Page 29 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

economic success of the Ostend Company however, increased the political pressure
by the British, Dutch and French to close it down. In order to secure the recognition of
his daughter Maria Theresia as the ruler of the Habsburg dominions, the Habsburg
Emperor ordered the suspension of the Ostend Company in 1732. His daughter, the
future Holy Roman Empress, having no East India company, however became a
collector of Chinese and Japanese porcelain. The two – an oval and a round -
porcelain cabinets at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, with 252 pieces, provide evidence
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of her passion . The Ostend Company focused its trading mainly on tea. Data about
porcelain imports to Europe are missing.
Porcelain was not the most expensive or most sought after product in the
European-Chinese trade relations in Canton. It could be found on most ships either
treasured for the profits it could generate, or simply as ballast and to form a layer to
ensure that the tea and silk cargo would not be affected by seawater. Tea was from the
beginning of the Canton trade the most relevant single Chinese commodity for
Western companies, but the percentage in terms of cargo value increased over time.
The composition varied also between the various East India companies. As far as
statistics are available tea accounts for 73.5% of the total value of British EIC imports
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in the years from 1765-1769, silk for 20.9% and others including porcelain for 5.4% .
In the case of the Dutch VOC the percentages during that period were rather similar,
even though they had imported less in absolute figures. However, over the whole
period of Dutch-Canton trade from 1728-1793, the importance of porcelain seems to
be higher than in the case of the EIC. The years from 1769-1774 were the peak in
absolute terms. Each year, the value of Dutch porcelain imports was above 100,000 fl.
(or approximately 30,000 taels). This is the purchase price for about one million
pieces of porcelain.
Pic. 15: The Noord-Nieuwland in Table Bay, Anonymous, 1762

The EIC in comparison hardly imported more than 500,000 pieces per year, even
though they sent many more ships to Canton than the VOC. The VOC statistics for the
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porcelain imports are incredibly detailed . This might also reflect that porcelain
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