The rarefied world of Chinese export porcelain

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The rarefied world of Chinese export porcelain
中国瓷器，一个珍贵而稀有的世界
Jan 13th 2010
From Economist.com

                                                  Sotheby’s

THE West’s trade with China has been at the forefront of globalisation since the days of Marco Polo. Pieces of eight, minted out of South American silver, crossed the Pacific and were used up and down the coast of Asia. Indeed, interruptions in this silver trade ultimately helped bring on the collapse of the Ming dynasty in China in the early 17th century. Later exchanges of tea, spices and then opium served to enrich Western merchants, particularly from Britain.
西方同中国的贸易自从马可波罗时代开始，就走在了全球化的最前端。以产于南美的银铸造的西班牙古银币跨越了太平洋，被往返于亚洲沿岸的人所使用。这种金属银贸易的打断最终加速了十七世纪早期明朝的灭亡。之后，茶叶、香料和鸦片的贸易使得西方—尤其是英国—的商人变得更加富裕。

By the 18th century, British, Dutch, Portuguese, Swedish and American trade with China was so well established that the new wealthy merchant class it created had taken to emulating the trappings of the landed gentry, designing coats of arms and commissioning entire porcelain services on which to flaunt them. No marriage or promotion was complete without a specially made plate to commemorate it.、
到了十八世纪，英国、荷兰、葡萄牙、瑞典和美国同中国的贸易变得非常发达，这使得其创造的新兴富有的商人阶级有实力拥有乡绅的标志，精心设计的肩章和完全定制的瓷器，并以此炫耀。如果没有特别制作的瓷碟作为纪念，无论是婚礼还是晋升都是不完美的。

This upward social mobility gave rise to a new phenomenon, the manufacture of Chinese porcelain and paintings for the export market.
这种上层社会的流行趋势掀起了一股新的潮流，即中国瓷器的制造和意在出口市场的画作。

Two centuries on, Chinese export porcelain attracts a quite different collector from those seeking Chinese porcelain proper. Whereas all Chinese treasures—whether jade, porcelain, lacquer, bamboo or rhinoceros horn—have an aesthetic appeal that prizes rarity, delicacy and symbolism above all, export porcelain speaks to the academic collector or, less politely, the “anorak” or “train-spotter”. The form is based on Meissen or other soft-paste porcelain, but it is not really European. Nor is it particularly Chinese, although it was made there.
两个世纪以来，中国出口的瓷器吸引了许多不同的希望收集真品中国瓷器的收藏家。尽管中国的宝藏诸如翡翠、瓷器，漆木，竹和犀角都存在一种审美上的吸引，并且都尤其注重稀有程度、精致程度和其象征意义，但出口瓷器仍然对那些所谓的瓷器收藏家—–说的不礼貌些，就是“皮猴”或“机车号码搜集者”——有着特别的意义。这些瓷器在形式上是以Meissen瓷器或其他幼陶器为模板的，但没有真正具有欧洲风格，同样也不具有特别的中国风格，虽然这是在中国产的。

Instead, it is a bit of a mish-mash. It appeals to buyers who seek to complete a particular series defined by decorative patterns, special coats of arms or links between different families.
所以，这种瓷器只是一种多风格的混合物，只对某些特殊的买家有吸引力，因为他们希望集齐由装饰图案、盾徽或不同家庭关系所规定的一系列瓷器。

Elinor Gordon, who died last July at the age of 91, was the consummate American dealer/collector of Chinese export porcelain. She bought widely in Britain, Holland and Portugal, and for more than half a century sold her wares from her Pennsylvania home and at antiques fairs up and down the East Coast. Her private collection, which will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York on January 23rd, shows just how much American-related export porcelain she managed to gather together.
Elinor Gordon死于去年七月，享年91岁，作为一个美国瓷器商人（或者说是收藏家），她在收集中国出口的瓷器方面堪称完美。她在英国、荷兰和葡萄牙大量买入中国瓷器，又在50年之内将它们在其宾夕法尼亚的家里和东海岸沿线的古玩市场悉数卖出。她的私人藏品将会在一月二十三日在纽约的Sotheby’s拍卖行拍卖，这将展示她精心收集了多少与美国相关的中国出口瓷器。

Many of the pieces feature complicated combinations of different coats of arms. Several pieces stand out, such as a grandly decorated orange oval platter of modest size, which boasts an American eagle (pictured above). Estimated at $12,000-18,000, it belongs to a pattern known as “Fitzhugh”, of which so few pieces were made it is suspected that they all were once part of the same service.
其中的许多藏品都突出了不同却复杂联系的盾徽。有几件特别与众不同，比如一件装饰豪华的中等大小的橙色椭圆浅盘（见上图）。这件藏品估价在$12,000-18,000，其图案属于著名的“Fitzhugh”风格，没有几件是以这样的风格而制作的，人们猜想这些都是被用作同一项服务。

Several other pieces are connected to a single ship, the Empress of China, which in 1784 became the first American vessel to trade directly with China. The Society of the Cincinnati was founded in May 1783 for commissioned officers who had served in the continental army or navy during the American revolution. The founder’s aide-de-camp, Major Samuel Shaw, was responsible for ordering all the services decorated with the society’s badge. He first travelled to China on Empress of China, and spent more than ten years working the same route, dying at sea on a return trip in 1794. A plate from one of the earliest Cincinnati services, which is believed to have belonged to George Washington, is estimated to fetch $30,000-50,000, and another smaller, later Cincinnati plate $12,000-18,000.
其他几件瓷器则同一艘船有关，这就是“中国皇后号”，它在1784年成为了第一艘直接同中国贸易的美国舰船。为了那些在美国革命期间被任命在陆军或海军工作的军官，“辛辛那提协会”在1783年五月建立了。该协会所有的服务设施都被要求装饰有协会的徽章，协会建立者的副官Samuel Shaw 少校对此负有责任。他第一次去中国乘的是“中国皇后号”，然后在这条路线上工作了十多年，最后死在1794年的一次返回途中。来自于最早期辛辛那提的服务设施的一个瓷碟据说属于乔治•华盛顿，它估价$30,000-50,000，而另外一个较小一点的，属于辛辛那提后时代的一个瓷碟估价$12,000-18,000。

John Morgan was a carpenter on the same first outward journey on Empress of China, and died on the return. The ship’s log notes that his effects included two punch bowls. Ms Gordon owned several Morgan pieces, including a small tureen estimated here at $3,000-5,000 and a larger version, both with lids, estimated at $7,000-9,000.
John Morgan是“中国皇后号”首航上的一名木匠，死于返程途中。船上的航海日志显示他的个人财务包括两个两个伴汁酒杯。Gordon女士拥有几件Morgan的藏品，包括一个小汤盘，估价$3,000-5,000，和一个更大且带盖的汤盘，估价$7,000-9,000。