ABSTRACT
This chapter presents many of the technological, socio-cultural, and economic shifts that drove trade with China and the interest in Chinese wares. The eighteenth century was a period of immense economic, social, and political change. Many of the changes directly and indirectly influenced the marketability and charm of Chinese porcelains in the Western world. By the end of the eighteenth century, more Chinese porcelains existed in Europe than the combined porcelains produced by all the European factories. Interest in Chinese export wares in Britain and America peaked during the eighteenth century. One of the driving forces behind the desire among eighteenth century English and colonial Americans to acquire Chinese export ware has been described as the "consumer revolution," an interconnected, enmeshed complex of cultural transformations. Chinese porcelains were part of a range of luxury goods whose market and overall appeal were aided by the increased secularization of the press.
