The Silk Trade: Chinese Silks and the British East India Company
Author(s): Leanna Lee-Whitman
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 1982), pp. 21-41
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The Silk Trade
Chinese Silks and the BritishEast India Company
Leanna Lee-Whitman
AT
THE OPENING of the seventeenth though confinedto the port citiesof London and
century,Queen ElizabethI, in an effortto
promoteBritishinterestsin the Far East,
chartered the British East India Company and
granted it a monopoly of trade in the East. The
charter was broad, granting powers to cover all
circumstances-companyships, for instance,were
empowered to make war on any who refused to
trade(as long as theywere non-Christians)-nevertheless, initial effortsto trade directlywith the
Chinese in 1607 were frustratedbywhatwere even
then considered sharp business practices.
In theinfancy
of theirtradewithChina,whichwas atFirandoand Tywan,theyexperiboth
from
tempted
oftheDutchwhonotonly
encedthedetermined
hostility
but
opposed themby open meannessof competition,
stirredup thehatredof theChineseagainsttheBritish
Ento be English,and carrying
subjects,
bypretending
and capturingthe
glishcolours,and as such,attacking
ChinesetradingJunks.'
Once begun, however,trade betweenGreat Britain
and China remained direct and voluminous, alLeanna Lee-Whitman is in the Ph.D. program in the Departmentof AmericanCivilizationat Universityof Pennsylvania
and is a curatorialassistantat INA Corporation Museum, Philadelphia.
The author extends special thanks to Schuyler van Rensselaer Cammann, professorof Oriental studies, Universityof
Pennsylvania,whose tutorial guidance has immeasurablyenmaterialin the
richedthisstudy.Unpublished Crown-Copyright
India OfficeRecords reproduced in thisarticleappears by permissionof the Controllerof Her Majesty'sStationeryOffice.
1IntercoursewithChina, Memoirsof Chairmanand Deputy
Chairman, 1518-1832 (notationprobablynineteenthcentury),
vol. 277A. Gf12 FactoryRecords, China Materials,India Office
Records (hereaftercited as IOR) of the India Office Library
and Records. I would like to thank A. J. Farrington,assistant
keeper,India OfficeLibraryand Records, forhis help withthe
China trade records. Hosea Ballou Morse, The Chronicles
ofthe
EastIndia CompanyTradingtoChina,1635-1824, 5 vols. (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1926-29), 1:1o. Hirado (Firando) is an island
and port of Japan a shortdistance northwestfromNagasaki.
? 1982 byThe HenryFrancisdu Pont WinterthurMuseum.
All rightsreserved. oo84-0416/82/1701-0002$02.00.
Canton, throughoutthe eighteenthcentury.2One
of the mostimportantcommoditiesimportedfrom
China throughoutthat period was tea. The other
was silk.
The entireBritishand Chinese silk trade must
be interpretedas a reexport marketthat was designedto protectBritishmanufacturers.According
to Britishnavigationlaws and prohibitionacts, all
silkpiece goods deliveredto London fromEastern
ports(includingCanton) were to be distributedand
sold for reexport to continentalEuropean cities,
the West Indies, the English colonies in North
America,and so forth.(Nevertheless,as the presence of quantities of eighteenth-century
Chinese
silks in Britain's great houses attests,a prolific
smugglingtradearose in defianceof thetradeacts.)
Arthistoriansinterestedin thisperiod have always
expected to finda large amount of eighteenth-century Chinese silks in America. Heretofore they
have also had to accept the problem that without
guidelinesprovided by woven or painted patterns,
the physicalcharacteristicsof plain silks made in
Europe, India, and China are far too similarand
interchangeableto make any kind of sure identification.
Although providing more visual evidence for
study,even patternedsilkshave remainedproblematic. Evidence abounds to demonstratecross-fertilizationof stylesand adaptationsof motifsbyEasterners and Westernersalike. Chinoiserie,Western
adaptationsof Chinese designs,remained popular
in Europe throughoutthe entiresecond halfof the
eighteenthcentury.Conversely,many European
patternbooks containingswatchesof silk designs
2
Schuylervan RensselaerCammann,"America'sTrade with
Canton, 1784-1844," in Chinaand theWest,Cultureand Commerce
(Los Angeles: WilliamAndrewsClark MemorialLibrary,1977)The insightsand the bibliographyprovide an extraordinarily
valuable interpretationof the China trade.
Winterthur
Portfolio
22
were sent to the East for Eastern artisansto copy.
In consequence, curators have generally had to
base their categorizationof ornamented silks as
eitherEuropean or Eastern by comparingstylized
renditionsof patternswithsilksof a knownprovenance.
The silktrade fromChina fellunder the direct
supervisionof supercargoes.These shipboardbusiness agents,who were representativesof merchants
and cosigners,sailed on BritishEast India Company's tradingvessels to oversee all the mechanics
of trade, to effectthe sale of the outward-bound
cargoes, and to investthe returnproceeds in tea,
silk,and other articles.Their weightyresponsibilities included negotiatingboth company and private orderswithforeignmerchants,payingforeign
dutyfees,and bribingvariousofficials.Forthecompany these supercargoes kept writtenrecords of
theirgeneral observationsaboard ship and in port
and wrote contractswith the Chinese silk merchants.
The supercargoes'noteson silksprovidecritical
documentationbecause they both offer concrete
data toward the identificationof China trade silks
and give a wealth of informationrelating to the
trade. In thisarticle,supercargoes'recordsare used
for several purposes: (1) to derive identifyingcriteria for eighteenth-century
export Chinese silks,
the typesof silksimported
(2) to attemptto identify
fromChina by BritishEast India Company in this
period, and (3) to discuss informationprovided in
the records that relates to cultural aspects of the
silk trade.
BritishEast India Company's Supercargoes'
Records
The records of the trade between London and
Canton are housed at India Office Library and
Records, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in
London and are divided into two sections: China
Supercargoes' Diaries, 1721-51; Canton Consultations, etc., 1751-1843.3 From 1721 to 1834 each
trading ship leaving London (and returningapproximatelyfourteen months later) was assigned
one or more companysupercargoes.In 1751 a factory (a workingarea and residence for "factors,"
3 The China materialsfillvolumes21 through277A. For this
study,I made extensiveuse of the informationin volumes 21
through 57 which individuallycover thirty-two
voyages that
departed England between 1721 and 1753. Since the voyages
overlapped each other I cite the volume number rather than
the date.
or agents)was establishedin Canton,whichchanged
the method of keeping records. BritishEast India
Company's trade monopolywas dissolvedin 1834,
afterwhichno supercargodiaries exist,but certain
transactionscontinued until 1843.
Supercargoes' entriesvarygreatlyand are entirelydependent on the meticulousnessof the individual writer.Therefore, the informationavailable fromthese records fluctuates.As the writers
had their own individual stylesand formsof nononstandardizatation,typicaleighteenth-century
tions are frequent,differentspellings and grammaticalusages being the mostprevalentexamples.
The occasional anomaly in the specificationsand
undecipherableor idiosyncraticmarkingswere deleted in compilingthisstudy.
The ten years in which specificationswere detailed formthe nucleus of documentaryevidence
of the silks imported by the Britishfrom China
duringthe eighteenthcentury.From 1727 to 1735
and again from 1751 to 1753, supercargoespainswidth,
takinglyrecorded the specifications-length,
thread,weight,color,and numberof pieceswantedof each typeof fabric.Whiletheamountof Chinese
silks ordered through the company and presumably brought back to London between 1721 and
1753 totaled well over 6o,ooo pieces, in the years
priorto 1727 supercargoesrecordedonlythenumber of each color desired for various typesof fabrics. For 1736 to 1750 we have only a few entries,
totaling 330 pieces, because most supercargoes'
diaries are missing.4The measurementsin the extant records fromthis middle period remain constantwiththose fromprevious years and those in
the followingyears,whichconfirmsthe consistent
measurementsset down in the ten yearsforwhich
we have complete records and detailed specifications.The records thatcontainthe silkentriesfor
the years 1753 to 1775 are also missing,and from
1775 to 1834 silk entriesare skimpy.They consist
of numbers,such as "462 pieces,""231 pieces,"and
The formof
"1269 pieces,"but no specifications.5
these last entriesindicatesthat supercargoeswere
dealing directlywithBritishfactorsin Canton and
no longer needed to record transactions with
Chinese merchants.
The characteristicentry for orders in which
complete specificationsare given is illustratedin
figure 1. This British supercargo on July 16/17,
1728, contractedwithseveral Chinese merchants,
including Suqua, to buy woven taffetas,gorgoroons,poisees, and bed damasksof specificlengths,
4 Morse, Chronicles,
5:v-vi.
5 Vol. 64, IOR.
Silk Trade
23
t"
L
'i27
-i
liil''i?)t#'
;i~~ltfJU?-
t/9
?;.:
f
lliAl
:;
4
()Z)
lee
4/
1'
ey~8
-4//t
/7
le/
7Wft/7
-
7
41
-$
Jf119t11-
-,q2
-4
114
Im
Sv-~
40,;
&Zvt
ttf
forBritishEast India CompanyChinesesilks.FromSupercargodiary,
Fig. 1. Specifications
July16-17, 1727,vol.
