Tea production – a set of twelve

'Watercolours depicting the growing and processing of tea, the making and decoration of porcelain, the production of silk and cultivation of rice, were put together in sets of twelve or more individual sheets ... These subjects were immensely popular in the last quarter of the 18th and first quarter of the 19th century, since they explained to the westerner, in a most imaginary, glamorous and unrealistic manner, the making of products sent to the west. The most desired watercolour in a series was the one which depicted a western merchant or supercargo in a wonderful period dress negotiating with Chinese merchants. A superb example [just as here] showing the inside of a tea hong with a European figure in late 18th century dress, exemplifies the quaity of painting the Chinese artists could attain. These watercolours depicting crafts and manufacturing processes varied in complexity, in composition and detail, but the finest became some of the most sought after items of the export trade. The tea culture series represented all the processes from the growing of the tea bush to its final shipment and sale. Since tea was the major commodity of the trade, these watercolours found a ready market.' (Crossman, p.179).
The fine quality of the present set, and their support, all painted on silk rather than paper, suggests that these are early 19th-century sheets, rather than the copies produced in the 1840s. Dating these series can prove tricky, as these early sheets were used as models for generations of copies in the first half of the 19th century, most notably those fine but later sets of sheets painted by artists in Tingqua's studio in the 1830s-1850s. 'Those subjects which were obviously customers' favourites were repeated again and again, such as the final stage in the manufacture of tea ... This composition hardly changed from one studio to another, but the European merchant's costume was updated from time to time. ... mention has been made of the possible use of a printed outline from a woodblock to facilitate production by the artist and his assistants.' (M. Gregory, 'Tingqua's China', Martyn Gregory, 1986, unnumbered cat., p.7). The tea merchant signing for the purchases here looks to date to around 1820, in the gold-buttoned blue coat of the East India Company marine we see in Spoilum's late 18th-century portraits. To the left in this penultimate sheet from the series (illustrated above) tea is trodden down by packers, then weighed, and the teas chests labelled, sealed and strapped; to the right the teas chests are being fillled, and in the background sealed chests are carried out of the store to the sampan being loaded on the quay beyond.