The Chinese Ceramic Influence on Europe.

The Chinese Ceramic Influence on Europe

There are not many words in the English language, which are as synonymous & perhaps as mystic, in the mind, as the word ‘China.’ The name of the country of one of the earliest civilised & ordered societies known to us and yet also the simple term given to an article in everyday use. An article for the presentation and serving of food & drink or for the display & decoration of the domestic environment.

The country itself can conjure up in one’s thoughts the mysteries and mysticism of the Orient. Imagine then, the surprise of the Europeans of the early 17^th. Century, when they discovered that cargos of Tea,[1] for the consumption by the rich and famous, the great & the good, was accompanied as ballast by predominately blue & white porcelain[2] of brilliant eye catching designs never before seen in any great quantity in the west. Neither could they have realised how this single commodity was going to change and influence western culture.

These ‘secondary’ cargoes were at first generally auctioned cheaply in the incoming ports of Europe. However, the quality, hardness & durability of the porcelains were soon much admired. The particularly new exciting and unusual decorative qualities were of great interest and curiosity. Flurries of scholars were quickly writing about the diversities of the new wares.

Merchants, traders and makers looked at the potentials of the new products. How were they produced? The problems to be encountered however, were not only in the secret of their production & manufacturing technique, but more initially in the inability of the western traders to communicate adequately with the makers, in China, to find processes out.

Europeans also believed they would be able to easily copy them. This of course proved to be the dilemma that was to frustrate ceramicists for nearly 200 years since western seamen first saw the porcelain in China. These facts contributed to the reasons why Chinese products not only influenced, but also dominated European ones. Especially after the markets had been “primed”[3] to receive the goods by the stimulation of public and trade interest to come and buy them.

However, it was not only the material of the article itself, but also the stunningly different design techniques, styles & ideas of decoration that became an admired “wonderment!” Collectors & patrons of decorative art became aroused by the oriental approach to decoration & of the naturalistic & mythical subject matter.

Early Chinese wares were traditional & much of the decoration in narrative story book form. Then as demand increased, design styles and patterns were altered slightly to accommodate perceived western preferences. However its story, development and influence on the west is far more complex.

For the purpose of this discussion and looking at the Chinese ceramics influence, it is perhaps sensible to make momentary reference to the period immediately prior to the direct links with Europe that were to be later established.

Undoubtedly the existence and export from China of its ceramics affected every other country in the World, let alone Europe. The diverse and numerous reasons for this phenomenon can perhaps be understood in the few examples to follow here:

It has been recorded that Chinese Porcelain was first known to have reached Europe in very small quantities in the 14^th century. It was purchased from intermediate trading stations, having journeyed via the established trade route on the ancient and medieval overland path known as “The Silk Road”[4] then by sea from ports in Greece and Italy, particularly in the hands of Venetian Merchants.

However it was only exchanged as a rare gift between Emperors and Nobility and not generally seen outside those privileged circles. An early-recorded gift of a chest of porcelain was from the Sultan of Egypt to “Lorenzo de Medici” of Florence in the late 15^th century.

Up until about the 14^th century, the Koreans had much admired and imitated Chinese Porcelain with some measure of success, but it was not of the same quality. Japan had also attempted to imitate the wares for a much longer period. In the Middle East too as far back as the 12^th century attempts to reproduce it went on throughout China’s Ming Dynasty.[5] Chinese traders & Islamic merchants had met in the Persian Gulf and at Mesopotamia in an exchange of trade & styles, what “Toynbee”[6] called a “Challenge & Response”.

The Traders of these areas in the Orient and Middle East greatly admired the goods and were eager to produce them for themselves.

Initially, directly from Europe, the Portuguese had arrived at Guangzhou in 1517, after successfully finding a route round the Cape, but had been denied access by the Chinese to their ports. The Portuguese did not become fully established in the area until being permitted to set up trading in 1557 at Macao, together with their scholars and Jesuit Priests. They were initially permitted however; to visit the port twice yearly to purchase goods, which at this time were readily resold by them throughout Asia. Only small quantities were taken back to Europe through their home ports in Portugal.

