Selling India and China in Eighteenth-Century Paris
Natacha Coquery
In this chapter, I endeavour to show how Parisian shopkeepers played a crucial role in the
diffusion of ‘oriental’ goods on the domestic market. This means understanding how productive
innovation, consumption and distribution were connected. One way of understanding this is to
examine how shopkeepers advertised their ‘new’ products (which sometimes were neither new
nor genuine) to a broad range of clients. Another way is to track goods in their account books.
Shopkeepers, as intermediaries between producers and consumers, were perhaps
centre-stage among market actors—as important as large trading companies, such as the
Company of the Indies.1 And Paris was quite a good stage. Since the Middle Ages, the French
capital has been one of the major centres of economic activity in Europe. It was, in the
Eighteenth Century, a key place in the world luxury market, producing and marketing silverware
and jewellery, fine timepieces, bookbindings, textiles and so on.2 Like London, Paris was
celebrated for its high concentration of artists and craftsmen.
Trade in Paris consists particularly of useful, fashionable and pleasant objects, such as
furniture, jewellery, timepieces, bronzes, gilding, porcelain, and a mass of other
precious objects that we shall describe as accurately as possible3
Carolyn Sargentson and Guillaume Glorieux have shown how diverse suppliers for
individual consumers were, and how hundreds of objects were piled up in the most famous
haberdasheries, such as Gersaint, Lazare Duvaux, Granchez, and Poirier & Daguerre.4 Their
commercial success depended on their ability to meet different customers’ expectations or
needs, and to react quickly and flexibly to changing market requirements. They were on the
lookout for novelty and fashion. Gersaint, for example, began his commercial career in 1718 as
1
an art dealer on the Pont Notre-Dame, derisively known as ‘The Bridge of Bad Paintings’ (‘Le
Pont aux croutes’). Beginning in the mid-1730s, Gersaint shifted its commercial activities
towards exotic products and curios, particularly Chinese ones; in the 1730s, the Chinese trend
was well under way. Like others, Geraint changed his shop sign in 1740, from the conventional
‘Au Grand Monarque’ (‘The Great Monarch’) to the more attractive ‘À La Pagode’ (‘The
Pagoda’). 5 Gersaint’s inventory included about 3,000 pieces of porcelain, amounting to
approximately 30 types of objects, both functional and decorative. Among Chinese articles,
some were rather cheap consumer goods (costing on average six livres each), such as Chinese
figurines and pagodas, and utility chinaware: sugar boxes, milk jugs, vases or chamber pots.
There were also high-price items, such as porcelain, tea, coffee or chocolate sets presented on
a lacquered tray (100 livres), lacquered furniture (150 livres) and so on. Without being an
expert in this sector, the goldsmith and jeweller Agard, another well-known dealer, also sold
Chinese and Indian goods. 6 His inventory lists four types of items: paintings; vases and
terracotta figurines; prints, drawings, natural-history objects, including some ‘Chinese clothes’;
porcelain and curios, such as Chinese or Indian dragons, cups and saucers, teapots, urns and so
on.
Many nameless individuals—shopkeepers, peddlers, dealers, stallholders and so on—
worked alongside celebrities, not to mention parallel networks.7 Such anonymous tradesmen
were less well-know and less talented, but they nevertheless had a powerful impact in
spreading new behaviours and consumer patterns, because they were numerous and active.8
Indeed, what is striking is how many shopkeepers sold Chinese and Indian goods: these
products were not reserved for the few. Haberdashers and cloth dealers, as well as
upholsterers, fan makers, jewellers, mechanics, wigmakers, perfumers, confectioners, grocers,
papermakers, gilders, painters, founders, ‘tabletiers’ and ivory workers, and wallpaper makers
sold exotic goods. Numerous sources enable us to trace this contagious ‘attraction’ with great
accuracy. Like guidebooks and newspapers, almanacs became increasingly common throughout
2
the second half of the Eighteenth Century.9 Almanacs were an old literary genre, dating back to
medieval times. What was new was that a number of them became dedicated to craft,
industrial and commercial activities; trade almanacs appeared in the late 1760s. At the same
time, another medium began to flourish, published in Paris and in approximately 50 provincial
towns, entitled ‘Affiches, Annonces et Avis Divers’.10 These newspapers were no more than
plain information lists, similar to classified ads and lacking in drafting quality. The local editor
juxtaposed real estate advertisements, proceedings (of books, performances, scientific
experiences, and so on), market prices, the latest inventions, and so on. A large part of the
‘Affiches’ was devoted to business and trade, particularly in the ‘Avis Divers’, an advertising list
included in the last section. Even the guidebooks began to explore craft, industrial and
commercial activities. Promoting economic information was a new phenomenon for
guidebooks, which until then had focused on an archaeological and historical overview of cities.
