Page 25 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780
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CHAPTER 1 Introduction
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The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History, Robert Finlay offers a new
perspective on the global spread of Chinese ceramics, where he positioned Chinese
porcelain in the emerging field of the history of global trade in commodities and
suggested its impact on world commerce and economic behaviour. However, he has
barely attempted to consider the impact on China at the same time.
This thesis views enamelled porcelain as a whole, rather than as individual objects,
to explore its production, its domestic consumption, and its trade at Canton with the
East India Companies. It identifies different trajectories for enamelled porcelain
through time and space, with a view to situating enamelled porcelain within its
historical context.
1.3.1. Enamelled Porcelain and Art History
Pieces of Chinese enamelled porcelain that have survived in museums and collections
are often viewed as examples of decorative art, and are thus examined in terms of their
decorations, styles and their decorative functions. Enamelled porcelains that have
survived in China have generally been categorised exclusively as ‘imperial wares’,
and scholars have emphasized their rarity and aesthetic value. The idea that enamelled
porcelain was only associated with the Qing court’s activities has remained nearly
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unchanged over the last four decades.
9 Robert Finlay, The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 2010).
10 The most recent and comprehensive example of this are from Shi Jingfei, Riyue guanghua; Yu
Peijin (ed.), Jincheng xuying; Liao Baoxiu, Huali yangca; others see Cai Hebi, Qing Gongzhong
falangci tezhan [Special Exhibition of Ch’ing Dynasty Enamelled Porcelains of the Imperial
Ateliers] (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1992); Hugh Moss, By Imperial Command: An
Introduction to Ch'ing Imperial Painted Enamels (Hong Kong: Hibiya, 1976).
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