In Europe, as has been indicated, this porcelain was barely known generally before the 17thC. In the Florentine Directory compiled at the “Academia della Crusca” Porcelain had been defined in generic terms as “precious clay from China”. It was further recorded in Florence by Georgio Vasari, [7] that an attempt to reproduce and imitate Chinese porcelain by “Francesco I, Grand Duke de Medici” was made in 1575[8]. However, it was discovered that the materials used were not viable for ceramics vessels as the medium used was soft-paste porcelain with a white glazed body. Only 70 known pieces have survived today. It can be seen that Chinese Porcelain inspired the colour, designs and motifs, or rather the Middle Eastern interpretations of them. This tends to show the “exchange” that Toynbee had talked about.

An early influence that Chinese Porcelain had on Europe occurred in a rather fortuitous way, some observers say by an act of Piracy rather than strategy. Two Carracks[9] of the Portuguese had been captured by the Dutch. One near St. Helena in 1602 and one at Johore in 1603. They were laden with Chinese Porcelain, which had been stowed in the holds to act as ballast, the main cargo being tea, spices & silk. The cargoes were bought to Amsterdam and Middleburg for Auction and the “secondary” porcelain caused a sensation in the Dutch Markets. The ceramics were of Ming and Blue and White, which became known as “Kraak-porcelein” and hence the term “Kraak” ever since.

The popularity of the cargoes almost invariably led to a far-reaching effect on the Dutch Ceramics trade. They hurriedly reproduced blue & white Earthenware designs to match the demand for the Chinese wares, but it did not have the durability Their tin-glazed wares at Delft were perhaps the first European Porcelains inspired directly by the Chinese. It is believed that production was also as a direct response to the extensive importation of Chinese wares that the Dutch East India Company, now began to undertake to Holland.

China had problems on its northern borders, which caused funds to be diverted to pay their armies. The kilns therefore needed new customers. The Europeans provided the cash needed and the impetus for the formation of a vigorous new painting style developed in blue and white wares. This became known as the Innovative period[10].

In relation to the kilns, it is useful to understand that there were three levels of quality of kilns. Those supplying Imperial goods to the Emperor and his court were the best. Those supplying internal domestic consumption and those supplying the export wares. The latter being of the lowest quality produced.

The success of the Dutch company spurred the English counterpart to establish a foothold at Guangzhou. The English previously at Amoy and Macao from 1683 now established themselves at the port. In 1699 Emperor Kang Hsi[11] ordered that the Rules of Trade with foreigners be relaxed & permission was given for the English Ship “Macclesfield” to enter the Port of Canton for a small consignment of Tea & Porcelain. This early move was to establish the English as being responsible for the eventual World Wide renown of Chinese wares in the 18^th century.

Ceramics were profusely sent to London and the American colonies. By 1720, Captains were regularly placing orders directly with the maker’s agents at the ports for armorials, bearings, monograms and reproductions of western engravings on porcelain for particular private customers. These goods only formed a fraction of the total of merchandise being exported.

As far as production in Europe was concerned the Germans too had been busy, but unsuccessful in duplicating the “hard-paste” of the Chinese to meet the new demand. It was not until Johann Friedrich Bottger eventually developed it at Meissen in 1709 when he perfected a hard paste porcelain technique to rival the Chinese produced wares. He had used kaolin from Aue and covered it with a felspathic glaze.

Such was the pressure to produce a rival to imitate the Ming wares, that the frustrated Bottger, a chemist, had been engaged and virtually imprisoned by Augustus Rex, The Strong of Saxony to create porcelain. In 1710 it was exhibited at the Leipzig fair and marked “red porcelain” for sale, “white porcelain” for examination only. In about 1712/13 it finally went into production & eventually swept the European market, but only after re-organisation of the workshops and production to cope with the quantities. Meissen had proclaimed it as “white gold” and already oriental styles were prolifically being copied.

In Italy the royal palace at Capodimonte had a factory founded by Augustus’s nephew, by marriage, Charles, King of Naples in 1743. His painters and modellers were finding their inspiration for floral and decorative motifs in Germany at the Meissen factory from their Chinese inspired wares.

In England William Cookworthy, a west country Apothecary, who then moved to Bristol, did not produce the first hard paste Porcelain until 1765 at Plymouth. His imitation of the Chinese type of hard paste was made out of Cornish kaolin. However it was still not of the Chinese quality. The Chinese influence was beginning to be seen, the styles, the shapes and designs, the colourings too were being profusely copied.

