The Los Angeles Times reported in November that in 1989, the Getty Research Institute received a proposal to purchase 20 engravings from 18th century China depicting the interaction of European and Chinese influences. The offer came at a time when there was not much interest expressed in Asian Art. The prints themselves were considered oddities in that they were detailed engravings of European Style Pavilions built in Beijing for a Chinese Emperor by Jesuit Missiosnaries.
Eighteeen years later, the prints have formed the foundation for the exhibit "China on Paper: European and Chinese Works From the Late Sixteenth to the Early Nineteenth Century." This is an exhibit of prints, illustrated books, maps and photographs at the institute's small gallery at the Getty Center. This collection is a marked contrast to the usual assortment of ceramics, lacquerware and textiles usually viewed in Asian Art Collections. The collection represent an exchange of ideas that takes place on paper over the centuries.
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