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The centuries-long fascination with the Chinese-inspired aesthetic known as Chinoiserie had waned considerably by the end of the 19th century. Yet the famed Parisian department store Au Bon Marché continued to draw upon its familiar imagery for a series of popular advertising cards.

Chinoiserie offered a dreamlike vision of China, populated with pagodas, lush landscapes, and mysterious idols. After the First Opium War (1839–1842) and the expansion of colonial contact, however, depictions of China grew less romanticized, increasingly depicting the it as a land of idolatry.

Au Bon Marché was reputedly the first store in Paris to distribute free lithographic prints to children, a practice soon adopted by other major department stores. Printed by Testu & Massin, this card belonged to a set of six illustrating various “Oriental” scenes.

The colorful image blends the ethereal with the corporeal, showing children prostrating before a Buddhist-style idol.

The idol itself merges a cross-legged Buddha with a racialized caricature of a Chinese man, complete with a long mustache and posed in what was known in France as the “Chinese dance.”

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