Meissen however, was dominant as European leader for nearly 50 years. The importance not only of the wares themselves but also of the design influence was clearly illustrated in the mid 18^th century. Frederick the Great of Prussia ordered a Royal dinner service for his palace at Sans Souci at Potsdam. It was to be of the finest Meissen but with.”complete imitation of Chinese pieces and their decorative devices…” but perhaps they still could not match the desires for the later imported genuine Chinese wares like Famille Vert & Famille Rose of the Kangxi period. These highly decorated enamelled pieces were particularly admired and often acquired as a garniture of five matching pieces to display. The Industrial Revolution.[12] had provided the wealth to sustain a taste for the expensive and exotic.

However, it is important to note that the west initially were not able to sustain manufacture because they were not set up to achieve the same scale of production as the Chinese’s “porcelain city” at Jingdezhen, in the Zhejiang Province. The large quantities could be produced in China because of the practises of mass labour resources, family and child involvement in all the stages of manufacture, including decoration, which had been historical since about the 3^rd. century B.C. It was said that a piece of Chinese ware went through 70 pairs of hands before it was completed, such was the scale of employment.

One indirect influence that the Chinese may have had in the production of porcelain, may be seen in the labour numbers involved in the work in the ceramic industry throughout Europe. In Germany, for instance, when Bottger died in 1719, only 20 people were employed in production at Meissen, but by the end of the 18th century 500 were engaged full time as employees in its production.

Therefore, it can be seen that an important factor of Chinese porcelains’ immediate influence was really based on two unassailable facts.

The first was that the quality of the wares, made it durable. The second was that the quantity of it made it readily available and that was, in essence, the heart of the Chinese export trade. At the time of its initial introduction to Europe these facts made it difficult to compete with. Those considerations still did not detract from another of its major attributes.This was in its artistic differences of styling, design and subject matter.It had not been seen before and now was being emulated and produced in Chelsea, Bow, Liverpool and in the provinces too, like Lowestoft.

Importers commissioned certain shapes and designs from vessels previously made of silver. Some shapes were specifically designed for the perceived ‘foreign’ taste. There was a conscious exchange of ornamental ideas.

In England factories had been set up to fulfil the demand not only to copy the Chinese wares

but, by 1750, were regularly producing copies to replace breakages of the original pieces. In Staffordshire coal deposits on surface seams adjacent to red clay made it an ideal area to set up ceramic workshops. Experimentation with body types, but hurried along by Chinese influence and buoyancy of the market for such goods, created the English centre of pottery and ceramics.

Some newly opened factories in Staffordshire were producing red stoneware in the late 18^th century that were less of the Chinese manner but bore the bogus Chinese potters marks, such was the enthusiasm to meet the demand! The East India Company were contracted to bring samples of raw material used at Jingdezhen back to Josiah Wedgwood in Staffordshire, such was the drive to compete.

From Bills of Lading from the ships, records of importation are known to have rocketed. In 1773 it was recorded that 240,00 pieces of porcelain were recorded as coming from Canton and Amoy on the ships “Grafton” and “Harrison”. In 1774 the growth of merchants who specialised in the sale of imported goods had increased to 52 registered in London. They were called “Chinamen” as were their ships and sales at East India House in Leadenhall Street, reached record proportions, the Auction sales being announced in the Gazettes as the ships came into Dock. In 1790 it was recorded that of 56 ships at Canton, 46 were English.

By now all major producers were copying the oriental style in an effort to maintain momentum of the great interest and demand. It became noted that European design became overrun by the mythology of the Chinese wares. Flowers, birds, beasts and all manner of unknown to the occidental mind were figured upon vases from Dresden to Vienna, Sevres to Chelsea and Bow. We have since learned that Chinese pictures are like speechless poems, with myth and legend. The landscapes alone represent and correspond to human features and emotions.

The collecting passion became such a major influence on the concept of Chinoserie[13], a major design model used, as example to great effect, by Josiah Spode in his “Willow Pattern.” The desire for the porcelains decorated with cobalt blue was so great that Spode responded, it is said, more than any other. He also is purported to have decided to develop transfer printing on his willow wares for “quickness of custom”. To negate his clients having to wait for oriental designs from Canton, which he said, “are outlandishly expensive.”