Records.(India OfficeRecords.)
G/12Factory
27, ChinaMaterials,
widths,thread specifications,piece weights,prices,
and colors.6
All measurementsfor silks are given in covids.
(The etymologicaloriginof covidis covado,probably
an Indo-Portugueseformof the word cubitor ell.)
In length the covid is equivalent to the Chinese
foot,the chih.The lengthof the officialchih in the
Ch'ing dynasty(1644-1912), whose capital citywas
Peiking,was 12.58 inches.' The chih used among
tradesmen in Canton was longer and varied between 14.625 and 14.81 Englishinches.But British
East India Company supercargoesand Cantonese
6 Vol.
27, IOR.
A Glossary
7 Henry Yule and A. C. Burnell,Hobson-Jobson:
of
ColloquialAnglo-IndianWordsand Phrases,and ofKindredTerms,
Historical,Geographicaland Discussive,ed. William
Etymological,
Crooke (1903; reprint ed., Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal,
1968), p. 268.
merchantssettledon 14.1 Englishinches as a measurement for both the covid and the chih in the
eighteenthcentury,wellbeforeit was cooperatively
fixedin customsand tariffsof 1842 and 1858.8
BritishEast India Company supercargoesspecifiedthatthe widthof silksbe 2 or 2.2 covids (28.2
or 31 inches). The loom width,or selvedge-to-selvedge width,of a fabricis criticalin documentation
because itis themostfixedmeasurementon a loom.
The width of fabrics from a single loom can be
varied only with great effort.In mass-producing
fabrics,a standardizationof loom sizes-and therefore loom widths-was needed. Such standardization was not new in China.
The sizes of the looms used in the Ming dynasty
8 S. WellsWilliams,A ChineseCommercial
Guide(5th ed.; Hong
Kong: A. Shortredge, 1863), pp. 282, 283.
24
(1368-1644) and those used during the LondonCanton eighteenth-century
trading period were
if
not
alike.
similar,
exactly
Ming dynastycostumes
have selvedge-to-selvedge
widthsof 27 inches.9The
specificationsfor dragon robes during the early
Ch'ing dynastywere also fixed: "The boltsof satin
and gauze forthe Imperial dragon robes ... were
commanded to be made two (Chinese) feetbroad,
and eithertwentyor forty-five
feetin length.Every
other typeof fabric,includingthe satinand gauze
withfour-claweddragon patterns,was to be made
two feetbroad and forty-two
feetlong."'1In ninefurther
standardizationand
China,
teenth-century
The
records show that
took
place.
specialization
weaversgenerallyconfinedthemselvesto theweaving of only one or two kinds of piece goods and
were unwilling to undertake others. The dress
goods and satinsweremostlymanufacturedin Canton."
The supercargoes' diaries provide vital confirmationof the extensiveworkdone byAgnes Geijer
of State HistoricalMuseum in Stockholmand Natalie Rothsteinof Victoria and Albert Museum in
London, both of whom found loom widthsof 28
Chinese
inches or more on all eighteenth-century
silks. Geijer concentratedon damasks and found
their widths varied from 283/4 inches to 3011/16
inches.12
silksdifferin width
Chinese eighteenth-century
from other silks of the period. European ornamented silks of standard size generally ranged
from 191/2 inches to 23 inches. Indian silks were
remarkablyinconsistentin width,a variationdue
in part to differentprovenance, in part to final
usage. Some eighteenth-centuryIndian silks do
have selvedge-to-selvedgewidths in the Chinese
range,but theylack other"Chinese" characteristics
silkswere
(see below). Japan's eighteenth-century
9 DorothyK. Burnham,CutMyCote(Toronto: RoyalOntario
Museum, 1973), p. 29.
10
Schuylervan Rensselaer Cammann, China'sDragonRobes
(New York: Ronald Press, 1952), p. 117. The quote is fromthe
Ta Ch'ingHui-tienof 1690, compiled during the reign of Emperor K'ang Hsi.
11Williams,Commerical
Guide,p. 138.
12
in Sweden(Copenhagen: RoAgnes Geijer,OrientalTextiles
senkilde and Bagger, 1951), pp. 37-41, and figs. 18-30, pp.
silk
loo-1o2. The most salient sources on eighteenth-century
importsfromBritainto Americaare Natalie Rothstein'sarticles:
"Silks for the American Market,"Connoisseur
166, no. 668 (October 1967): 90-94; no. 669 (November 1967): 150-56; and
"Silks Imported into America in the EighteenthCentury,an
in Imported
HistoricalSurvey,"'
and DomesticTextiles
in EighteenthAmerica,proceedingsof the 1975 Irene Emery RoundCentury
table on Museum Textiles, ed. Patricia L. Fiske (Washington,
D.C.: Textile Museum, 1975). Special thanks are extended to
Rothstein,deputy keeper, Department of Textiles and Dress,
Victoria and Albert Museum, who firstguided me in the directionof the India OfficeLibraryand Records.
Winterthur
Portfolio
rarelyexported to the West.Japan closed itselfoff
to the outside world from the last quarter of the
seventeenthcenturyto the earlysecond halfof the
nineteenth century. Moreover, sixteenth-century
trading annals record that the Portuguese transported Chinese silks from Macao and Canton to
Nagasaki because wealthy Japanese preferred
Chinese silks,both raw and finished.~3
BritishEast India Company supercargoes ordered silks in lengths of either 38 or 45 covids
(44' 7" or 59' 1 1").These measurementsmake clear
thatwhatwas called a pieceof silkin the eighteenth
centurywould now be termed a lengthor a bolt.
How oftenthe Britishgot the specifiedamount of
length in their pieces is questionable, especiallyif
we consider a nineteenth-century
observationon
Chinese
age-old
measuring practices: "The chih
measures were usuallymade of bamboo. ... Shopkeepers usually kept two stickson theircounters,
varying two to four lines, and even more; the
shorter for retail, the longer for wholesale; they
rate the cloth at the same price per chih,but measuringby the longer givesa profit,when sellingby
the shorter,of three to six percent. This usage is
verygeneral and well understood."'4
The Chinese measurementof weightis tael. A
tael weighed 1.32 English ounces in Canton in
1710. In 1770 BritishEast India Company agreed
withmerchantsto fix the weightat 1.333 English
ounces.'5
A directcorrelationexists between the weight
of a fabricand its weave structure,the densityof
itsweave, and itsthread (yarn) sizes. Thread specificationsvaried from4 to lo in the supercargoes'
records; however,the meaning of the numbersis
unclear. Although it is temptingto assume that 4
was either the lightestor the heaviestof threads,
this is not borne out by the piece weightsin as
consistenta fashionas is required forconfirmation
in any particularweave. The numbers could also
13 PeterThornton,Baroqueand RococoSilks(London: Faber
& Faber,1965), p. 58; GertrudeTownsend,"EighteenthCentury
Brocade Costumes,"Antiques47, no. 5 (May
270-72;
1945)"about the
Milton Sonday,"What Can We Learn froma Fabric
Loom on WhichIt MightHave Been Woven?,"in Fiske,Imported
and DomesticTextiles,pp. 242-43; Alice Baldwin Beer, Trade
Goods:A StudyofIndianChintzin theCollection
oftheCooper-Hewitt
MuseumofDecorativeArtsand Design(Washington,D.C.: Smithsonian InstitutionPress, 1970), p. 44; C. R. Boxer, Fidalgosin
theFar East, 1550-1770 (London: Oxford UniversityPress,
1968), p. 6.
14Williams,Commercial
Guide,p. 285. AnthonyN. B. Garvan
of University
of Pennsylvaniacourteouslypermittedme to study
two chih rulersin his privatecollection.
15Williams, CommercialGuide, p. 280. Note, tael is also
Chinese currency.Morse, Chronicles,
givesthe same equivalents:
1 covid approximates 14.1 inches; 1 tael approximates 1/3s
ounces.
Silk Trade
refer to the "ply,"that is, the number of threads
that make up a single yarn.16
Identificationof China Trade Silks
A major purpose of thisarticleis to providecriteria
for identifyingChina trade silks. Supercargoes'
specificationsprovide writtendocumentation for
criticalmeasurements:complementingthese data
are the actual eighteenth-century
Chinese silks.
further
into
identification
They provide
insight
and documentationbecause they display physical
characteristicsthat are not mentioned in written
records.Four characteristics
appear on all silksthat
had Chinese selvedge-to-selvedgemeasurements
(28"-31"). They are (1) sequential vertical 1/32"3/32" [o.5-2mm]) sized temple holes, (2) contrasting colored selvedges, (3) bright lustrous sheen,
and (4) a soft, clinging feel that is the result of
mechanicalcalendering.