In the 1780s, guidebooks became interested in business information. All these sorts of media—
almanacs, newspapers and guidebooks—contained many advertisements that made both
shopkeepers and products visible. This feature reflected the expanding market and especially
the growing impact of small trade and consumption. Shopkeepers quickly understood the
growing broadcast role of media, since consumers might fear novelty. Indeed, new items
struggled to find a market.11 It takes time and persuasive power to change the status of an
object from a rare to an everyday purchase. Moreover, this process differs among different
social levels. Therefore, production, trade adjustment measures, and the flow of information
between producers, retailers and consumers are significant. For these reasons, advertising
exemplifies how the market for Chinese and Indian goods moved and expanded.
The frequency of terms such as ‘des Indes’ (from India), ‘Indiennes’ (Indian cloth), ‘de la
Chine’ (from China), ‘à la chinoise’ (Chinese), and more rarely ‘japonais’ (from Japan), reveals
the commercial success and the demand for these products. Names of exotic fabrics are often
quoted: ‘Peking’, ‘Nanking’, ‘Persian’, ‘circaka’ or ‘canadaris’, as shown on an invoice by the
3
mercier Thibaud, owner of ‘A l’empereur’ (Figure 14.1), and arrack or tea is often mentioned.
Shopkeepers hurriedly adopted the exotic market trend, thereby contributing to its increased
diffusion. Gersaint was not the only one to change his shop sign, because such signs were a
powerful advertising tool. Others included ‘À la Flotte des Indes’ (‘The Indian Fleet’), a grocer,
and a jeweller; ‘Au Roi des Indes’ (‘The King of India’); ‘Au Port de L’Orient’ (‘The Port of Lorient’,
with a play on the French word ‘Orient’ and the French town of Lorient), a haberdashery; ‘Au
Corail des Indes’ (‘Indian Coral’), a ‘rocailleur’ or stone carver; and ‘Au roi de Perse’ (‘The King of
Persia’), a cloth merchant (See Figure 14.2). Advertisements highlighted grades of quality;
premium products and lower-quality varieties were apparently available. Here are a few
examples taken from a long list in the clothing sector:
Indian muslins of all grades12
Indian fabrics of all grades and types13
Shop selling Indian handkerchiefs of the rarest quality14
One of the most famous and best-stocked Shops dealing in Chinese and Indian fabrics for
suits, dresses and upholstery for furniture […]; Peking, […], printed [and] Persian gauze,
[…], muslins15
Indian fabric was in demand and more accessible, but remained prestigious. Most of the 11
shops specializing in Indian and other precious fabrics (‘Marchands d’étoffes de soie des Indes
et autres Étoffes précieuses’) quoted by the Almanach du Dauphin in 1777, chose to focus on
their foreign origin:
Dealing, for wholesale or retail, in foreign fabrics, Persian, painted canvas, Indian […],
fabrics from India for dresses …16
Very well-stocked shop dealing in new embroidered wares from China, of very good
taste.17
Fabrics were far from the only wares lauded as Indian or Chinese: gourmet food,
wallpapers, porcelain [Figure 14.3], and more, were also advertised as such:
4
Dealing, for wholesale or retail, in all sorts of spices or druggists’ merchandise […] and
generally anything involving trade with the Indies and China.18
Excellent arrack from the Indies …19
Indian tea…20
Porcelain ware: pagodas from China, vases, flowerpots […] Nothing is less settled than
the price of these sorts of things; generally, they are expensive.21
Porcelain, and generally, all sorts of porcelain from China and the Indies.22
What was the exact meaning of the terms ‘from India and China’? These terms gave no
guarantee of a product’s origin. First, geographic boundaries were quite vague. Second, the
terms were mainly used as a selling point. From a commercial point of view, the dictionary
definitions of ‘India’ covered not only India, but also China and Japan. Thus, in his trade
dictionary, Savary des Bruslons wrote:
East India, or rather the East Indies. This large portion of Asia comprises not only
Hindustan, or India proper, but also the two peninsulas on either side of the Ganges, all the