In conclusion a conjecture may possibly be inferred on another area of change that the influence of Chinese Ceramics had directly upon lifestyle and interior design. Not perhaps the obvious use of porcelain as a Decorative Art, or for the use and refinement of manners in the “taking of refreshment”, but more so in the creation of furniture and fittings to assist display of articles.

In about 1689, when Queen Mary came to England from Holland she bought with her from the Hague a vast collection of chinaware to be installed at Hampton Court. She had created taste for wall brackets built into overmantels to display these prizes. Cabinets, side and pier tables were arranged to show the pieces to best effect and this lead to the advent of “the China Cabinet.

It is worthy to note that in Thomas Chippendales’ Director,[14] designs for china cabinets are shown for the first time. They had never been recorded before; they are now illustrated and designed, naturally, in the “Chinese” style with elaborate rococo curvilinear C-scrolls and foliate design of chinoserie form.

Daniel Defoe[15] had commented, “No elegant house was without its Chinese vases.” To underline and emphasis that important observation the existence of an eminent collection of Kangxi Porcelain, both of “Famille Vert” [16]and “Powder Blue”[17] was presented in 1770 to the 4^th Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace, by a local man. A William Spalding of Woodstock, Oxfordshire, a rich merchant and collector.

It was stipulated that it never be sold and be kept on permanent display “…entirely for the beholders enjoyment..” This collection was of particular enviable significance at this time and was given pride of place in the Grand Hall.

[1] In 1652 one of the most valuable commodities of the period, having been initially captured from a Dutch Ship & arriving in England. By 1660 regarded as fashionable and medicinal & imported from China in large quantities together with Silk.

[2] To become known as “Kraak” –see page 3 for detail.

[3] Initially the practice of advising the “Sale by Auction” of goods coming by the sea- routes to the ports., using the “Gazettes”.

[4] About 4,000 miles long, on route from China to Europe, Silks bought through Gobi Desert, & Antioch to the Mediterranean Ports.

[7] Artist, Illustrator & Writer, including “Lives of the Artists” (1511-1574).

[8] Bernardo Buontalenti and potters from Urbino & Florence were employed, to mix impure Kaolin and Vitreous matter.

[11] Kang Hsi, Emperor in period 1662-1722 under Ch’ing Dynasty of 1644-1912. In English generally referred to as “Kangxi”.

[12] Early date of advent of Industry circa 1754, the actual historical date of the “Industrial Revolution” at its height is probably 1775-1812.

[13] Concept of European notion on Oriental design-pagoda, chinamen, dragons etc. in lacquer ware, furniture carving, silver as well as ceramics, stimilated by the imports.

[14] Gentleman & Cabinet Makers Director, of 1754, 1755 & 1762 by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79).

[15] (1670-1731). Novelist & writer in England, part. Robinson Crusoe). Wrote “Tour thro’ the whole Island of Great Britain”(1724-27)

[16]Translucent green with strong rust red, restrained purple, yellow & blue.

[17]Underglaze granular effect by blowing pigment powder into surface design.

