00:00Louis XIV is possibly the most important king in French history.
00:10He was appointed by God, as we know most kings are appointed by God.
00:14His interest for China came very early.
00:17Many books were published at this time, written by merchants or missionaries who went to China,
00:24and it gave an idea of the main monuments of Beijing and other places.
00:29The knowledge about China was changing really at this time.
00:33As knowledge continues to spread, the king hears word of a great porcelain temple in the Chinese city of Nanjing.
00:41I think when you're appointed by God, you're immediately going to be a bit flamboyant and believe in yourself.
00:49I think in English you call it an egocentric.
00:52So if the Chinese can make a Chinese pagoda, let's make a porcelain building in Versailles.
00:58But the biggest problem is we couldn't make porcelain.
01:02Everybody was working on the trade secret, everybody was trying to make porcelain.
01:07They decided instead of making it in porcelain, to make it in ordinary terracotta and glazed in white.
01:14And that's when the Trianon de Porcelaine was born.
01:17The Trianon de Porcelaine is hailed as the very first example of chinoiserie,
01:22inspired by China, made in France.
01:26Unfortunately, because it was made of European ceramic and not porcelain, it didn't last very long.
01:34The first frost came in and suddenly it started cracking.
01:38So that building was eventually destroyed in less than 15 years.
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