Page 253 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780

CHAPTER 7 Porcelain Dealers and their Role in Trade

shops can show us porcelain dealers’ efforts to expand their trade. This is followed by

a discussion of porcelain dealers’ selling techniques. The final section reveals their

network and their colorations. It shows their connection with local production at

Jingdezhen, as well as their connection in establishing new workshops at Canton.

7.2. Porcelain Shops at Canton

The rise of shops in eighteenth century Europe has been one of the most dynamic

fields of historical research. 2 Historians have increasingly emphasised the

sophistication of retail practices in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Shops

are highlighted as an important part of the marketing of goods; advertising is

3
recognised as widespread and often complex in its communication of ideas. Claire
4
Walsh has shed light on various cultural aspects of early-modern retailing. There is

also a growing body of research which demonstrates the importance of shopping as a

5
social and pleasurable activity, as well as an important household duty. More

specifically, historians have investigated the marketing of the silks and the

2 For instance, Hoh-Cheung Mui and Lorna Mui, Shops and shopkeeping in eighteenth century
England (London: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1989). Helen Berry, ‘Polite Consumption:
Shopping in Eighteenth-Century England’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 12(2002),
pp.375-394. Claire Walsh, ‘Shopping in Early Modern London, c.1660-1800’ (Ph.D thesis,
European University Institute, Florence, 2001).

3 Jon. Stobart, B. Blonde, Bruno Blondé(eds.), Selling Textiles in the Long Eighteenth Century:
Comparative Perspectives from Western Europe, (Springer, 2014).
4 Claire Walsh, ‘Shop design and the display of goods in the eighteenth century London’, Journal
of Design History, 8/3(1995), pp.157-176, later reprinted in John Benson and Gareth Shaw (eds.),
The retailing industry (London, 1999); Claire Walsh, ‘The newness of the department store: a
view from the eighteenth century’, in Geoffrey Crossick and Serge Jaumain (eds.), Cathedral of
consumption: the European department store 1850-1939 (Aldershot, 1999); Claire Walsh, ‘The
advertising and marketing of consumer goods in eighteenth century London’, in Clemens
Wischermann and Elliott Shore (eds.), Advertising and the European city: historical perspectives
(Aldershot, 2000).
5 Jon Stobart, Andrew Hann, Victoria Morgan (eds.) Spaces of Consumption: Leisure and
Shopping in the English Town, c.1680–1830 (Oxon: Routledge, 2013).
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