Maintainingan even widthon a handwovenfabric has been a problem for weavers through the
ages. Westernsilks display a varietyof solutions
including securelybound selvedge edges, the use
of clamps, placement of individual pins, and the
use of rods that have pins at both ends that leave
irregularholes. The Chinese solutioninvolvedusing a pair of temple rods which, although not
unique to Chinese weaving techniques,did leave
clusters of holes that are distinctivein size and
placement.A Chinese weavingtemplethen,as now,
consisted of two rods with two to five pin points
protrudingat each end. As figure2 shows, while
a clothis stillon the loom, the templerods are laid
on the fabricso the pins pierce the edge and keep
the fabricevenlystretched.The rods are attached
to each other in the middle (in the shape of an X),
so the assemblage can be moved forwardas a unit
as weaving progresses. This device produces the
sequence of regularlyspaced holes (fig.3).17
Contrastingselvedges are present in all identifiedChinese plain (unpatterned) silks. The selvedges always contrastin color and sometimesin
weave fromthe ground fabric.
Luster and softnesswas imparted to Chinese
silksbycalendering.This mechanicalprocessneeded
onlythreebasic components:(1) a stonebase plate,
(2) a wooden roller,and (3) a heavy"rocking"stone
(fig.4). A silk length,which is usually sandwiched
16
Microscopic examination of the threads is currentlyin
process and resultswillbe reported shortly.
17Rudolf Hommel, China at Work(1937; reprinted., Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1969), pp. 18o-81.
25
between sheets of paper impregnatedwithinsect
wax of a high meltingpointor sheetsof highlypolished cow skin, was wound around the wooden
roller.A man stood on the rockingstone,tiltingit
fromside to side and movingthe roller back and
forthacross the base plate. The stone,whichmight
weigh over a ton, flattenedand smoothed the silk
fibers,producinga more reflectivesurfaceand lustrousquality.'8In short,calenderingwas a method
of givinglusterto silk by pressure.The resultis a
silk witha very soft,clingingfeel, or "hand," and
sheen.
With the basic characteristicsin mind we are
able to move to identifyingfabrics.For,although
fabricshave remained basicallythe same for centuries,the terminologyhas changed over timeand
fromcountryto country.The processof identifying
an eighteenth-century
fabricremainsone of taking
severalcharacteristicsindividuallyand looking for
consistencies.From Canton, the Britishordered a
varietyof plain and patternedsilks.The initialdistinctionis simple for us. Plain silk lacked ornamentation;patternedsilk had decorativepatterns.
But there were several categoriesof silks that supercargoes ordered and for which they gave detailed specifications:
1. Bed damask
2. Gorgoroon
3. Goshee
a. Plain, or decorationunspecified
b. Flowered
c. Flowered, 2 colors
Poisee
4.
a. Plain, or decorationunspecified
b. Flowered
c. Striped and sprigged
d. Striped and flowered
5. Paduasoy (pou-de-soie,
peau-de-soie)
a. Plain
b. Black
6. Satin
7. Taffeta
a. Plain
b. Striped and brocaded
c. Sprigged
d. Striped and sprigged
e. Striped
f. Changeable
g. Black
18
Hommel, China,p. 191. C. D. Hsiung et al., "A General
Surveyof Dyehouses in Chengtu" Journalof theSocietyofDyers
and Colorists55, no. 8 (August 1939): 418. Maruta Skelton,
WinterthurAnalyticalLaboratory,and I are presentlyworking
on a microscopicanalysisof calendered silks.
26
Fig. 2. Chinese temple rods on a low-warploom.
From Rudolf Hommel, China at Work(1937; reprinted., Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1969),
p. 263Fig. 3. Temple holes pierced in selvedgeof a piece
of gauze. (Acc. no. 68.48, WinterthurMuseum.)
A largerpiece of the fabricis shownas figure1i.
Winterthur
Portfolio
Silk Trade
27
The tablesand analysesthatfollowconvertand
clarifyinformationin the supercargoes'recordsin
order to provide a more exact description and
identificationof each categoryof silk. The trade
quantities and terms are converted to standard
Britishequivalents.The arrivaldates and amounts
ordered give some idea about the Britishdemand
for each type of silk. Each table contains (1) the
type of fabricordered, (2) its arrivaldate in London-an a or a b next to a date signifiesthatmore
than one ship came back fromChina in thatyear,
(3) the number of differentorders for each piece,
(4) the totalnumberof pieces, (5) threadslistedby
number,(6) lengthsand widthsof each piece (bolt),
and (7) the total weight of each piece in ounces.
Ounces are also used as a unit of measure in the
calculationof weightper square foot as a further
conversionfrom the measurementsin the supercargoes' records.19
Bed damask(see table i). Bed damask is a form
of patternedsilk. A classic damask is a derivative
of a satin weave. (In satin weave the longitudinal
[warp] threadspredominateon the facingsurface,
which creates a smooth shinyappearance.)20 The
predominanceof the warp or the wefton the face
of a damask delineatesthe ground and thepattern.
Although the patterningis subtle, one needs an
intricateloom settingin order to weave one. Damasks are the heaviest of the Chinese silks,weighing about 0.53 to 0.57 ounces per square foot.
The Portugueseand the Spanish found silksto
be theircornerstoneof trade withChina, and their
seventeenth-century
tradingrecordsmentiondamasks throughout.A Portuguese account records
transactionsin China about 16oo involvingfine
damask priced at 5 taels, veryfinedamask at 6 to
7 taels, and others at 4 taels. By 1663, Jesuithistorian Padre Colin observed Spanish galleons
bringingto Manila "from Great China silksof all
kinds,raw and woven in velvetsand figureddamasks, taffetasand other cloths of every texture,
design and colors.""21
19All tableswere
organized and calculatedby Randal Loring
Whitman. The standard commercial measure is ounces per
square yard.Square feet,however,are a more practicalmeasure
for museum pieces.
20For detailed descriptionsof thisand otherweaves,consult
(ToDorothy K. Burnham, Warpand Weft:A TextileTerminology
ronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1980), and Irene Emery,The
Structures
(WashingPrimary
ofFabrics:An Illustrated
Classification
ton, D.C.: Textile Museum, 1966).
21C. R. Boxer, The GreatShipfromAmacon:AnnalsofMacao
and theOldJapan Trade,1555-164o (Lisboa: Centrode Estudos
Historicos Ultramarinos,1959), P. 181; William Schurz, The
Manila Galleon(1939; reprinted., New York:E. P. Dutton,1959),
p. 50.
Fig.4. Man standingon calenderingstone.FromC. D.
Hsiung et al., "A General Surveyof Dyehousesin
Chengtu,"
55,
JournaloftheSociety
ofDyersand Colorists
no. 8 (August1939): 418.
A buff-coloreddamask silkin the collectionsof
Colonial WilliamsburgFoundation is documented
as comingfromBritishEast India Company'strade
between 1780 and 1790 (fig. 5). Tradition claims
that the damask came froma gown of Jane Richardson McKinly,wife of the firstgovernor of the
state of Delaware.22 Natalie Rothstein found a
Chinese silk that has a slightmodificationof this
motif,which derives from-and is another variation of-a European floralpatternpopular about
1785.23 The close similarityof these to Western
motifsstronglysuggests that the Chinese copied
and adapted Westernpatternsfor trade purposes.
The damask at Williamsburghas a selvedge-to-selvedge width of 28 inches. Its selvedge coincides
22Linda Baumgarten,curatorof textiles,Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, courteouslyprovided all historicalinformation and physicalmeasurements.
23Rothstein,"Silks for the American Market,"p. 91, fig.9.
Winterthur
Portfolio
28
Table 1. Bed Damask
Decoration
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Arrival
in
London
1723a
1723b
1729a
1733
1734
1735
1736
1751a
1751b
1753
Number Number
of
of
orders
Thread
pieces
...
...
4
2
1
3
2
1
1
1
310
...
...
. ..
400
.. .
800
800
...
100
...
50
30
30
Length(ft.)x
width(in.)
52.9
44.6'
44.6'
44.6'
52.9'
52.9'
52.9'
529'
10
6
8
...
...
...
x 28.2"*
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
* Decimalmeasurements
withweights.
are used to facilitate
comparison
withthose describedby both Rothsteinand Geijer:
3/16inch of satinweave in sectionsof red/white/red
and 1/4inch plain weave in tan. It has a series of
four temple holes next to the selvedges and the
sheen and softhand of Chinese silks.
characteristic
A unit weightis not available.
(see table 2). BritishEast India ComGorgoroon
and gorgopany supercargoes used both gorgoroon
which
ronto referto a materiallatercalled grogram,
combination
has been describedas a coarse silkor a
of mohair, wool, and silk.24Seventeenth-century
European trading accounts with China mention
grograms. Hosea Ballou Morse, who published a
studyon BritishEast India Company in the 1920s,
described the materialas "stout corded silk stuff,
not verylustrous,and one of the most durable of
silk fabrics."25
Although the term grogramwas in
in
use
England before the Britishbegan
general
the Chinese silktrade,BritishEast India Company
whichwas
consciouslyretainedthe formgorgoroon,
closerto thePortugueseand Spanish tradingterms.
