Page 33 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

3. The Four Billion Pound Deal: The Economics of the Porcelain Trade
Table2：Summary of the European-Chinese porcelain trade

The table above gives an overview of the estimated number of Chinese porcelain
shipped to Europe within two and half centuries. Not much was exported to Europe
before or after. Picard et al, who first tried to summarize the Eurasian porcelain trade
in 1966, estimate 30 million less for the European carriers, but the research of C.J.A.
Jörg shows, that they have underestimated the imports of the VOC and probably also
the imports of the EIC. In addition, other smaller companies and private traders were
not taken into consideration, and the imports of the Portuguese, French and Swedish
have been overestimated. By far the best porcelain trade statistics are available for the
Dutch VOC thanks to the research of T. Volker and C.J.A. Jörg. For the first export
period from 1602-1655 the exact figures are known through the analysis of the daily
reports from the VOC factories in Hirado, Dejima (Japan) and Batavia. The second
VOC export period which has been facilitated mainly by Chinese junks coming to
Batavia is not documented. This is quite unfortunate since this is by and large
covering the period of the Chinese Emperor Kangxi when the finest Chinese export
porcelain was produced. Many pieces have been imported as we can still see in the
number of Kangxi porcelain on the contemporary antique markets in Europe and in
the number of Kangxi porcelain in famous collections such as the collection of August
the Strong in Dresden. The third period is very well documented in the VOC archives
in the Hague. Statistics show 42.7 million pieces were purchased between 1730-1789
for a total value of 4.57 million Dutch guilder (fl.), and shipped in 216 journeys
between Canton and the Netherlands – some directly, some via Batavia. Sixteen ships
got lost – the Geldermalsen lost in 1752 on the homeward voyage in the South China
Sea being the most famous (see plate 73), since it was discovered in 1985 and part of
its porcelain cargo was auctioned in Amsterdam.
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Data for the Swedish SOIC is unfortunately only detailed with regard to the duty
paid on the imports in Gothenburg, but it omits the purchase prices in Canton and
information on the exact composition of the cargo. This makes it more complicated to
calculate the possible numbers of pieces. Data for the EIC and the French Compagnie
des Indes Orientales and Compagnie des Indes respectively are also incomplete, but
missing figures can be estimated relatively closely. The porcelain cargos of other
European carriers such as the Portuguese Estado da India and the Danish DAK are an
educated guess; the shipments of the Habsburg Ostend Company, the Prussian
Königlich Preußische Asiatische Compagnie in Emden nach Canton und China
(1751-1757) or the Spanish galleon trade from Manila via Mexico to Spain, by private
traders, and the numbers of pieces carried officially or smuggled by crew members
are estimated, since data is - for obvious reasons in the latter case - not available. Also,
the secondary trade from the Ottoman Empire or Persia towards Western Europe is
missing. However, I assume that through these carriers less than 10 million pieces
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