islands of the Indian Ocean, Ceylon, the Maldives, the Sunda Islands, the Maluku Islands,
even China and Japan; lastly, everything to the East of Persia, to the South of Great Tartary
all the way to the South Sea.23
Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopaedia did the same thing, despite the author’s complaint:
[The Indies] comprise four large parts of Asia, to wit, Hindustan, the peninsula within the
River Ganges, the peninsula beyond the River Ganges, & the islands of the Indian Ocean
[…] When speaking only of trade, the name East Indies also comprises Tonkin, China, &
Japan; but properly speaking, these vast countries, the Philippines, or even less so the
Mariana Islands, should not belong to the East Indies, as they go well beyond24
In dictionaries, the term ‘from India’ came to mean ‘in the Indian style’, and nothing more. For
the Académie Française dictionary, ‘The name [indienne] became appellative, being the word
for all kinds of coloured cotton fabrics [toiles peintes]’.25 Therefore, the word meant both
genuine and imitated products. Antoine Furetière and Savary des Bruslons clearly expressed the
5
dual meaning in the entry ‘Indienne’:
Dressing gown in the Indian fashion, which has become fashionable, either because it is
simply tailored in the Indian fashion with very broad sleeves, or because it is made of
fabrics from the Indies, printed or varied in colours or motifs, as are the fabrics also
known as Indian, & which are copied in France, which are made of very fine wool, or
fine cotton thread.26
Dressing gown for men or women, made out of these cotton fabrics painted in various
colours and motifs, which come from the East Indies. Also called Indian are the very
fabrics that these dressing gowns are made of, either because they were made and
printed in the Indies, or because they were imitated and made in Europe 27
What is most striking about these advertisements is how they make no effort to hide the
fact that these objects are imitations; rather, they emphasise the skill used in making fakes.
Advertising reveals that many products claiming to be ‘Indian’ or ‘Chinese’ were mere
imitations. This thereby reveals both the rapid expansion in the domestic production of calico
and printed fabrics, porcelain or wallpapers, and a new role assumed by shopkeepers,
stimulating demand in order to develop nascent markets. The famous Réveillon was not the
only wallpaper maker who adapted his production to consumers’ demand:
Shop dealing in Paper, wholesale, printed and Chinese28
Wallpaper shop imitating Chinese wallpapers29
Merchant Manufacturer of Paper for Walls […] imitating the Damask, Moires, Peking,
Persian, Indian, Gros-de-Tours, and all possible Fabrics in the most novel designs, where
one can also find a wide assortment of Chinese Papers with figures, and hand-painted
flowers30
printed [in] all sorts of silk fabrics, in the Peking fashion, with gold and silver appliqué
edging, leafing, imitation embroidery31
Apart from these ‘classic’ exotic goods, advertising inventiveness extended to a large
variety of sometimes unlikely products, such as ‘Chinese’ razors or mills. One may ask just how
6
Chinese these were. Such is the strength of fashion.
Razor straps from China, designed by Sir Lami32
has just invented a Chinese Mill that, by way of its shape, can catch the wind in any
direction.33
Imitation and invention were closely connected in luxury and semi-luxury production, as
Maxine Berg has shown.34 Shopkeepers and craftsmen used advertising to proclaim skill,
especially when creating imitations that were indistinguishable from the original, or even
better: ‘[she] paints designs on silk and gauze much better than articles from China’.35 The
porcelain and china sectors were particularly well-developed:
Manufacture of porcelains. Located in the town of Sèvres; the wares that are produced
perfectly imitate Chinese porcelain.36
runs a sizeable factory for platters, plates and other vases in Japanned faience, a sort of
porcelain …37
Advertisements emphasised the links between dexterity, imitation, fakes and inventiveness.