We have been unable to determinethe specific
weave structureof gorgoroons; however,fromthe
orders we know that,except in one instancewhen
"stripedand flowered"gorgoroonswere ordered,
theywere uniformlyplain. Until a descriptionof
gorgoroonscan be completed,we can onlysay that
theywere of medium weight-about 0.43 to 0.46
ounces per square foot.
Goshee(see table 3). Goshee is an unknownfabric.As Morse,in his authoritativefive-volumework
on the British East India Company trade with
66.5-70.5
59.8
58.5
58.5
69.2
69.2
69.2
69.2
Ouncesper
squarefoot
0.53-0.57
0.57
0.56
0.56
0.56
0.56
0.56
0.56
China,observed,"The mostcarefulsearchthrough
manydictionariesand encyclopedias,general,philological, and technical,has failed to elicitany inThe termgoshee
formationon these . .. fabrics.''26
does not appear outside of the supercargoes' reca London newspaper
ords. The Daily Advertiser,
whichfeaturedimportedand exported goods, includingtextiles,provided sixteenlistingsof fabrics
for export fromLondon between 1731 and 1732.
These included all the typesof silksitemizedin the
supercargoes'recordsexceptforgoshees.This suggests that the term was a company trading name
whichdid not even carryover to the reexportlistings.
At present,conclusiveevidence for identifying
gosheesstillhas notcome to our attention.A variety
of sources, however,do suggest the presence of
cottonfibersas well as silk.
The possibilitythatgosheerefersto gauze is unlikely.First,the word gauze was already in use in
sixteenth-century
England.27More important,extantgauzes are farlighterin weightthanthatlisted
in the records. A more likelysource is the term
guzzeeor guzzy,derived fromthe Persianand Hindi
gaz, whichis definedas a verypoor kind of cotton
cloth.JohnIrwin,retiredcuratorof Indian textiles,
Victoria and Albert Museum, identifiedguzzeeas
ordinary white cotton fabric (woven with lightweightthreads).28If gosheewas a phoneticborrowing from guzzee that would indicate the possible
presenceof cotton,thus makinga part-silkor halfsilk fabric.
26
HakluytSociety,ed., TheTravelsofPeterMundyinEngland,
India, China,etc.,1634-1638 (London: By the society,1919), p.
304.
25Morse, Chronicles,
1:20.
24
Total
weight(oz.)
per piece
1:20.
Morse, Chronicles,
s.v. "Gauze."
27 Oxford
EnglishDictionary,
28 Yule and Burnell, Hobson-Jobson,
p. 405; John Irwin and
P. R. Schwartz,Studiesin Indo-EuropeanTextileHistory(Ahmedabad, India: Calico Museum of Textiles, 1966), p. 65-
Silk Trade
29
Fig. 5. Patternedsilkdamask of dark buffflowerson a buffground. Selvedge-to-selvedgewidth28"; length35". (Acc.
no. 70-10, Colonial WilliamsburgFoundation.)
Winterthur
Portfolio
30
A memorandum about the merchandise that
the Portuguese usually took fromChina to Japan
(ca. 16oo) listedabout 3,000ooo
angalas. C. R. Boxer,
trade
specialist, identified ?angalas
Portuguese
from Nanking as "half cotton and half raw silk
worth 1 tael 3." In the nineteenthcenturyS. Wells
Williams,China tradespecialist,noted thatChinese
silkscalled mienchauand sz mientsahhoin Cantonese
"were silk and cotton mixtures,[but they]are no
longer exported because those made in the West
have whollysupplanted them."29
The supercargoes' records do not indicate the
presence of fabricsof mixed fibers.Nevertheless,
the phoneticsimilarity
of goshee to guzzy and the
mention of Chinese silk-cottonmixturesin both
seventeenth-and nineteenth-century
sources sugthat
is
a
silk-and-cotton
fabric.
As yet
gest
goshee
we have no eighteenth-century
of
fabric
to
piece
this.
verify
Paduasoy(pou-de-soie)(see table 4). Textile historiansconsider paduasoy a silk woven in a variation of the satinweave, withbindingsarranged to
create fine cross-ridgesacross the fabric. In the
supercargoes' records, paduasoys do not appear
until 1736. Only 66o pieces were ordered between
then and 1753, the smallestquantityof any of the
29 Boxer,GreatShip,p. 18o; S. WellsWilliams,A ChineseComfabrics.
As of 1751, the company ordered only
mercial
Guide(4thed.; Canton:OfficeoftheChineseRepository,
"black
paduasoys."
187.
1856), p.
Table 2. Gorgoroon
Decoration
Arrival
in
London
Number Number
of
of
orders
pieces Thread
...
...
1,275
...
...
1,500
8
8
1,750
100
8
2
...
2
1,000
1
...
8
1
100
6
1
100
...
...
1
6
...
2
200
100
...
1
1
100
...
100
...
1
1
8o
...
1
8o
...
Length (ft.)x
width(in.)
Plain
1723a
Plain
1723b
Plain
1729a
52-.9 x 28.2"*
52.9' x 28.2"
1729a
Striped & flowered
Plain
44.6' x 28.2"
1729b
Plain
52.9' x 28.2"
1733
Plain
52.9' x 28.2"
1734
Plain
52.9' x 28.2"
1735
Plain
52.9' x 28.2"
1736
x 28.2"
Plain
52.9'
175la
Plain
44.6' x 28.2"
1751a
Plain
44.6' x 28.2"
1751b
Plain
52.9' x 28.2"
1751b
Plain
52.9' x 28.2"
1753
Plain
44.6' x 28.2"
1753
* Decimal measurementsare used to facilitatecomparison withweights.
Total
weight(oz.)
per piece
53.2-54-5
55-9
47-9
46.5
53.2
53.2
55-9
55-9
47-9
47.9
57.1
55-9
47-9
Ounces per
square foot
0.43-0.45
0.46
0.46
0.38
0.43
0.43
0.46
0.46
0.46
0.46
0.47
0.46
0.46
Table 3. Goshee
Decoration
Arrival
in
London
Number
of
orders
Number
of
pieces
Thread
Length (ft.)x
width(in.)
44.6' x 28.2"*
52-9' x 28.2"
52-9' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
44.6' x 28.2"
44.6' x 28.2"
44.6' x 28.2"
52-9' x 28.2"
52-9' x 28.2"
44.6' x 28.2"
Flowered
500
5
5
1729a
...
Plain
750
1735
3
...
1
Plain
250
1735
...
Plain
2
5
1736
...
Plain
2
150
1751a
...
1
Plain
75
1751a
1
Plain
...
75
1751a
...
8o
1
Plain
1751b
...
1
8o
Plain
1751b
...
1
6o
Plain
1753
...
1
Plain
6o
1753
* Decimal measurementsare used to facilitate
comparisonwithweights.
Total
weight(oz.)
per piece
38.6
46.5
47-9
47-9
47-9
41.2
42.6
41.2
47-9
47.9
41.2
Ounces per
square foot
0.37
0.38
0.39
0.39
0.39
0.40
0.41
0.40
0.39
0.39
0.40
Silk Trade
31
We may speculate as to why the paduasoys
should be limitedto black. They may have been,
for example, a preferredmaterial for mourning
clothes because of their greater weightand stiffness. However, the mordant (the substance that
causes full penetrationof the dye into the fibers)
used withblack dyes contained iron oxide, which
is particularlydestructiveto textiles.Thus, we do
not expect now to find eighteenth-century
blackfabrics.
we
do
know
from
conNevertheless,
dyed
that
temporaryportraits
black-dyedclothingwas
in use. Regrettably,
itis not possibleto identifywith
certaintyfabricstructurefromsuch sources.
Poisee(see table 5). As withgoshee, poisee is an
unknownfabric.Morse was whollyunable to identifyit.Evidence suggeststhatpoisees are satinswith
painted and printedfloralmotifs;however,a definiteassignmentand descriptionis stillnot possible.
The average weightof the differentpoisees is
0.46 ounces per square foot. Except in 1733 all
supercargoes specified 8 threads. These correspond strikinglyto characteristicsof satin whose
average weightis 0.45 ounces per square foot,and
whose threads-except for a 5 in 1733-are also
8. No otherfabricsmatchboth weightand threads
so consistently,which permits the tentativeassumptionthat poisees are satins.
Hand-painted and hand-printedsilksfromthe
Table 4. Paduasoy
Arrival
Decoration
in
London
Number
of
orders
Plain
1736a
Plain
1736b
Plain
1737
Plain
1738
Plain
1751a
Plain
1751a
Black
1751a
Black
1751b
Black
1751b
Black
1753
Black
1753
* Decimal measurementsare
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
Number
of
pieces
...
...
50
...
120
6o
150
6o
6o
8o
8o
Thread
12
8
...
