Trade porcelain is porcelain made in China or Japan for export to overseas markets, especially Europe, rather than for the domestic court or home market. It is often used interchangeably with the term export porcelain and covers everything from plain blue and white dinner wares to elaborately enamelled services made to special order.
Chinese porcelain reached Europe in growing quantities from the early seventeenth century, first through Portuguese and Dutch traders and later through the English and other East India companies. The kilns of Jingdezhen supplied most of the wares, which were often decorated further in Canton to suit European taste. Japanese Imari and Kakiemon porcelain also entered the trade, particularly in the later seventeenth century when Chinese supply was disrupted. Typical forms include dinner and tea services, garnitures of vases, punch bowls, chargers and pieces painted with European coats of arms. Collectors look at the quality of potting and painting, the presence of armorials or dateable patterns, and condition, as chips, rim frits and restored cracks are common. Pieces recovered from historic shipwrecks form a distinct and well-documented collecting field.
