Page 64 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780

CHAPTER 1 Introduction

consumption beyond the court, and addresses the change of taste at different levels of

Chinese society during this period.

Chapter 4 discusses the porcelain trade at Canton between 1729 and 1740. It

begins by introducing the EEIC’s porcelain trade with China with a focus on

enamelled porcelain trade. It situates a historical period that only Jingdezhen was

capable of producing enamelled porcelain in large numbers. It views enamelled

porcelain as a new type of porcelain product and examines its role in the porcelain

trade. This chapter argues that enamelled porcelain as a new product in the export

market emerges as a niche product, traded by a large number of very small dealers. It

argues that, during this period, the trade of enamelled porcelain brought about

opportunities for small dealers to participate in trade.

Chapter 5 examines the trade in enamelled porcelain between 1740 and 1760.

This chapter has shown two different trade patterns of Chinese porcelain at Canton. It

demonstrates that porcelain markets in Canton of this period were inconsistent, in that

enamelled porcelain trade was in steady growth while blue and white porcelain trade

fluctuated. More importantly, it raises the question of whether Canton was capable of

producing enamelled porcelain in large quantities during this period. By drawing

attention to Chinese textual records and the data from the EEIC, this research

demonstrated that it was not until the late 1750s that Canton started to produce

enamelled porcelain of a large scale.

Chapter 6 focuses on a crucial period of Canton trade, and aims to show the

important factors that have stimulated the trade and the production of enamelled

porcelain. It analyses the historical context of the trade during this period 1755 to

1760, and argues that key events related to the trade occurred in Canton in 1755, 1757

48