This dissertation focused on the prolific early European trade and consumption of three Asian manufactured goods: Chinese silk and porcelain, and Japanese lacquer in the sixteenth and early... Show moreThis dissertation focused on the prolific early European trade and consumption of three Asian manufactured goods: Chinese silk and porcelain, and Japanese lacquer in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and has shown how the material cultures of late Ming China and Momoyama/early Edo Japan became inextricably linked with the West. Multiple sources provided new and unexpected documentary and material evidence of this trade by the Iberian Kingdoms of Portugal and Spain, and the trading companies formed in the Northern Netherlands/Dutch Republic and England. They also informed us about the commercial networks through which these Asian goods circulated, and the way in which they were acquired, used and appreciated in the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and English societies in Western Europe, and in the multi-ethnic societies of the colonies in the New World. Some new finds relate to the use of porcelain in Western Europe in the sixteenth century, the terminology employed in northwestern Europe to refer to Kraak porcelain, and the Japanese lacquer objects made in European shapes for the Dutch and English trading companies earlier than in Chinese porcelain. This study provides a better understanding of the intercultural exchanges that occurred between the East and West at the time. Show less
The reception of Chinese and Japanese export porcelain in Europe and the Americas has been the subject of much research, many publications and a number of exhibitions. The scholars and researchers... Show moreThe reception of Chinese and Japanese export porcelain in Europe and the Americas has been the subject of much research, many publications and a number of exhibitions. The scholars and researchers involved could base themselves on a solid corpus of data, gathered in the past from a miscellany of sources. Although Spain was one of the most important commercial and colonial powers in the East during the 16th and 17th centuries, its role in the porcelain trade was far from clear, mainly due to the lack of research in the relevant primary sources. In fact, Spain was more or less a blank spot on the Western map relating to imports of Oriental porcelain.1 This thesis aims to make a modest start to rectify this situation, offering an eclectic survey of hitherto unknown or unused sources, as well as a large collection of new data. Show less
