Page 148 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780

CHAPTER 3 Enamelled Porcelain Consumption in Eighteenth-century China

twentieth century, they provide valuable information for this thesis, as the trade

system remained unchanged from the eighteenth century to the early twentieth century.

Apart from porcelain dealers who travel to Jingdezhen to trade, there were key

institutions involving the trade of porcelain product in Jingdezhen: local porcelain

brokers, trade guilds and the sellers. A brief process of purchasing porcelain in

eighteenth-century Jingdezhen is illustrated in Figure 3-10.

Porcelain Trade Porcelain Seller

dealer Guild Broker

Figure 3-10 A brief trade process of porcelain in Jingdezhen during the eighteenth
century. It shows the key institutions involved.

Source: Lan Pu, Jingdezhen taolu [Records of Jingdezhen ceramics] (Jinan: Shandong
huabao, 2004), p.112.

3.6.1. Huiguan (Trade guild, 会馆)

Some porcelain dealers established their associations huiguan (trade guild, 会馆) at

Jingdezhen in order to provide better services for merchants from their original places.

These trade guilds became important institutions of and for merchants who wanted to

improve their competitive position as outsiders in regions where they were not so

familiar with the local environment; trade guilds also served as locations for meeting

132