Page 63 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780

CHAPTER 1 Introduction

1.5. Structure of the Thesis

Chapter 1 introduces the research context of the thesis, the main primary sources

consulted and the methodology. It examines current studies on Chinese enamelled

porcelain from several disciplines and yields a new approach to exploring Chinese

enamelled porcelain within its context of production and trade, both in China and

beyond. An in-depth look at scholarship reveals the current state of the field in the

historiography of enamelled porcelain.

Chapter 2 discusses enamelled porcelain as a site of technology transfer. It aims

to explore how enamels and enamelling techniques have been transmitted from

Imperial Workshops to local porcelain production site; the production of enamelled

porcelain in eighteenth-century China experienced both inventions and innovations.

More importantly, the history of enamelled porcelain production was not only linear,

but involved complex interactions among different sites of production as they

developed over time. This chapter will explore interactions, with particular attention

as to how and in what way the manufacturers were linked.

Chapter 3 explores the internal trade and circulation of enamelled porcelain

within eighteenth-century China. It questions the assumption that enamelled porcelain

was consumed exclusively in the court, an assumption that has previously gone

unexamined. From the seventeenth century onwards, the growth of a merchant

economy, social and political stability, coupled with increasing leisure time in China,

all encourage domestic demand for luxury objects. This chapter aims to demonstrate

the consumption of enamelled porcelain in China. It focuses on the domestic

responses to enamelled porcelain in the eighteenth century. It further highlights the

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