Page 203 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780
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CHAPTER 5 Porcelain Trade at Canton 1740-1760
the merchant who was in charge of the production. It refers directly back to the quote
above. This means that the EEIC could have played a role in the production process
in order to get satisfactory products. However, during the same period, even though
the delivery of porcelain was delayed or in short supply, the EEIC’s records are silent
about the manufacture of porcelain. In the later period, we see the evidence that the
EEIC was involved in the enamelled porcelain manufacture. In 1778, the EEIC officer
wrote back to London mentioning that the merchant who contracted with them was
not able to supply some particular items such as patty pans because the manufacture
was not able to produce them, but the merchant promised to give his agents and to
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place the orders as soon as possible. Records of such kinds are extremely rare in the
EEIC records. These two records show that the EEIC would pay much attention to the
production process if they had a chance. Taking into consideration enamelled
porcelain production in the period 1740-1760, when both the EEIC and the VOC has
experienced some difficulties as there were not so many choices, while no information
has been provided on the production in the records, it is reasonable to argue that at
this time, there were no workshops of painting enamels on porcelain on a large scale.
In terms of textual resources, it was not until the late 1760s that the Canton
porcelain enamelling workshop started to flourish. The earliest observation of
enamelling porcelain was recorded by William Hickey, visiting Canton, was shown
‘the different processes used in finishing the Chinaware. In one long gallery we found
upwards of a hundred persons at work in sketching or finishing the various ornaments
upon each particular piece of the ware, some parts being executed by men of a very
28 IOR/G/12/60, 27 January 1778, Letter 73.
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