the flute, which is certainly a reference to Friedrich II’s favourite instrument.4 The painting in the interior was made according to sketches by the French artist Blaise Nicolas Le Sueur and executed by Thomas Huber in 1756.5 Above the cornice, a balustrade was painted, where boisterous company looks into the hall. The supposedly Chinese clothing as well as the parrots, monkeys and decorations surrounding it are characterised by the fashion of ‘exoticism’ of the time. The design of the pavilion satisfies Friedrich II’s contradictory demands for both stately representation and intimacy.6 The relationship between Friedrich II and Voltaire had a formative influence on the king’s image of China and the design of the Chinese house. The French writer came from Lunéville to the Prussian court in 1750 for three years. During this time, he was occupied with the history and culture of China and documented this in his Essay on Universal History. In his essay, Voltaire describes China as a peaceful utopian state with a centralist system of rule over which the church had no influence.7 | CONSTANT I JN JOHANNES LEL IVELD Fig. 3 Chinese House interior
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