Page 55 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780

CHAPTER 1 Introduction

type of Chinese porcelain, but included a variety of types, such as enamelled wares,

blue and white, blanc de chine, and Chinese Imari. Consequently, scholars who have

used Morse’s studies have neglected this fact as well.

In my research, I investigate the ‘contracts’ as shown in Figure 1-2. I collect these

contracts of the EEIC from 1729 to 1774 in the EEIC records, and use them

chronologically to illustrate porcelain trade of different historical contexts (Appendix

A). The original descriptions of the detailed contracts were barely studied, and remain

unexplored. The information provided from lists is sometimes misleading, and a limit

for analysing porcelain trade, because no descriptions of porcelain have been written

down in these lists, but only the total number of chests. In addition, in the contracts,

contracted porcelains were clearly categorised as ‘enamelled’ or ‘blue and white’.

Information of this kind can give us an idea of detail beyond mere quantities, and

provide useful evidence for discussion on enamelled porcelain trade.

1.4.3. Textual Records on Porcelain Manufacture

In order to demonstrate the technological innovation of production in the eighteenth

century, information about porcelain production will also be used in my research. For

many centuries, Jingdezhen was the main porcelain manufacturer for domestic and

export markets. From the eighteenth century onwards, texts and images on Jingdezhen

84
porcelain production increased and were widely circulated in China, such as

84 Ellen Huang in her Ph.D thesis demonstrates that texts and visual images on Jingdezhen
porcelain production has been widely circulated inside and outside China during the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. Ellen Huang, ‘China’s China: Jingdezhen Porcelain and the
Production of Art in the Nineteenth Century’, (University of California, 2008), pp.80-141.
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