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Article: Cultural exchange.(Farther afield)
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- November 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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This fall's crop of exhibitions revels in a fascination with cultural exchange: in Saint Petersburg, it is European tea drinking; in Dresden, imperial China is compared to the Saxon-Polish court; in the vicinity of Paris, the foreign-born Mary, queen of Scots sheds light on French heritage; while Londoners turn their eyes to the now-vanished civilizations of Byzantium and ancient Babylon.
In 1610 the Dutch East India Company began importing tea from the Far East to Europe, gambling that it could create a thriving market for a beverage that was virtually unknown in the West. This risky venture proved sound after a fashion, for the desire for tea spread quickly in ...