Trade in Artists’ Materials in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Canton

ABSTRACT

This paper provides an overview of the trade in artists’ materials in Canton between 1750 and 1842. Through an investigation of China’s foreign trade archives and records, this study gives a picture of international trade in artists’ materials, particularly pigments, during this period in Canton. Furthermore, it reveals a close trade in Western modern pigments between the West and China. The results of this research may be helpful to conservators and conservation scientists conducting treatments or technical studies on Chinese export paintings of this period.

KEYWORDS:

• Canton
• China foreign trade
• painting materials
• Chinese export paintings

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Hong and Chinese wholesale merchants were responsible for conducting trade with Western traders in Canton.

2 Co-Hong was the association of merchants to which a monopoly of foreign commerce in Canton was given, together with the various regulations under which commerce was conducted.

3 Hang Shang, a member of Co-Hong, did business with Western traders, also known as Hong merchants.

4 From the late seventeenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century, servants of the East India Company and private individuals licensed by the company to live and trade in the Indian presidencies were permitted to trade with China.

5 The picul is 133.3 lb. av. = 100 catties.

6 The tael currency in Canton was treated in the accounts as equivalent to 6 s.8d. (1£ = 3Tls).