63. H.Rheingold, Smart M o b The Next Social Revdution (Cambridge,
MA,2003),p, 7.
f
tA. ;hc Qua* Bmttded (London, 2003).
65. I?. Rose, %P
~ of Freedom
M
(Cambridge. f 999).
66. D. navis, Emotional Branding: How Successfi~lBrands Gain the
Irmtiomi Wge (a-ville,
CA, 2000), p. LO67. n.A
~ ~ a r, u z ~ i nB~
g
JTq~ify
YO* 19911, P. 15.
68. D.Keller, 'Con~Irl.iziog,Measudng and Mamag CnstomesD a d
mew
I
I
I
Ai
Brand Equity', Journal of Mahting, 75 (19931, p 1.
69. B H O , Brand Equirg Ibccllence, 2001, pp. 14-15.
70. D.Aakw, Managing Brand Eg~bity,p. 16.
71. D. Aaker and R. Jacobson, 'The Financial Information Content of
Perceived Quality', Journnl of Mnrkefing Research, 31 (1994). pp.
191-201.
72 I. Bellcr, 'KINOeI, ICLNO-WORLD: Notes on the Cinematic Mode, of
Production', in N. M h o e f f (ed.), Thc Wsual CuItrrrr Reader b n d o n ,
2002),g. 61.
73. IS. Smythe, Dependency Road: Communications, Capitniism,
Cmdou;mess and Canada (Nmwd,NJ,198I), p. 39.
74, I. Paviff (ed.), BmndlVtw (bndan, 20QO), p. 23.
75. D. Holt, 'Why Do Brands Cmsc Troable?', Jmmat of Cons~tmer
, flexeutch. 29i1) (2082). pp. 70-90- M.Ligas and 1. Caltc.'The Process
*ofNegotiating Brand Maning: A S p b l i c Intemdionist Perspective',
in El. h u I d and L Scott I&), Advances t ConsrcmerResearch, Vol.
26 (Rove, UT, 1999).
76. M--0,
&morn Immaterlde (Vmna, 19971; M.W e k , 'Politics
a -tion',
in WH. Gerth and C.W. Milts (ds), From M m Weber:
lhsays in Sodofogy (London, 1948), pp, 1Q2ff.
77. M.Wardt and A. Neg& Mgltinrde (Imndon, 2004). p. 212. .
I
I
On the Movement of Porcelains
Rethinking the Birth of Consumer Society as
Interactions or Exchange Networks, 1600-1750
Robert Batchelor
. .
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I!
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i
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m L groat with chiIdc: and longing bavlng yaur hanour's
mwmce) for mwd pmym; sir, we bad but t
p in Use hotme, wbich ar b r wry
di~tmttimo stood, # it wtre in a hir-dbh (a dM of mma thiwpnce; your hano1113
have seen auch dishel thEy an not Chinadisha but very g d disbes.
EsEalm Oam go- nornattmforfbdishsir.
Pompey: Sir, she c
!
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It has become a commonplact to describe the seventeenth and eighteenth
cmturiw aft pmgntnt moments in the higtory of consumption in E n g h d
and HoTlad2B e c a w of their roIc in a commercial society, everyday things
seemed to have taken on a new importam. Subsequent scholarly labour
drew attention to multiple and afim unrelated births of tbis sort a~qundthe
world, work that highlighted the anachronisms inherent in applying a term
l i b 'consumerism' to the period? Has it all been a tempest in a teacup?
The dish mentioned above by Pompy, a tapster in a suburban brothel, wns
in the judgement of the 'ancient lord' Bscalw rt digression of 'no matter'.
One would be hard pressed emplo$ng it to evoke the Baroque 'cuIture of
cnrimity', nor is its relation to the broader smmtcenth-century porcelain
mzec l q , of which John Hmld Plnmb once wrote: ' [ l o mania for matrdal
objects had ever h m ape w i d q m d , so general to the rlch of all nations*.'
Yet Sholkespmmhas the value of the wlgrv container and by impfication tile
politics ofthc tavem and cwrtroomcomcinto bizarre andcomicjuxtaposition
with wdd-class 'Qlimdish.' If langhg for stewed pnmes. the pregnant
moment of consumption (and constipation), involves nothing extraordinary
,qeven all that conscims, what abut the mediation of the eghode by a broad
system of fahion (the ' C b i i e ' ) , m e that moves objects v m distanbetween, across and h u g h traditiond social network? with their rather
phovincial questions of status and anthority? Rather than searching for the
.
birth of a ~lnsumersociety in England or Errtope a a precursor to modem
mass 'wnsumtdsm', it may be I&importan#to enambe how b various
habits of fhc* io this petid, wMch no dwbt emergedin complex r e g i d
hie&hb and nelworka of exchange, were also shaped and understood
through markedly tmmcttilural system of fashion? As part of this latter
h
teh
teof pmdains betvan the late sixteenth
and tbe mid-eighteenth centuries h l p d make m e of the interaction of
expanding exchange networkp, which bore utlfadkr textures, forms md
images, as well as everyday things that pfonned mundane tasks.
