Page 209 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780

CHAPTER 5 Porcelain Trade at Canton 1740-1760

above, during the period prior to late 1750s, Canton was not capable of producing

enamelled porcelain at large scale, but only copperware.

In brief, this section has brought new insights to the discussion of painting

enamels on porcelain at Canton. It has used the trade data of the EEIC, the objects as

well as research on enamelled copperware and has argued that painting enamel on

porcelain at Canton started at a later date than scholars have assumed. Along with the

increasing trade at Canton, the production of enamelled copperwares expanded around

42
1730s and some of the design were copied by porcelain manufacture at Jingdezhen

around the 1740s. Within the increasing trade of enamelled porcelain at Canton, local

enamel workshops began to experiment with their skills on enamel painting on

porcelain around the mid-eighteenth century, and expended its production in the late

eighteenth century.

5.5. Conclusion

The contextualized analysis of porcelain trade at Canton during 1740 and 1760 reveals

the complex nature of porcelain trade at Canton. This chapter has shown two different

trade patterns of Chinese porcelain at Canton. It is argued that during the period 1740

and 1760, the market of blue and white and of enamelled porcelain had differentiated.

The large quantity of blue and white porcelain was controlled by licensed Hong

merchants, while enamelled porcelain trade was conducted by small shopkeepers.

Owing to this, the trade of blue and white fluctuated and was influenced by the

changing environment, either by the Company or by factors from China. On the

42 Ibid. p.48.
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