This reflected the thinking of both consumers and shopkeepers:
runs a Royal Manufacture for Varnishes, on metals, to [...] embellish and give vases in tole
and tin the appearance of precious furnishings from China38
owns a Chinese varnish that imitates moulded gold, which resists the harm of air and even
acid, and which lasts over twenty years without changing39
Quite on the contrary, other dealers chose to emphasise a product’s authenticity, using
words like ‘true’ or ‘genuine’, as did this haberdasher: ‘Sells […] genuine Persians from the
Indies and England in pieces’.40 (Figure 14.4, ‘The Golden Apple’).
Genuine yellow tea from China41
Shop deals in genuine Papers from the Indies in all sizes, with Landscapes, Figures, Flowers
and Birds to decorate Dessert trays, Door coverings, Windscreens and Screens42
7
In fact, for the most part, what they actually meant was to insist upon was true invention, like
this ‘true English varnish […] that perfectly imitates the most beautiful gilding […] and the most
beautiful China black’. This was as fake as most ‘exotic’ products:
True English Varnish from Sir Torogood […] that perfectly imitates the most beautiful
metal gilding, and the most beautiful China black.43
Sells the true and perfect Indian Crimson, whose Indian father gave him the secret
before his death44
For craftsmen, repairs were an important part of their business activity, particularly for the
use of porcelain from India and furniture from China.45 The same goes for second-hand goods
(known as ‘hazard’):
Perfectly puts back together Porcelains, […] as well as all sorts of Indian figures, however
broken or damaged they are.46
he also cleans and puts back together those [Chinese furnishings] in old lacquer.47
Shop and a considerable assortment of platters, plates and vases in old Saxon porcelain,
Japanese porcelain and other effects in gilded bronze, rare, curious and precious in
different sorts of hazard48
Shopkeepers’ ledgers were part of the same reality, without a similar advertising language.
Take Indian fabrics, for example. Calicoes and printed cotton fabrics were to be found in all
households, used for beds, screens, seats, curtains or drapes. In the Marquis of Trémouville’s
hôtel particulier, servants’ rooms also had cotton printed beds (‘lits en indiennes’).49 A gilder
bought printed cotton quilts and curtains;50 a lawyer at the Châtelet bought a six-piece paper
screen from India (‘paravent de six feuilles en papier des Indes’),51 and so on. However, at the
same time, calico remained a distinctive sign, appreciated by aristocrats (dressing gowns,
dresses and so on). As for other goods, producers and merchants managed to provide products
for various niche markets (in quality, in price) and constantly developed new specific markets.
Shopkeepers played a major role in diffusing new modes of consumption. Thanks to a wide
range of choice and to their reactivity, they actively participated in the dissemination of Indian
8
and Chinese goods. People became comfortable with these novelties, a key issue for
understanding eighteenth-century consumer culture.
1
See, in French historiography, Louis Dermigny, Cargaisons indiennes, Solier et Cie, 1781-1793, 2 vols (Paris,
SEVPEN, 1960); Louis Dermigny, La Chine et l’Occident. Le commerce à Canton au XVIIIe siècle 1719-1833, 4 vols
(Paris: SEVPEN, 1964); André Lespagnol, ‘Cargaisons et profits du commerce indien au début du XVIIIe siècle. Les
opérations commerciales des Compagnies Malouines 1707-1720‘, Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l'Ouest, 89
(1982), pp.313–50; Philippe Haudrère, La Compagnie française des Indes au XVIIIe siècle (1719-1795) (Paris:
Librairie de l’Inde, 1989); Philippe Haudrère, Les Compagnies des Indes orientales, trois siècles de rencontre entre
Orientaux et Occidentaux (Paris: Desjonquères, 2006).
2
Robert Fox and Anthony Turner (eds), Luxury Trades and Consumerism in Ancien Regime (Aldershopt: Ashgate,
1998).
3
Tablettes royales de correspondance…, (Paris: Royez, 1789), art. ‘Mercerie, Orfèvrerie, Clincaillerie’.