The Chinese Ceramic Influence on Europe There are not many words in the English language, which are as synonymous & perhaps as mystic, in the mind, as the word ‘China.’ The name of the country of one of the earliest civilised & ordered societies known to us and yet also the simple term given to an article in everyday use. An article for the presentation and serving of food & drink or for the display & decoration of the domestic environment. The country itself can conjure up in one’s thoughts the mysteries and mysticism of the Orient. Imagine then, the surprise of the Europeans of the early 17^th. Century, when they discovered that cargos of Tea,[1] for the consumption by the rich and famous, the great & the good, was accompanied as ballast by predominately blue & white porcelain[2] of brilliant eye catching designs never before seen in any great quantity in the west. Neither could they have realised how this single commodity was going to change and influence western culture. These ‘secondary’ cargoes were at first generally auctioned cheaply in the incoming ports of Europe. However, the quality, hardness & durability of the porcelains were soon much admired. The particularly new exciting and unusual decorative qualities were of great interest and curiosity. Flurries of scholars were quickly writing about the diversities of the new wares. Merchants, traders and makers looked at the potentials of the new products. How were they produced? The problems to be encountered however, were not only in the secret of their production & manufacturing technique, but more initially in the inability of the western traders to communicate adequately with the makers, in China, to find processes out. Europeans also believed they would be able to easily copy them. This of course proved to be the dilemma that was to frustrate ceramicists for nearly 200 years since western seamen first saw the porcelain in China. These facts contributed to the reasons why Chinese products not only influenced, but also dominated European ones. Especially after the markets had been “primed”[3] to receive the goods by the stimulation of public and trade interest to come and buy them. However, it was not only the material of the article itself, but also the stunningly different design techniques, styles & ideas of decoration that became an admired “wonderment!” Collectors & patrons of decorative art became aroused by the oriental approach to decoration & of the naturalistic & mythical subject matter. Early Chinese wares were traditional & much of the decoration in narrative story book form. Then as demand increased, design styles and patterns were altered slightly to accommodate perceived western preferences. However its story, development and influence on the west is far more complex. For the purpose of this discussion and looking at the Chinese ceramics influence, it is perhaps sensible to make momentary reference to the period immediately prior to the direct links with Europe that were to be later established. Undoubtedly the existence and export from China of its ceramics affected every other country in the World, let alone Europe. The diverse and numerous reasons for this phenomenon can perhaps be understood in the few examples to follow here: It has been recorded that Chinese Porcelain was first known to have reached Europe in very small quantities in the 14^th century. It was purchased from intermediate trading stations, having journeyed via the established trade route on the ancient and medieval overland path known as “The Silk Road”[4] then by sea from ports in Greece and Italy, particularly in the hands of Venetian Merchants. However it was only exchanged as a rare gift between Emperors and Nobility and not generally seen outside those privileged circles. An early-recorded gift of a chest of porcelain was from the Sultan of Egypt to “Lorenzo de Medici” of Florence in the late 15^th century. Up until about the 14^th century, the Koreans had much admired and imitated Chinese Porcelain with some measure of success, but it was not of the same quality. Japan had also attempted to imitate the wares for a much longer period. In the Middle East too as far back as the 12^th century attempts to reproduce it went on throughout China’s Ming Dynasty.[5] Chinese traders & Islamic merchants had met in the Persian Gulf and at Mesopotamia in an exchange of trade & styles, what “Toynbee”[6] called a “Challenge & Response”. The Traders of these areas in the Orient and Middle East greatly admired the goods and were eager to produce them for themselves. Initially, directly from Europe, the Portuguese had arrived at Guangzhou in 1517, after successfully finding a route round the Cape, but had been denied access by the Chinese to their ports. The Portuguese did not become fully established in the area until being permitted to set up trading in 1557 at Macao, together with their scholars and Jesuit Priests. They were initially permitted however; to visit the port twice yearly to purchase goods, which at this time were readily resold by them throughout Asia. Only small quantities were taken back to Europe through their home ports in Portugal. In Europe, as has been indicated, this porcelain was barely known generally before the 17thC. In the Florentine Directory compiled at the “Academia della Crusca” Porcelain had been defined in generic terms as “precious clay from China”. It was further recorded in Florence by Georgio Vasari, [7] that an attempt to reproduce and imitate Chinese porcelain by “Francesco I, Grand Duke de Medici” was made in 1575[8]. However, it was discovered that the materials used were not viable for ceramics vessels as the medium used was soft-paste porcelain with a white glazed body. Only 70 known pieces have survived today. It can be seen that Chinese Porcelain inspired the colour, designs and motifs, or rather the Middle Eastern