8
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Length(ft.)x
width(in.)
52.9' x 28.2"*
52.9' x 28.2"
44.6'
44.6'
52.9'
44.6'
44.6'
52.9'
52.9'
44.6'
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
x 28.2"
Total
weight(oz.)
per piece
Ouncesper
squarefoot
66.5
66.5
0.53
0.53
49.2
55-9
65.2
61.2
55-9
66.5
69.2
59.8
0.47
0.53
0.52
0.58
0.53
0.53
0.56
0.57
given to facilitatecomparison withweights.
Table 5. Poisee
Decoration
Plain
Plain
Flowered
Striped & flowered
Striped & sprigged
Flowered
Plain
Plain
Striped & flowered
Plain
One color
Two color
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Arrival
in
London
1723a
1723b
1729a
1729a
1729a
1729b
1734
1735
1735
1736
1736
1736
1751a
1751a
1751b
1751b
1753
1753
* Decimalmeasurements
are
Number Number
of
of
orders
pieces Thread
...
1,050
......
...
2,000
.......
8
7
1,500
1
8
300
1
8
300
...
2,000
3
1
6
200
8
5
3,000
1
8
150
1
...
8
1
...
8
1
...
8
1
...
150
1
..
150
1
8o
...
1
8o
...
1
...
75
1
75
...
Length (ft.)x
width(in.)
52.9' x 28.2"*
52.9' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
44.6' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
44.6' x 28.2"
44.6' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
52.9' x 28.2"
44.6' x 28.2"
givento facilitate
comparisonwithweights.
Total
weight(oz.)
per piece
53.2-54-5
59.8
59.8
43-9
53.2
53.2
59.8
53.2
55-9
55-9
55-9
47-9
47-9
57.1
55-9
47-9
Ounces per
square foot
0.43-0.44
0.48
0.48
0.42
0.43
0.43
0.48
0.43
0.45
0.45
0.45
0.46
0.46
0.46
0.45
0.46
32
East dominated fashionsduring the second halfof
the eighteenthcentury.In France, one observer
explained: "[The Chinese] made printed taffetas
also, in place of whichsatinis now preferred.This
is so fine that it is difficultto tell whetherone is
looking at the printedor painted material."30This
apparentlystrongdemand forpainted and printed
satins is not consistentwith the weak demand for
satins in the supercargoes' records: satins are the
second to the least in numbers ordered. Against
thiswe have a considerablepopularityof poisees-theyare the second most commonlyordered silk.
This is consistentwiththe interpretationthat poisees were painted and printedsatins,and that"satins" in British East India Company records referredonly to plain satins.Numerous painted and
printed satins exist in museum collections,and it
is difficultto reconcile the presence of so many
extantornamented satinswiththe relativelysmall
numberof "satins"listed in the supercargoes' records. This difficulty,
too, is resolved if we consider
to
be
painted and printedsatins.
poisees
The word poiseein sixteenth-century
England
meant a "bunch of flowers,a nosegay" (modern,
posy).This semanticdesignationlimitspainted and
printed satins to floralmotifsonly,a severe limitationwhen we consider the whole range of possible ornamental motifs.Nevertheless,all extant
painted and printedsatinsthat
eighteenth-century
I have seen have floralmotifsand are only occasionally accompanied by nonfloral components,
such as insectsor birds.
The termpoiseewas used by Britishcolonistsin
America. There is a mentionof "skyblue poisies"
in Benjamin Franklin's PennsylvaniaGazette,but
more commonlythe paper merelylisted"flowered
sattins."3' If indeed poisees were painted and
printed flowered satins, the latter term was supplantingthe formerby the middle of the century,
at least in the colonies.
A yellow satin in the collectionof Winterthur
Museum witha motifof printedand paintedsprigs
of flowersmatches the writtenspecificationsfor
poisees (fig. 6).32 The selvedge-to-selvedgewidth
is 295/sinches.A sequence of groups of fourtemple
holes piercesthecontrastingbrightgreen selvedge.
The silk fragment weighs approximately 0.41
30 Adolf
and Artistic
Reichwein,Chinaand Europe,Intellectual
Contactsin theEighteenth
Century(New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
1925), PP. 38, 3931Pennsylvania
Gazette(Philadelphia) (October 25, 1759; January 16, April 17, September 11, 1766).
32Margaret Fikioris, textile conservator,WinterthurMuseum, located all residue pieces of painted silksin the Winterthur collectionenabling studyof the collectionto begin.
Winterthur
Portfolio
ounces per square foot. (In the supercargoes' records, the lightest"floweredpoisee" weighed 0.42
ounces per square foot;we mustallow a marginof
errorin computingunit weightsof irregularfragmentssuch as this.)33
A specificmention of the eighteenth-century
use for printed and painted satins appeared in a
1756 BostonGazette.GilbertDeblois advertisedimportsfromLondon, Bristol,and Scotlandincluding
"plain and flower'dsattinsforHatts and Cloaks, of
all Colours, withsuitable Trimmings."34
Satin(see table 6). The satinweave (fordescription, see Bed damask)produces fabricwitha characteristicsmooth look. In the supercargoes' records,satinis clearlya categoryof plain,nonpatterned
silk.The absence of any pattern,however,required
thatwe finda piece witha definiteeighteenth-cenwidth
turydate and completeselvedge-to-selvedge
in order to document established guidelines for
Chinese satinsin general.Eighteenth-century
gowns
fortuitously
provide such material.
Expensive silk dresses of subdued colors ("of
the best sort but plain") were commonlyworn by
wives and daughtersof wealthymercantileQuakers. The judgment of stricterFriendson thispractice,however,was that it was not in the true spirit
of Quaker simplicity.Nonetheless, many eighteenth-centuryPhiladelphia Quakers, with fortunes gained mainlyby overseas trade, gravitated
towarda more ostentatiouslife-style.
An elegant unaltered satin gown now in the
Philadelphia Museum of Art was once owned by
one such prominentPhiladelphia Quaker family.
This lightbeige satin dress was highlyfashionable
about 1785 (fig. 7).35 The pleated skirt,in a style
commonlycategorizedas an open robe by modern
scholars,revealsa quilted petticoatin frontand, in
back, has a self-formedtrain.36
The selvedge-to-selvedgewidth is 28 inches,
which corresponds to the supercargoes' written
specifications.Its remainingphysicalcharacteristics
make thisdated plain satin a criticaltool for identifyingother importedChinese silks.It has several
33
A formalpresentationon eighteenth-century
Chinese and
non-Chinesepainted and printedsilkswas givenat Winterthur's
ScientificAdvisoryCommitteemeetingNovember 1980. Maruta
Skeltonand I are preparingan articlethatwillprovidea detailed
art historicaland scientific(X-rayfluorescence)analysison this
topic.
34BostonGazette(July 26, 1756) as cited in Claudia Kidwell
and Margaret Christman,SuitingEveryone:The Democratization
inAmerica(Washington,D.C.: SmithsonianInstitution
ofClothing
Press, 1974), p. 20.
35 Historicallythe dress and petticoatdo not go together.
6
James Laver, The ConciseHistoryof Fashionand Costumes
(New York: Charles Scribner'sSons, 1969), p. 131.
SilkTrade
33
onred,blue,
andhighlights
floralmotif
andwhiteundershading
Fig.6. Yellowsatinwitha paintedandprintedsprigged
andpurpleflowers.
width29%5/".
Museum.)
(Acc.no.57.692,Winterthur
Selvedge-to-selvedge
series of temple holes, in patternsof fourand five
holes, in the selvedges.It has the characteristicsoft
mechanicalfinishof silksfromChina. Its selvedge,
like thatof a yellowsatin-groundpoisee in the collection of WinterthurMuseum, is a contrasting
color,in thiscase bright,two-tonedorange threads.
Taffeta(see table 7). Taffetais a silk cloth constructedin a plain weave, the most basic and simplest of weaves (in which the warp threads pass
alternatinglyover and under the weftthreads). In
the commerce recorded by the supercargoes, by
far the most popular silks imported from China
were the taffetas.They constitutedapproximately
61 percent of the total number. Ephraim Chambers, author of an eighteenth-century
encyclopedia, specifiedits shinyfinishas its definingcharacteristic.37
37Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopedia;or,A UniversalDictionary
ofArtsand Sciences,2 vols. (5th ed., London: D. Midwinter,A.
Bettsworth,and C. Hitch, 1727), s.v. "Taffeties."
The tremendousdemand for taffetaswithluster led to specific instructions.A supercargo in
1731 stipulatedtaffetasand gorgoroons of "good
gloss and full weight.Lengths take care that very
drybefore prepared." From 1753-the last year in
which specificationsfor silks are available-is an
order, specificby color: "The blacks of the paduasoys and Gorgoroons and Taffatiesto be a beautifulgloss and the whole to be delivered ... in 1oo
days ... considerationof an advance of 72 taels
... allowing for the crimson and scarlet dyes according to the rate.""38
The large amount of taffetasordered indicates
the Britishwere satisfiedwiththe "good gloss" of
the silks.The sheen was normallyimpartedby the
rocking stone, but, according to a description in
the eighteenth-century
writingsof Father JeanDu
Chinese
workmenalso gave a
Halde,
Baptiste
38 Vol. 33, IOR; vol. 57, IOR.
Winterthur
Portfolio
34
Table 6. Satin
Decoration
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Arrival
in
London
1729a
1733
1733
1736
1737
1738
1751a
Number Number
of
of
orders
Thread
pieces
8
4
475
1
5
...