4
Carolyn Sargentson, Merchants and Luxury Markets: The Marchands Merciers of Eighteenth-Century Paris
(London: V&A Museum, 1996), pp.23-4 sqq; Guillaume Glorieux, À l’Enseigne de Gersaint. Edme-François Gersaint,
marchand d’art sur le pont Notre-Dame (1694-1750) (Seyssel: Champ Vallon, 2002), p.269 sqq. See also Hélène
Belevitch-Stankevitch, Le goût chinois en France au temps de Louis XIV (Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1970); Pagodes
et dragons: exotisme et fantaisie dans l'Europe rococo, 1720-1770: Musée Cernuschi, Musée des arts de l'Asie de la
ville de Paris, 24 février-17 juin 2007 (Paris: Paris-Musées, 2007).
5
Guillaume Glorieux, À l’Enseigne de Gersaint, pp.263–4.
6
Joseph Agard’s inventory, Archives Nationales (Paris), et/XI/571, 14 March 1750.
7
See, for example, Eugénie Margoline-Plot, Les circuits parallèles de diffusion des toiles de l'Océan indien en
Bretagne au XVIIIe siècle, doctoral thesis, in progress, University of Bretagne-Sud (Lorient); Eugénie Margoline-Plot,
‘Les circuits parallèles des toiles de l'océan Indien. Lorient au XVIIIe siècle’, Histoire Urbaine, 30, Special Issue
‘Consommation et exotisme, XVe-XVIIIe siècle’ (2011), pp.109–126.
8
Natacha Coquery, Tenir boutique à Paris au XVIIIe siècle. Luxe et demi-luxe (Paris: éditions du Comité historique et
scientifique, 2011).
9
Natacha Coquery, ‘The Language of Success: Marketing and Distributing Semi-Luxury Goods in EighteenthCentury Paris’, Journal of Design History, 17, Special Issue ‘Disseminating Design: The French Connection’ (2004),
pp.73–6.
10
See the works of Gilles Feyel,: ‘La presse provinciale au XVIIIe siècle: géographie d’un réseau’, Revue historique,
CCLXXII (1984), pp.353–74; ‘La presse provinciale française dans la seconde moitié du 18e siècle: géographie d’une
nouvelle fonction urbaine’, in Bernard Lepetit and Jochen Hoock (eds), La ville et l’innovation en Europe 14e-19e
siècles (Paris: Editions de l’EHESS, 1987), pp.89–111; ‘Négoce et presse provinciale en France au 18e siècle:
méthodes et perspectives de recherches’, in Franco Angiolini and Daniel Roche (eds), Cultures et formations
négociantes dans l’Europe moderne (Paris: Editions de l’EHESS, 1995), pp.438–511; ‘Presse et publicité en France
(XVIIIe et XIXe siècles)’, Revue historique, CCCV/4 (2003), pp.837–68.
11
John Styles, ‘Product Innovation in Early Modern London’, Past & Present, 168 (2000), pp.132–140.
12
M. Thomas, Almanach des marchands, négocians et commerçans de la France et du reste de l’Europe…, (Paris:
Valade, 1770), p.151 (du Bail, haberdasher).
13
M. Thomas, Almanach des marchands…, p.172 (Chandellier, haberdasher).
14
M. Thomas, Almanach des marchands…, p.154 (Le Bas, haberdasher).
15
Almanach du Dauphin, Paris: Lacombe, 1777, n.p. (Boudard, haberdasher).
16
Archives Nationales, T 186, bill-headed, 1778 (Baudelaire, haberdasher).
17
Almanach du Dauphin, n.p. (Dartigalongue, haberdasher).
18
M. Thomas, Almanach des marchands…, p.230 (Portebled, grocer-druggist-distiller, ‘À la Flotte des Indes’).
19
Archives Nationales, T 186, bill-headed, 1778 (Sauvan, haberdasher).
20
M. Thomas, Almanach des marchands…, p.252 (Vigner, grocer).
9
21
Hébert, P.-A. Alletz, Almanach parisien en faveur des étrangers et des personnes curieuses…, (Paris: Duchesne,
1765), p.163.
22
M. Thomas, Almanach des marchands…, p.230 (Bergerot, earthenware dealer).
23
Jacques Savary des Bruslons, Dictionnaire universel de commerce…, (Paris: Veuve Estienne, 1741), art. ‘Inde’, vol.
II, col. 1706 (my emphasis).