interpretations of them. This tends to show the “exchange” that Toynbee had talked about. An early influence that Chinese Porcelain had on Europe occurred in a rather fortuitous way, some observers say by an act of Piracy rather than strategy. Two Carracks[9] of the Portuguese had been captured by the Dutch. One near St. Helena in 1602 and one at Johore in 1603. They were laden with Chinese Porcelain, which had been stowed in the holds to act as ballast, the main cargo being tea, spices & silk. The cargoes were bought to Amsterdam and Middleburg for Auction and the “secondary” porcelain caused a sensation in the Dutch Markets. The ceramics were of Ming and Blue and White, which became known as “Kraak-porcelein” and hence the term “Kraak” ever since. The popularity of the cargoes almost invariably led to a far-reaching effect on the Dutch Ceramics trade. They hurriedly reproduced blue & white Earthenware designs to match the demand for the Chinese wares, but it did not have the durability Their tin-glazed wares at Delft were perhaps the first European Porcelains inspired directly by the Chinese. It is believed that production was also as a direct response to the extensive importation of Chinese wares that the Dutch East India Company, now began to undertake to Holland. China had problems on its northern borders, which caused funds to be diverted to pay their armies. The kilns therefore needed new customers. The Europeans provided the cash needed and the impetus for the formation of a vigorous new painting style developed in blue and white wares. This became known as the Innovative period[10]. In relation to the kilns, it is useful to understand that there were three levels of quality of kilns. Those supplying Imperial goods to the Emperor and his court were the best. Those supplying internal domestic consumption and those supplying the export wares. The latter being of the lowest quality produced. The success of the Dutch company spurred the English counterpart to establish a foothold at Guangzhou. The English previously at Amoy and Macao from 1683 now established themselves at the port. In 1699 Emperor Kang Hsi[11] ordered that the Rules of Trade with foreigners be relaxed & permission was given for the English Ship “Macclesfield” to enter the Port of Canton for a small consignment of Tea & Porcelain. This early move was to establish the English as being responsible for the eventual World Wide renown of Chinese wares in the 18^th century. Ceramics were profusely sent to London and the American colonies. By 1720, Captains were regularly placing orders directly with the maker’s agents at the ports for armorials, bearings, monograms and reproductions of western engravings on porcelain for particular private customers. These goods only formed a fraction of the total of merchandise being exported. As far as production in Europe was concerned the Germans too had been busy, but unsuccessful in duplicating the “hard-paste” of the Chinese to meet the new demand. It was not until Johann Friedrich Bottger eventually developed it at Meissen in 1709 when he perfected a hard paste porcelain technique to rival the Chinese produced wares. He had used kaolin from Aue and covered it with a felspathic glaze. Such was the pressure to produce a rival to imitate the Ming wares, that the frustrated Bottger, a chemist, had been engaged and virtually imprisoned by Augustus Rex, The Strong of Saxony to create porcelain. In 1710 it was exhibited at the Leipzig fair and marked “red porcelain” for sale, “white porcelain” for examination only. In about 1712/13 it finally went into production & eventually swept the European market, but only after re-organisation of the workshops and production to cope with the quantities. Meissen had proclaimed it as “white gold” and already oriental styles were prolifically being copied. In Italy the royal palace at Capodimonte had a factory founded by Augustus’s nephew, by marriage, Charles, King of Naples in 1743. His painters and modellers were finding their inspiration for floral and decorative motifs in Germany at the Meissen factory from their Chinese inspired wares. In England William Cookworthy, a west country Apothecary, who then moved to Bristol, did not produce the first hard paste Porcelain until 1765 at Plymouth. His imitation of the Chinese type of hard paste was made out of Cornish kaolin. However it was still not of the Chinese quality. The Chinese influence was beginning to be seen, the styles, the shapes and designs, the colourings too were being profusely copied. Meissen however, was dominant as European leader for nearly 50 years. The importance not only of the wares themselves but also of the design influence was clearly illustrated in the mid 18^th century. Frederick the Great of Prussia ordered a Royal dinner service for his palace at Sans Souci at Potsdam. It was to be of the finest Meissen but with.”complete imitation of Chinese pieces and their decorative devices…” but perhaps they still could not match the desires for the later imported genuine Chinese wares like Famille Vert & Famille Rose of the Kangxi period. These highly decorated enamelled pieces were particularly admired and often acquired as a garniture of five matching pieces to display. The Industrial Revolution.