This is a timely and comprehensive study of the various modes of representation of China in Italy. Similar studies have examined the reception and responses to China in France, England and the Americas, but this is the first to examine this phenomenon in Italy, which has a longer history of engagement with China and Chinese things than many other areas of Europe and the Western world. [.] Through the thorough and considered analysis presented here, the reader can now appreciate both the significance of Italy in the history of the global distribution and consumption of Chinese things, as well as the importance of the history of display and its consequences.Dr Stacey Pierson, SOAS, University of LondonDr Carbone's text combines both [a sociological and a cognitive approach] in a distinctive and innovative manner. She focuses on the historical role of the museum and, in particular, on the nature of permanent and temporary exhibitions. European identity since the early modern period has turned towards establishing itself through 'taking the outside in'. [.

] Dr Carbone's study of cinesrie in Italy focuses on both popular culture and commercial design questions of mass consumption as an emergent phenomenon, and the contexts by which emulation and imitation were used to create national and regional identities. How China was represented in different museum contexts in Italy, she shows, depends both on the environmental context and the expression of locality as well as creating a more general idea of Chinese style in different material forms. She has produced a unique study of how copying and emulation of the 'Other' was central to creating European identities. [.] I cannot cite a parallel study that focuses on these questions in this way.Michael Rowlands, Professor Emeritus in Material Culture and Anthropology, University College London.