2
8
300+
...
2
8
100
1
...
1
1
8
...
50
..
Length(ft.)x
width(in.)
52.9' X28.2"*
52.9'X 28.2"
52.9'X28.2"
52.9'X 28.2"
52.9'X 28.2"
52.9'X 28.2"
52.9'X 28.2"
1
...
Plain
1751b
30
52.9'X 28.2"
1
Plain
1753
...
30
52.9'X 28.2"
* Decimalmeasurements
are givento facilitate
comparisonwithweights.
Fig. 7. Beige satin open-robe gown, 1795-99. Selvedge-
width28". (Acc. no. 78--68-1,Philadelphia
to-selvedge
Museumof Art,giftof MaryMorrisBoykin.)
Total
weight(oz.)
per piece
53.2-54.5
46.5
59.8
53.2
Ouncesper
squarefoot
0.43-0.44
0.37
0.48
0.43
54-5
0.44
54-5
55-9
0.45
55-9
0.45
0.44
gloss to Tcheoutsetaffetaby using the fatof a freshwater seal.39As yet,I have not seen any taffetasof
thisperiod thathave the lusterof a chemicalfinish
such as animal fat.
The measurementsfor taffetasspecifiedin the
supercargoes' records are quite distinctive-they
are the only fabricsfor which a loom widthof 31
inches(2.2 covids) is specified,in contrastto a specifiedloom widthof 28.2 inches (2 covids) forother
fabrics.The additional 2.8 inches in widthis noteworthyand puzzling. In spite of the consistency
withwhich this extra width appears in the supertafcargoes' specifications,no eighteenth-century
feta examined so far has demonstratedit.
A firmlydated plain taffetacostume, like the
dated plain satin one, provides a criticalpiece of
documentationbecause it, too, provides information absent in writtenrecords. The Philadelphia
Museum of Art has a dark brown taffetagown
which,because of itsverydark color and subdued
styling,is thoughtto have belonged to an American
Quaker. The dress was subsequentlyaltered, but
clearlyitwas at one timepartof a somber,although
ensemble (similarto that
costly,eighteenth-century
illustratedin figure8), and stands in marked contrast to the previouslydescribed high-stylebeige
satinQuaker-owned dress.40 The Chinese originof
39 Mario Bussagli, Cottonand Silk Making in Manchu China
(New York: Rizzoli International,1980).
40 The Philadelphia Museum of Art's brown taffetadress,
acc. no. 64-74-1, of whichthe selvedge widthsare 281/2
inches,
has its original eighteenth-century
bodice frontintactbut has
otherwisebeen considerablyaltered to conformto nineteenthcenturystyles.Measurementswere taken fromthe severelyaltered dress, but pictorial referencesto this dress are of little
use. Instead, PMA acc. no. 29-111-1, whichis a good stylistic
mode, but not having 28-inch selvedge-toeighteenth-century
selvedge widths,was used forvisual reference.I am verygrateful to Adolph Cavallo, curator of costumes and textiles,for
sharinghis expertisein analyzingthisgown and othercostumes
in the collectionat PMA and for allowing me intensiveaccess
to his collectionfor several months.
Silk Trade
35
Table 7. Taffeta
Decoration
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Striped
Sprigged
Striped & sprigged
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Plain
Striped
Plain
Plain
Striped
Changeable
Striped & brocade
Plain
Changeable
Black
Striped
Striped & brocade
Striped
Changeable
Colored
Black
Striped & brocade
Arrival Number Number
in
of
of
Length(ft.)x
London orders pieces Thread
width(in.)
1723a
1723b
1729a
...
...
12
2
1
1
1
1729a
1729a
1729a
1729a
1729b
1733
2
1
1
4
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1734
1735
1735
1735
1736
1736
1736
1751a
1751a
1751a
1751a
1751b
1751b
1751b
1751b
1751b
1753
1753
1753
1753
1753
* Decimalmeasurements
are
6,000
6,000
5,500
700
100
400
100
3,000
...
1,000
8,ooo
200
1,500
...
...
...
1,490
50
100
50
500
50
500
30
30
50
50
500
500
50
...
...
6
4
4
6
6
6
6
6
6
8
...
6
6
8
...
...
. ..
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Total
weight(oz.)
per piece
44.6' x 31"i*
44.6' x 31"
44.6' x 31"i
"
34.6-35-9
31.9-33.2
33.2
44.6' x 31"i
44.6' x 31"
44.6' x331"
44.6'x 31"i
44.6' x 31"I
44.6' x 31"I
44.6' x 31"
44.6' x 28.2"
44.6' x 31"
44.6'x 31"i
44.6' x 31"
44.6' x 31"
44.6' x 31"
44.6'x 31i
44.6' x 31'"
44.6' x 31"
44.6' x 31"
44.6' x 31i"
44.6' x 31"
44.6'x 31"i
44.6'x 31"i
44.6'x 31l"
44.6' x 31i
52.9'x 28.2"
46.5
34.6
34.6
34.6
34.6
42.6
34.6
37.2
37.2
45.2
37.2
37.2
37.2
37.2
37.2
37.2
37.2
41.2
41.2
37.2
37.2
37.2
37.2
43.9
52.9'x
31
Ouncesper
squarefoot
0.30-0.31
0.28-0.29
0.29
0.41
0.30
0.30
0.30
0.30
0.37
0.33
0.32
0.32
0.40
0.32
0.32
0.32
0.32
0.32
0.32
0.32
0.36
0.36
0.32
0.32
0.32
0.32
0.36
withweights.
givento facilitate
comparison
the dark brown fabric is demonstrated by four
characteristics.The selvedge-to-selvedgewidth is
281/2inches. Four temple holes sequentiallypierce
the selvedge. The fabrichas a high gloss and a soft
feel. The selvedge has brightyellowwarp threads
thatcontrastwiththe dark brown ground.
Although plain taffetaswere more frequently
ordered, supercargoes also specified many patternedones. "Striped" and "Striped and Brocade"
were probably woven patterns. Chambers noted
that"those floweredwithgold and silver,are more
usually called brocades."41But only three orders
specified brocades, and, until a great deal more
evidence is presented,we cannot tell if supercargoes consistentlyrecognized thisdistinction.
A large silkfragmentin the textilecollectionof
the SmithsonianInstitutionis a stripedand floral
taffeta(fig.9). The silkis woven in two alternating
weaves: white stripes in plain weave and blue
41Chambers,
s.v. "Flowered."
Cyclopedia,
stripesin satinweave; flowers,late eighteenth-century in style,are painted and printed over the
A trailingred and purple floralvine decstripes.42
orates the whiteareas, and sprigsof silverflowers
are placed on the wider blue stripes."Striped and
sprigged,"at least in this case, indicates a woven
and paintedand printedmotif.The fragmentlacks
both selvedges, and its incomplete width is 24
inches. Its approximateweightis 0.42 ounces per
square foot as compared withthe specifiedweight
of 0.41 ounces per square foot for striped and
spriggedtaffetain the 1729 supercargoes'records.
Another painted and printed taffetathat was
made into a gown in the late eighteenthcentury
provides a secure time frame for eighteenth-century printed and painted Chinese silks (fig. io).
The gown, which has never been altered stylistically,provides us with a reliable example of eigh42 Special thanksare due to Barbara Coffee and Lois Vann
of SmithsonianInstitution.
36
Winterthur
Portfolio
Fig. 9. Fragmentof taffetawithblue and whitesatin
stripesand paintedand printedsilk.Fragmentwidth
In24"; length211/4". (Acc. no. 1981.ooo8, Smithsonian
MarutaSkelton.)
stitution:
Photo,courtesy
taffetacoincide withother taffetas.The selvedgeto-selvedgewidthis 287/8inches,and the selvedges
are 3/16inch wide. Temple holes in series of four
pierce the selvedges. The selvedges have yellow
warp threads thatcontrastwiththe whiteground.
The materialhas the characteristicsheen and soft
touch of the Chinese silks.
