The painted interior of the round tower room at the royal manor on Peacock Island imitates a hut made of bamboo and palms. The painted scenic views depict a fictive landscape resembling those found in Oceania or Polynesia. Marble House and Peacock Island House ‒ two royal residences along the Havel River built by Frederick William II ‒ are included among these views. Widespread enthusiasm for the “South Seas” at that time can be traced back to accounts of James Cook’s travels to Tahiti (also called Otahiti or Otaheiti).
Accounts about the journeys were generally compelling stories of colonial expansion. Cook had sailed to Oceania three times since 1768 on behalf of the British crown. These journeys were also used to identify how the area could potentially be exploited in ways that allowed Great Britain to expand its global supremacy further. Two Prussian natural scientists, Johann Reinhold and Georg Forster, accompanied Cook on his second journey to study local animal and plant life.
Enthusiasm for the landscapes and architecture of Oceania was reflected in European garden design and architecture as an oriental taste .Nevertheless, many European descriptions of the time portrayed the native people of this region as supposedly uncultivated “children of nature”.
