Foreign Colors

Highlights the most significant private collection ever formed of Chinese porcelain made for export in the first decades of the 19th century.

Drawing from the most significant private collection ever formed of Chinese porcelain made for export in the first decades of the 19th century, this lavishly illustrated book explores the high-quality, richly enamelled wares too often overlooked by studies focused on the 18th-century China trade.

Made at a time when the nature of East-West trade was changing, when the European trading companies were no longer importing large quantities of Chinese porcelain and the enamelling workshops of Guangzhou were, instead, selling to private traders from Europe, India, the Middle East and the new nation of America, this material reflects the captivating cultural interchange the trade inspired with its blend of Western forms and wholly Chinese decoration.

Foreign Colors is the first book to provide a scholarly framework for the dating and classification of these wares and to separate them from the poor-quality export material made in the second half of the century. It will be a revelation to those who have previously dismissed all 19th-century export porcelain production.