Chinese Export Art: In the Eighteenth Century

Chinese fine arts found a « sellers market » in eighteenth-century Europe. Fashionable caprice demanded that the great houses of the day should boast, if not a Chinese Room, then at least a collection of Chinese porcelains, lacquer goods, ivories, silks, and wall papers.

This fascinating book gives a detailed and very well documented account of the China trade, in which Britain and the merchants of her East India Company eclipsed all other European nations. The authors, both expert authorities on antiques and ceramics, discuss changing European tastes in Chinese goods and show how the Chinese production of goods especially for the European market had a profound influence on design and decoration, particularly in England and France. Much of the book is the result of original research, the authors having studied the diaries, journals, letters, bills and export orders of many merchants and travellers. The comprehensive collection of black and white illustrations shows examples of Chinese fine arts in many private collections in England as well as in the priceless collections of the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.; « A handsome volume dealing with a subject that has suffered from a strange neglect. Admirably illustrated. » review from The Literary Supplement.