Page 236 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780

CHAPTER 6 A New Context of Porcelain Trade 1760-1770

types of blue and white porcelain and enamelled porcelain saw an increase of price

from EEIC records. Jörg has shown the average price of porcelain from the VOC

53
records by using ten successive years’ data. His data shows there was no increase

54
after the establishment of Co-Hong. Due to the fact his data was collected as an
average, and no price for each year was provided, we cannot conclude that the price

of porcelain in 1761 remained unchanged or increased. However, the EEIC records

yield the very striking fact that the price was greatly affected by the factors mentioned

earlier.

Blue and white porcelain (Plate)

Type 1755 1759 1761 1768
Price (taels of silver) 0.033 0.027 0.032 0.033

Enamelled porcelain(Bowl)

Type 1751 1753 1761
Price (taels of silver) 0.2 0.15 0.22

Table 4 The EEIC’s purchase price of porcelain at Canton between 1755 and 1768,
per/taels.

Source: IOR/G/12/56, 21 August, 1751; IOR/G/12/57, 14 August, 1753. R/10/4, 18
September, 1755; R/10/4, 30 March 1759; R/10/5, 10 August, 1761; For 1768, see Geoffrey
A. Godden, Oriental Export Market Porcelain and Its Influence on European Wares
(London and New York: Granada,1979), pp.133-134.

This section shows the consequences to the porcelain trade of all the events

occurring between 1755 and 1760. The examination of the consequences is crucial to

an understanding of porcelain trade of a later period. It shows that because of all the

regulations, the confinement of Canton as well as the establishment of Co-Hong

53 Jörg, Porcelain and the Dutch China trade, p.120.
54 Ibid., pp.120-121.
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