Have you ever been around a designer, or a designer-type when they start throwing around words like “enfilade” “ensuite,” “bobéche” or the like? Did you feel like a cartoon character with a huge question mark floating over your head?
Have no fear, db is going to teach you about the secret language of designers through a new series called “Sound Like a Designer.” The second term in the series? Singerie.
Singerie refers to a style of decoration that became popular in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Singerie means “monkey trick” in French and depicts monkeys “apeing” {sorry, couldn’t help it!} human behavior, often dressed as fashionable, yet naughty, Parisians or Chinese Mandarins.
The depiction of the fabulously attired Simians was often mildly satiric as they engaged in “monkey business” disguised as every day tasks engaged in by everyone from nobility to tradespeople.
One of the most famous examples of singerie is La Grand Singerie in the Château de Chantilly. Christophe Huet painted the murals in the salon:
Dating from 1737, when the château belonged to Louis-Henri, Duc de Bourbon and Prince de Condé, the paintings display a complex iconography that includes the five senses, several regions of the world, and the arts and sciences-there’s even a caricature of the prince himself, in the guise of an alchemist. (France Today)
La Grande Singerie was recently restored by 25 specialists over a period of six months after suffering in an advanced state of deterioration for many years.