The ubiquity af porcelain promxw Way makes the histatical question
d the way they highlighted problems associated with cx&ar\ge in the
seventeenth and e d y eighteenth cenludes diiicalt lo apprehend. Even
the paper used to print this bbok contains kaolin or china clay Cgdotingiit.
ideal: Al$32SiU,30) as both pulp filler and coating, ensuring a mmlh,
durable and white finish deemed ngpmpriate for the business of s&aIarly
czchangc. l
l
&
mat& along w i h some form of 'porcelain stone' (cishi,
a pegmatite compased of feldspar [AI$3$.SiO2$O] and quafit [SiOJ) and
thc dtvelopimnt o f high-temperaturt kiIm formed the bash of a number
of techniques now refexred to under the general rubrlc d p o ~ e l a ' mThe
.~
,-.
results combiisd plasticity oE Eorm wi& mmrIrabIeharda d dueability,
while high-temperature glazes allowcd for surfaces of detaikd texture,
painting and writing. After a period of deveIopment from S h a g dynasty
high-fwd stoneware (c. Ewwn(h cenlury scs) to pm-Tartg dynasty white
. w m x (c. 600 clr), pormlains became a si-t
mediym in China from
the E v e ~ y n d e (907-60)
s
to the Sonthem Song (1127-12TJ). TkQ leda
s h t m t h to tarfy &&tga$ century was a #dcuhrly impmmt period iu
Ole &tory of pcelaias a s x G n 6 -t m 7 i __ 6 f % ~ n tradition
g +.--
___ _--
'
printing all became intertwined with t h &veIopmmt
~
of exchange netw
u-g
porceiains as r mass-produced d globally recognized medi
even if at tifnes theSe cmmics served laxgely as the ballast for liter
balrancing tlk wclrld silver, a p i e and textile trades?
New pattam of circulation 'modup' ody in terms of the aumbe
media iavoIued, the extent d prtrticipation in exchange and the velo
of commodity nlovemcnt - opened up perfonnative possibilitiw
lai ins to d c u l a t e differmces in a common m e d i a For a pwiod i
served as a vlsnal medium for a wide range of social classes in dkr
locating that could 8-r
together more regionabd media like p
which circniaml largely within Language groupings, as well as coin
painting styles, calligtapbic writing, staple cpmmodities and urban sg
itsel€.By the sevmteenth and earIy eighiemih centuries, porcelains I
power because they literally made scrim of apparent ruptures in temp
and cultural continuity relaled b Irtrgtt cities, new technologies- and (
more rapid gl&dkation ofbade. P & e h b addressed fhree seventee1
century rupturas in particular -inmqmahg into daily We b e commo
that mmhed to be mr hybrid of nature and cultwe (mteidity and h c f p t i
mmphending the overlap betwem various systems of ~ p m h l occur
s
because of exhuge p m w m , and W y reaomihg the multiplep p
ives
by the previous two mptmw. At stake h all threc ofthese ruph
was a heightend
of padlax, w h e everyday
~
questions of exdm
that shouldhave k e n amwecable h g h inheritedtradition w m c o m a
Infused with visions of obscure, transcendent and disrnptive sgstem,
fashions, notably those of the 'Chinese'."
-
k--
The Bybrid Objects oPEvmyday W e
& ~ & k ~ ~ a t e d ~ t u d ~ , b o l . ~ s o k a w a @ b ~ ~
faahions they began to mediati* gather Logethernumber b'f
Forcelains circuInted along with other cammodities in lhe marhls of Chir
olhu media i k h 5 ~ W - k h d
cZicK6ii~ef i k E + i y % i l i l LLLOWC~=
coastd cities and h e Eurasian, African and American emporia, but t
aiEEdrttion of 'common differences' among a wide range of geographical
had heir own dynamic d diflcmnc~This hcld erpcdpx&c
LC.--L31
in the I
beati~ns.~
Late Ming (1368-1644) production (aa well as various regional
emp0ri.a of mteenth-cmtmy B u m p like.","
Amsmdambnd
Laadon, wl
,-..".---*imitations) alm allowed for large domestic and foreign markets, Dutch
widespread
usage
wm
rdatlvkly
nov~;Wr~tna
aatirlatd md camplai
imports into the Red Sea coffee emporium of al-Mukba for the year 1540
about problem emerging from repetitive encounters with p d a i n s ,
alone amounted to over 80.W pieces, while canserv&tivef i g w for the
way that their intrusions into everyday life could impinge upon the ha
first half of the 6evei1kenth century of imports into Amsterdam tally abut
of the s d f h ways diEwult to camprehend. Arbiters of taste deman
three million piof Chinese and Japanese pokelah' Earpixially in the
1- opacity in p&elains, mixing. a. .&.11ex
. -..---_..___..
n~-a'a'fbta-hmG
Thames and m e estuariesand urban coastal china, the c o n c m t rapidity
.
. _-.
and
.._
comg"ercid
.
-...
values
.
with
the optr"ca1.- i d ~ n l i & i . e
Venetian~lass
of -tion,
the global integration and excbange of c u r a c y <including
puriluits
of
thc
new
era'~oncelains,
more
thao
texttles, printin& minag
*
. .-..* ---.
ccmies or 'porcthna*as they were sometimes called), and tbe spread of
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