This taffetacorresponds to two other painted
taffetasthat have late eighteenth-century
painted
motifsand arrivedat Californiamissionsby wayof
Spanish galleons from Manila. These two taffetas
Fig. 8. Dark browntaffetagownin a late eighteenth- have red grounds and selvedge-to-selvedgewidths
century
Quakerstyle.(Acc. no. 29-111-1, Philadelphia of approximately283/8inches. The contrastingselMuseumof Art,giftof Mrs. FrancisB. Gunmereand
inch
vedges have yellowsilkwarpsand measure 5/32
Mrs.ThomasE Branson.)
wide.43
It is importantto note at thisjuncture thatthe
pieces exported in Spanish galleons have the same
has
fabric
The
taffeta.
plain-weave
teenth-century
a whiteground. The painted and printedmiddle
43 Aileen Ryan Earnest,"Trade and Commerceon thePacific
Coast in the EighteenthCentury:A Look at Some Chinese Silks
motifshave long graceto late eighteenth-century
and DomesticTextiles,
of the Mission Period,"in Fiske,Imported
p.
ful curvilinearflowered stems. The dress is cut
The
The thread count per square inch is 96/54(warp/weft).
13.
in an elaborate French style commonly called a
painted and printedgown in the costumecollectionof the Philadelphia Museum of Artis slightlymore finelywoven at 112/68
"sacque" or "sack." This sacque has an open-robe
(warp/weft)
per square inch,but itsproportionsare comparable
skirt."Paniers,"undergarmentsthat provide adwith the mission silks. I would like to thank Cameron Taylorditional width at the hips, give this skirta voluBrown, Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, who verof this
ifiedthread counts and consulted on textileterminology.
minousshape. The structuralcharacteristics
Silk Trade
37
eral Britishand American collectionshave examples of these.Two veryimportantgauzes have been
found,one an unused lengthand the other a furnishing fabric with saw-toothededging. The unused length,in the collectionof WinterthurMuseum, has a middle to late eighteenth-century
Chinese documentation(fig. 11). It has the principal structuralcharacteristicsstated in the supercargoes' records,except for weight.The selvedgeto-selvedgewidthis 285/8inches,and the selvedges
have several series of fivetemple holes. It weighs
o. 18 ounces per square foot,farless than the lightest-weighttaffeta(0.28 ounces per square foot).
The selvedges do not differ in color from the
ground; however,in a diaphanous material such
as gauze, contrastingselvedges mightbe undesirable. The second piece is a painted gauze used as
a furnishingfabric;traditionhas it thatthe fabric
was used in theJohn Brown House of Providence,
Rhode Island, around 1790 to 18oo (fig. 12). As
withthe Winterthurgauze, thispiece manifeststhe
structuralcharacteristicsof the other imported
Chinese silks: the selvedge-to-selvedgewidthis 28
inches, and sequential temple holes are present.
But it,too,lackscontrastingselvedges.This painted
gauze was cut and sewn,possiblyas a dressing-table
skirt.44
We can findclues to the uses of plain and flowered gauzes in Franklin'sPhiladelphia-basedPennsylvaniaGazette.
Fig. to. French-cut
paintedand printedsilkdress,ca.
witha white
1770. Red,blue,purple,and silverflowers
undercoatand highlights
on a whitegroup.(Acc. no.
MuseumofArt,giftofArchibald
42-33-2, Philadelphia
G. Thomsonand ThomasB. Wanamaker,
Jr.)
as thoseexportedbyBritish
definingcharacteristics
East India Company. This equivalence demonstrates that these characteristicswere generally
Chinese and not simplythe result of Britishcontractualspecifications.
Gauze. By using the definingcharacteristicsas
a guide, a cursorysearch forimportedeighteenthcenturyChinese silks has turned up a large categoryof silksnot listedin the supercargoes'records
of 1723-53: gauzes (fabrics in which the warp
threads intertwineand are generallywoven in an
open weave) withpainted and printedmotifs.Sev-
April 21, 1757: "ribb'd, gauze and black silk
stockings";
November 24, 1757: December 5, 1765, "gauze
caps";
April 20, 1758: "gauze shades and aprons";
May 4, 1758: "gauze stomachers";
September22, 1763: "satinand gauze stomachers and sleeve knots";
January 16, 1766: "gauze caps and handkerchiefs."
Presumably,floweredgauzes as wellas plain gauzes
could be used for both clothingand furnishings,
but the floweredgauze was probablymore expensive.
That gauzes are conspicuouslyabsent fromthe
supercargoes' records is consistent with the asFlorence M. Montgomery,
44
"FurnishingTextilesat theJohn
Brown House, Providence, Rhode Island," Antiques
lol, no. 3
(March 1972): 502. The gauze has manysewn pieces whichadd
up to lo'1/2" in length,thus allowing for the possibilitythat it
was used as a valance for one side and the foot of a bedstead.
A unit weightwas not taken for thispiece. I am gratefulto the
staffof Rhode Island HistoricalSocietyfor theirhelp.
Winterthur
Portfolio
38
Width28%/8";
century.
length22'. Red,
Fig. 11. Detailof paintedsilkgauze,eighteenth
and greenand brownstems
witha whiteundercoatand highlights
blue,and purpleflowers
fromAshburnham
on a pale yellowground.Originally
Place,Sussex,England.(Acc.no.
Museum.)
68.48,Winterthur
sumptionthat they were not exported until after
1753. This is supported by the factthatall printed
mentionof themin advertisementsoccursafterthe
period covered by the supercargoes' diaries.
Cultural Informationin the China Trade Records
Britishsupercargoes'recordsofferdata forthetextilehistorianin severalotherrespectsbeyond idenof Chinese silks-most notablytraveland
tification
sale patterns,colors, and prices.
By farthe most popular sailingpatternwas for
a ship to leave London for Canton in midwinter
and returnthirteento fourteenmonthslater.Merchants who placed theirorders withthe company
could then expect about a year's wait or more for
delivery. Eighteenth-century clothing fashions
Chinese silks,giventhe delay
changed constantly.45
45 Thornton thoroughlydocuments this in Baroqueand RococoSilks,pp. 18-22.
in their delivery,could best be described as perennial favorites.They were at the core of popularityin clothingfashionbut not a part of the rapidlychangingtrendsof thehigheststyleof patterned
silksfor garments.
Prior to shipping the fabric, Chinese dyers
foldedor rolled the finishedpieces of silkin a manner suitable to differentbuyers.46Although dyers
in westernChina continued to fold the fabricsin
the way a specific market dictated well into the
twentiethcentury,an example of eighteenth-centurySpanish ordersgivesa clear descriptionof this:
forthegalleonwaspackedwithgreat
The merchandise
care,generally
by Chinese.The silkswerecompressed
adin orderto takethefullest
to extremecompactness,
for
The
of
the
limited
space
Spaniards
vantage
lading.
foundintheskilloftheChinesepackersone ofthemost
convenient
meansof exceedingthelimitsfixedby the
of the
of the tradinginterests
Representatives
permiso.
46 Hsiung et al., "Dyehouses,"p. 418, indicate thatfinished
pieces were folded to order as late as the twentiethcentury.
Silk Trade
39
fabric.Height11/2";sewnlength1o' /2";selvedgeFig. 12. Fragmentof paintedand printedsilkgauze furnishing
and fruit.(Acc.no. 1969.1.3a,RhodeIslandHistoricalSociety.)
and blue flowers
width28".Red,yellow,
to-selvedge
peninsulainformedthe [Spanish]kingin 1748 thata
Manilachestcontainedtwiceas muchgoods as one of
similarsizein Spain.47
The fabricsthatarrivedin London were usually
sold throughlarge public sales followingthe arrival
of incomingships. The Britishprohibitionacts between 1700 and 1720 made the wearing of Asian
silksand cottonsillegal. Thus, buyerswere obliged
to plan resale outsideof England; they,additionally,
received a customs rebate, or "drawback,"at the
timetheirconsignmentsleftEnglish ports. Nevertheless, among the merchantswho attended the
British East India Company public sales to buy
goods for export were middlemen who supplied
a huge smugglingtrade.48
One advertisementof February1740 announcing such a sale for BritishEast India Company is
a keydocumentthatgivesa detailed pictureof the
range of importedgoods handled by the company.
Silks and tea from China, silks and cottons from
India, and spices from Southeast Asia are among
the goods offered(fig. 13). Except for paduasoys,
everytypeof silkspecifiedin the supercargoes'records prior to 1740 is mentionedin the announcement of the sale. The proportions of different
kinds of silks ordered by the supercargoes match
the proportionsof Chinese silksofferedat the sale,
withthe exception of goshees (table 8).
If the goods offered for sale in 1740 are an
accurateindex, taffetas,whethermade in China or
47Schurz,Manila Galleon,p. 182.
48Morse details the scheduling of the sales for the Canton
1:x. K. N. Chaudhuri, The Trading
season of 1779 in Chronicles,
Worldof Asia and theEnglishEast Company,166o-1 760 (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1978), p. 344. Conrad Gill,
Merchants
andMarinersoftheEighteenth
(London: Edward
Century
Arnold, 1961), p. 53.
elsewhere,were by far the most popular silk imported by BritishEast India Company,and satins
werein least demand. The high numberof goshees
being offered for sale as compared to the cumulative total of goshees ordered in China indicates
that goshees were probably also being imported
fromanother source, possiblyIndia.
