清代广州外销手绘丝绸

The hand-painted silk exported from Guangzhou in the Qing Dynasty

18世纪广州外销手绘丝绸畅销欧美,但国内却罕有实物留存,与之相关的文献记载更是寥寥无几,这段关于中国丝绸业的辉煌历史几乎不为人所知。本文从海外留存和回流的广州外销手绘丝绸实物入手,结合西方书信和当时的拍卖纪录等文献材料,对广州外销手绘丝绸的纹样特征、生产销售情况及在西方的使用和产生的影响等方面进行论述。研究认为,18世纪广州外销手绘丝绸是应海外市场需求而生产制作的一类丝绸品种,其装饰纹样既有中国传统的装饰风格,也糅合了印度外销印花棉布和欧洲“洛可可”风格纺织面料上的装饰元素。18世纪广州外销手绘丝绸的客户群体以欧洲市场为主体,至19世纪,消费群体继而转向以美国市场为主体。

The hand-painted silk for export is a kind of silk created by Cantonese artisans in the 17^(th) and 18^(th) centuries to meet the demands of international markets.It is one of the three primary silk fabric exports from China,along with embroidery silks and woven silk.Cantonese exported hand-painted silk to Europe and the United States in the 18^(th) century,but few authentic artifacts remain in China,and there are few related literature sources.Chinese silk industry has a long and illustrious history that is nearly unknown.This article starts from the hand-painted silk exported from Guangzhou that is retained and returned overseas,and makes full reference to western letters and auction records from the time and other documentary materials,examining the pattern characteristics,production,and sales condition the hand-painted silk exported from Guangzhou in the west.As a result,the author believes that the hand-painted silk exported from Guangzhou is a product category formed in response to foreign market need in the context of global maritime trade,and its rise and decline are closely related to the direction of overseas market demand.The export of hand-painted silk from Guangzhou reached its pinnacle in the 18^(th) century when the Qing government enacted the"Canton System",which stipulated that European and American merchants could only do business and trade through Guangzhou Port.As a result,Guangzhou monopolized commerce between China and the West for over a century,and during the Qing Dynasty’s zenith,it became the world’s primary trading center.Guangzhou is not only a distribution center for Chinese bulk traditional export commodities such as silk,porcelain,tea,etc.,but also an important production center for the processing and manufacturing of luxury goods and fashion goods in the world.Stimulated by overseas market demand,traditional Chinese silk production centers in the south of the Yangtze River and the emerging Pearl River Delta witnessed rapid development of the silk industry.Cantonese artisans utilized locally woven greige silk and decorated the silk fabric with hand-painted patterns that were popular in the West to optimize cost savings,better satisfy the aesthetic demands of the western market,and increase competitiveness in response to the increasing flood of trade orders.In this way,the needs of the Western market were greatly satisfied.The decorative patterns of the hand-painted silk for export include traditional Chinese flower and bird patterns,the"tree of life(Kalpavriksha)"pattern on the printed cotton cloth exported from India and the decorative elements on the European"Rococo"style textile fabrics.Such a fusion brought inspiration to the prevalence of the European"Chinoiserie"style.The hand-painted silk in Guangzhou was mainly exported to the European market in the 18^(th) century,while the"Chinoiserie"style flourish in Europe eventually faded in the 19^(th) century.In addition,the roller printing method became in popularity,lowering the cost of silk manufacturing significantly.As a result,the pricing advantage of Guangzhou hand-painted silk for export vanished,and it essentially disappeared from the European consumer market.In the early 19^(th) century,the United States as a rising star in maritime commerce played a significant role in China-Western trade,and the consumer group of the hand-painted silk exported from China switched to the American market in the 19^(th) century.