Page 176 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780
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CHAPTER 4 Early Eighteenth-century EEIC Porcelain Trade in Canton 1729-c.1740
year plus his free living), the East Indiamen were permitted to trade on their own
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account (known as Private Trade).
It was quite difficult for the EEIC to get all the porcelain at one time. Although
the instructions from the company were quite specific, noting the form and decoration,
rarely could these orders be fulfilled exactly, as the range of forms, the supply and the
price of porcelain available in Canton varied from year to year. For example, a record
on 1 September 1723 shows how difficult it was for the EEIC to find the exact pieces
they wanted. The EEIC’s officers examined the Hong merchants for their stock 'China
ware' but could not find enough quantity of the kind they wanted, and only Suqua
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could supply some.
As for fine ware, this was sometimes even more difficult to obtain. There were
limited supplies of the finest wares that the supercargo needed to contract them as
soon as they arrived. For example, in 1750, the officer said:
For several days past we have been looking over the Merchants’ musters
of China ware. We find it in general very indifferent as to fineness, and
but very little choice, and though we have everywhere made complaints
of it, they give us no hopes of its being better and another year, as they
assume [to]us, they get but a very small profit with a great deal of
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trouble.
There were other difficulties as well. The delivery of porcelain was often delayed
by the heavy rains, whereas the making of porcelain needed sunshine to become dry.
Complaints about the late delivery of the porcelain were frequent in the records. In
14 David S.Howard, A Tale of Three Cities: Canton, Shanghai & Hong Kong, Three Centuries of
Sino-British Trade in the Decorative Arts ( London: Sotheby’s Publication, 1997),p.xiv.
15 IOR/G/12/24, 1 September 1723.
16 IOR/G/12/54, 24 September, 1750.
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