An appraisal of the numbers of silks ordered
on each journey (table 9) reveals that recorded
quantities were significantlyhigher in the early
years; thisis borne out in an analysisof each kind
of silkseparately.While thisrelativediminutionin
quantities may reflect a drop in popularity in
Chinese silks,it may also relate to a change in the
supercargoes' record keeping. For example, the
transactionsrecorded may have dropped fora varietyof reasons withoutan equivalentreductionin
the actual numberof silkscarried,about whichwe
have littleor no information.
Althoughthereis notyetenough compiled data
to make a comprehensivecolor-preferencechart
for the ordering of Chinese silksby the Britishin
the eighteenthcentury,certain color preferences
fora shortertimeperiod do emerge.Between 1725
and 1735 the most popular colors foreach typeof
fabricwere green, sky,and yellowforbed damask;
whiteforfloweredgoshee; green and skyforsatin;
and black, sky,and green for gorgoroon,flowered
Skyand green seem to be the
poisee, and taffeta.49
most popular colors of the period. Certain colors
were associated withindividual fabrics,for example, yellow with damasks, black with gorgoroons,
and whitewithgoshees.
Red silksrequiredattention.Supercargoesnoted
49Vols. 27-36, IOR.
Winterthur
Portfolio
40
LON N D)0 M7 the26th of Febriary,1740
Ve Courtof
S
DIRECTOR
of the UnitedCompany
of Merchants
of
do hereby
England,Tradingto theEaft-Indies,
declare,thattheywill
on I'uefday
thezth of'
putup at theirSAL E, whichwillCommence
Marchnext,th"following
Goods,Viz.
Pieces
Addaties
Al ibannies
Atchabannies
Ecadftamesa7970
Piec
69z2
Mu ers
233
NankeenCloth
Nilaes
2204.
:Z_____
0027
Stuff$ -7
?,
CoPefeS
Bombay
Bed
Damaks
-------
Carridarric
s7r9-
Canton Cloth--
---
--
5436
Ph
Peniafcoes350
otacc
-----
Renal'sCotton
0
61
,
Chint--3s2o
eeretits
a ..---....6
Ditto
Flowe
ed
SCri-d - 2
184( Ditto
a
Chanderbannies
Cherconnaes
ChilltesChowtars
29-7
.
197 Sattiuns--.
8o Shalbafts76
r
erfucker
76
5582 Seerhaudconnaes
_
-
Coopees
Santnoes2
980
Coffaes
Chuarv1;
20qQ
CaftaesCuttancesDitto Flowered
DaT .Ja.146
440
I
z18I
I
sofes7
27
HerbaBengal---....
?.TaffaWes
DittoChina
Ditto Coloured
k-
86
1449
6zo
Tapgeebs
Teyv
Dimnities
Bengal-267
Thofotiesi
Ditto-----95che-s
3395
q+
*o703
DittoSuperfine,
Madras
Dorcas
2-9
Zlatches
9
EraertiesColoured-Ginghams
DittoChina
06oo
ooo
io
Ditto Madras W166 S.--.440
,Bag'
Ditto
Gorgorons
G"0Ihccs...
1
-
Jamnwars
17zarecs -00-Ditto
Herba
Lungees
6
*400
to
Cmena Wool
2302a ChinaWare White-03Bale
Dyfookfoys
GuTrhs
DittoLong
H4andkerchich
Ballafore
Y1 nmhums
Ditto Quilted
Terrin.danis
-0----------o-Choo
6oo
22660
-1710
451
65:50
zi
6oo
les
Cowries,mor kor
ChinaSilk
t,
z2'0s Bo,
moreorlefs- -'
Pepper,
moreorlefsoTo
Redwood,
moreorlef0
Salt-Petre,
5
Tmerick moreor lcfso---Ditto Duft
3Lo
-0-
Bal s
Bag-
---1400
Too s
28 d
1
dit
moreorlfs-------63
Tutenague,
C. w%
Tealohea
o000Chelb
-u
Ditto Congeon
667 ditto
Ditto Peko -"-+---Ditto Bing
DittoSinglo.
10
dittoV
100 ditto
ditto
449() I"Us-
DittoHyton
-
DittoSoutchong -
o dittu
The faidCourtdo alfodeclare,TheywillbegintheirSale withSal Petreand
withothe'
proceed
Goods.
weighable
Theydo aredeclare,Theyre(erve
to themfelves
the I~berty
of felling
at thisSalewhatSulbPetrr
andotherGoodsmayarrivebytheShipsNermauton
and&$rifiJld~
Theydo likewifb
declare;
tothemfelvtheLiberty
Theyreferve
of fulling,
in?September
Salenext.
orT'absof feasof thec
aeo~ Chefts
Greg,lKind,ando moreuntililarch, I
74~.
Andtheydo further
declare,Theywillfellno znoreof theabovementioned
Specie'of Goode
asabovereferved)
untilScp:mbrnext,exceptDai ag d Goods,
fexcept
(? dsUznleard, andG as; i'
,.iat
rde
Fig. 13. Broadside for BritishEast India Company public sale of goods, 1740. (Shelf 65 x
510, Joseph Downs Manuscriptand MicrofilmCollection,WinterthurMuseum.)
Silk Trade
41
in the diaries of 1727-29, 1734-35, 1740, and
1775-76 that cochineal, a dye component made
from an insect indigenous mainlyto Mexico and
Central America, was being exported to China on
Britishships so it could be used for crimson and
scarletdyes.50That the companyabsorbed thecosts
indicates that the English found the soft Chinese
vegetable reds, made from safflower(Hung hua)
and madder (Ch'ienTs'ao) to be inadequate.51
Throughout the eighteenthcenturysupercargoes computed all prices in Chinese taels. "The
value of the tael in relationto sterlingmoney was
reckoned in the books of the East India Company
at 6s. 8d., but its intrinsicvalue varies according to
the price paid for dollars per ounce in London.""52
The officialexchange rate givessome appreciation
for the value of Chinese silks.A supercargo noted
in 1728 thattaffetacould be bought at 4 taels each
and poisees stripedand floweredat 8 taels (see fig.
1). Accordingly,the wholesale price of a bolt of
taffetaequaled ? 1.6.8, sterling,whilethatof poisee
was ?2.13.4, sterling.
Bargainingtowarda mutuallysatisfactory
price
is and was an accepted custom in the East. The
British supercargoes became quite adept at bargaining,and notationssuch as thiswere rare: "We
could not getany richStrip'dSprig'd Poisees under
12 Tales per Piece, which we thinkwe cannot answer at that price."53
Table 8. A Comparison of Silks Purchased by Supercargoes withSilks Sold at the 1740 Sale
1723-53 totals
Taffeta
Poisee
Gorgoroon
Bed damask
Goshee
Satin
February1740 sale
36,773
11,110
6,485
2,520
2,o8o
985
Taffeta
Poisee
Gorgoroon
Bed damask
Goshee
Satin
3,524*
1,150
300
150
6oo
140
*Approximate.
50 Vols. 27, 37, 48, 58, IOR.
51W. G. Sewell and C. D. Hsiung, "The Natural Dyes of
Szechwan,WestChina' JournaloftheSociety
ofDyersand Colorists
55, no. 8 (August 1939): 412.
52 Williams,Commercial
Guide,4th ed., p. 291.
53 Vol. 27, IOR.
Table 9. Totals for All
Silks
Date of
ship
return
Total
silk
orders
1723a
1723b
1729a
1729b
1733
1734
1735
1736
1737
1739
1751a
1751b
1753
9,125
10,300
12,035
6,ooo
300*
1,400
14,350
...t
250
223
3,020
1,810
1,8oo
* Onlyoneorderoutof
sevenwas associatedwith
a quantity.
t No quantities
givenin
fifteen
orders.
Silk merchantsand supercargoeswho dealt directlywiththe exchange were cunningmerchants,
and a profitablegain was the bottom line of the
entiretrade. A set of instructionsintendedto serve
as a guide for buying Chinese silks in the nineteenth century aptly summarizes British buying
standardsand Chinese practicesof the eighteenth
centurywithregard to the China silk trade:
Chinawroughtsilksare of numeroussorts,cheap and
good. In chusingthem,care shouldbe takenthatthey
are receiveddry,or else theywillmildewand spoil,as
theyare soldbyweight,and are oftendampedto make
themheavier.The finenessand priceare agreedupon
bymuster.
Theyshouldnothavetoomuchgumor conand makesthe
gee inthem,whichincreasestheirweight,
silklieclose,whereby
thefineness
ofitis notso wellseen,
and it alwaysmildewsthem.A finelimbersilk,clearof
knot,knobs,and uneventhreads,fineand glossyon the
isthebest.The piecesshould
back,as wellas on theright,
be unrolledand measured,as theywillsometimes
want
a yardor twoin length,and be of twoor threecolors.54
54WilliamMilburn,OrientalCommerce;
or,TheEast India TradersComplete
Guide(London: Kingsbory,Parbury,& Allen, 1825),
p. 496.