24
Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des
métiers, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Friedrich Frommann Verlag, 1966 (fac-simile of the first edition 1751-1780), art.
‘Inde’ (my emphasis).
25
Dictionnaire de l’Académie française, Paris: J.-B. Coignard, 1762, art. ‘Indienne’: ‘Toile peinte aux Indes. Ce nom
est devenu appellatif, & se dit de toutes sortes de toiles peintes. Une belle indienne. Une robe d’indienne.’
26
Antoine Furetière, Dictionnaire universel contenant tous les mots français tant vieux que modernes et les termes
de toutes les sciences et des arts…, (Paris: SNL-Le Robert, 1978), art. ‘Indienne’ (my emphasis).
27
Jacques Savary des Bruslons, Dictionnaire universel de commerce…, art. ‘Indienne’, Vol. II, Col. 1708 (my
emphasis).
28
Essai sur l’Almanach général d’indication d’adresse personnelle et fixe, des Six Corps, Arts et Métiers (Paris:
Veuve Duchesne, 1769), n.p. (Réveillon, wallpaper dealer).
29
Almanach du Dauphin, n.p. (Ravisy, fabric dealer) (my emphasis).
30
Archives Nationales (Paris), T 166, bill-headed, 1780s (Sassary, wallpaper dealer) (my emphasis).
31
Almanach du Dauphin, n.p. (Moulard, wallpaper dealer) (my emphasis).
32
Almanach du Dauphin, n.p. (Lami, wig-maker).
33
Almanach du Dauphin, op. cit., n.p. (Dutour, mechanic).
34
Maxine Berg, ‘New Commodities, Luxuries and their Consumers in Eighteenth-Century England’, in Maxine Berg
and Helen Clifford (eds), Consumers and Luxury in Europe, 1650-1850 (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
1999), p.80.
35
Essai sur l’Almanach général…, n.p. (Mrs Doré, painter), ‘peint sur soie et sur gaze supérieurement aux ouvrages
de Chine…’
36
Hébert, P.-A. Alletz, Almanach parisien…, pp.78–9 (my emphasis).
37
Almanach du Dauphin, n.p. (Souroux, earthenware dealer). ‘fayence japonée’ (more or less like ‘Japanese
faience’), and not ‘japonaise’, is a word that was coined especially for the occasion.
38
Almanach du Dauphin, n.p. (Samusseau, painter-gilder-varnisher) (my emphasis).
39
Tablettes royales de correspondance, et d’indication générale, des principales Fabriques, Manufactures et
Maisons de commerce d’épicerie-droguerie, Cirerie, Couleurs et Vernis, Grains, Vins, Fruits, Liqueurs, Eaux-de-Vie,
et autres Comestibles, de Paris et autres Villes du Royaume et des Pays-Etrangers. Avec une notice des motifs qui
rendent ces Maisons recommandables (Paris: Royez, 1789), n.p. (Leclair, iron founder) (my emphasis).
40
Archives Nationales, T 186, bill-headed, 1783 (Bertrand, haberdasher).
41
Tablettes royales de correspondance, n.P. (Leclair, iron founder) (my emphasis).
42
Archives Nationales, T 220/5-7, bill-headed, 1761 (Langlois, wallpaper retailer).
43
Almanach du Dauphin, op. cit., n.p. (Torogood, gilder).
44
Essai sur l’Almanach général…, n.p. (perfumer).
45
See Natacha Coquery, ‘Fashion, Business, Diffusion: An Upholsterer’s Shop in Eighteenth-Century Paris’, in Dena
Goodman and Kathryn Norberg (eds), Furnishing the Eighteenth Century: What Furniture Can Tell Us about the
European and American Past (New York: Routledge, 2006), pp.63-77.
46
Essai sur l’Almanach général…, n.p. (Anselme Widow & Son, earthenware dealer).
47
Almanach du Dauphin, n.p. (Samusseau, painter-gilder-varnisher).
48
Almanach du Dauphin, n.p. (Delpeche, earthenware dealer) (my emphasis).
49
Archives of Paris, D5B6/3451, Law’s register (upholsterer), 1786.
50
Archives of Paris, D5B6/3066, Law’s register, 1782.
51
Archives of Paris, D5B6/3066, Law’s register, 1782.
10