[12] had provided the wealth to sustain a taste for the expensive and exotic. However, it is important to note that the west initially were not able to sustain manufacture because they were not set up to achieve the same scale of production as the Chinese’s “porcelain city” at Jingdezhen, in the Zhejiang Province. The large quantities could be produced in China because of the practises of mass labour resources, family and child involvement in all the stages of manufacture, including decoration, which had been historical since about the 3^rd. century B.C. It was said that a piece of Chinese ware went through 70 pairs of hands before it was completed, such was the scale of employment. One indirect influence that the Chinese may have had in the production of porcelain, may be seen in the labour numbers involved in the work in the ceramic industry throughout Europe. In Germany, for instance, when Bottger died in 1719, only 20 people were employed in production at Meissen, but by the end of the 18th century 500 were engaged full time as employees in its production. Therefore, it can be seen that an important factor of Chinese porcelains’ immediate influence was really based on two unassailable facts. The first was that the quality of the wares, made it durable. The second was that the quantity of it made it readily available and that was, in essence, the heart of the Chinese export trade. At the time of its initial introduction to Europe these facts made it difficult to compete with. Those considerations still did not detract from another of its major attributes.This was in its artistic differences of styling, design and subject matter.It had not been seen before and now was being emulated and produced in Chelsea, Bow, Liverpool and in the provinces too, like Lowestoft. Importers commissioned certain shapes and designs from vessels previously made of silver. Some shapes were specifically designed for the perceived ‘foreign’ taste. There was a conscious exchange of ornamental ideas. In England factories had been set up to fulfil the demand not only to copy the Chinese wares but, by 1750, were regularly producing copies to replace breakages of the original pieces. In Staffordshire coal deposits on surface seams adjacent to red clay made it an ideal area to set up ceramic workshops. Experimentation with body types, but hurried along by Chinese influence and buoyancy of the market for such goods, created the English centre of pottery and ceramics. Some newly opened factories in Staffordshire were producing red stoneware in the late 18^th century that were less of the Chinese manner but bore the bogus Chinese potters marks, such was the enthusiasm to meet the demand! The East India Company were contracted to bring samples of raw material used at Jingdezhen back to Josiah Wedgwood in Staffordshire, such was the drive to compete. From Bills of Lading from the ships, records of importation are known to have rocketed. In 1773 it was recorded that 240,00 pieces of porcelain were recorded as coming from Canton and Amoy on the ships “Grafton” and “Harrison”. In 1774 the growth of merchants who specialised in the sale of imported goods had increased to 52 registered in London. They were called “Chinamen” as were their ships and sales at East India House in Leadenhall Street, reached record proportions, the Auction sales being announced in the Gazettes as the ships came into Dock. In 1790 it was recorded that of 56 ships at Canton, 46 were English. By now all major producers were copying the oriental style in an effort to maintain momentum of the great interest and demand. It became noted that European design became overrun by the mythology of the Chinese wares. Flowers, birds, beasts and all manner of unknown to the occidental mind were figured upon vases from Dresden to Vienna, Sevres to Chelsea and Bow. We have since learned that Chinese pictures are like speechless poems, with myth and legend. The landscapes alone represent and correspond to human features and emotions. The collecting passion became such a major influence on the concept of Chinoserie[13], a major design model used, as example to great effect, by Josiah Spode in his “Willow Pattern.” The desire for the porcelains decorated with cobalt blue was so great that Spode responded, it is said, more than any other. He also is purported to have decided to develop transfer printing on his willow wares for “quickness of custom”. To negate his clients having to wait for oriental designs from Canton, which he said, “are outlandishly expensive.” In conclusion a conjecture may possibly be inferred on another area of change that the influence of Chinese Ceramics had directly upon lifestyle and interior design. Not perhaps the obvious use of porcelain as a Decorative Art, or for the use and refinement of manners in the “taking of refreshment”, but more so in the creation of furniture and fittings to assist display of articles. In about 1689, when Queen Mary came to England from Holland she bought with her from the Hague a vast collection of chinaware to be installed at Hampton Court. She had created taste for wall brackets built into overmantels to display these prizes. Cabinets, side and pier tables were arranged to show the pieces to best effect and this lead to the advent of “the China Cabinet. It is worthy to note that in Thomas Chippendales’ Director,[14] designs for china cabinets are shown for the first time. They had never been recorded before; they are now illustrated and designed, naturally, in the “Chinese” style with elaborate rococo curvilinear C-scrolls and foliate design of chinoserie form. Daniel Defoe[15] had commented, “No elegant house was without its Chinese vases.” To underline and emphasis that important observation the existence of an eminent collection of Kangxi Porcelain, both of “Famille Vert” [16]and “Powder Blue”[17] was presented in 1770 to the 4^th Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace, by a local man. A William Spalding of Woodstock, Oxfordshire, a rich merchant and collector. It was stipulated that it never be sold and be kept on permanent display “…entirely for the beholders enjoyment..” This collection was of particular enviable significance at this time and was given pride of place in the Grand Hall.

Article written by: Mike W. Bucknole, May, 2001. All Rights protected. For Acknowledgements see bibliography. With thanks to Frank Ashworth, Lecturer Southampton Institute, for editing. Top of Page Back