The artisans who were active in Canton from 1700 to 1842 are some of the most elusive figures of the China trade. Despite the enormous quantity of artefacts that they produced, and which are now housed in private collections and museums throughout the world, the authors left very little information behind about themselves. It was not until the Americans entered the China trade in 1784, that we begin to have more extensive information about some of these artists and craftsmen.
The omissions in the historical records have led scholars to suggest that there may have been only a few of these men operating in Canton prior to the arrival of the Americans, and that the art trade was probably very limited prior to that happening. While we will likely never be able to construct a complete picture of the artisan community in this period, new information about export art has recently emerged showing that commerce to be more vibrant than previously thought. The new data suggest there was continuity in that market from at least the early eighteenth century onwards. While many of these entries are brief, with numerous gaps in sequence, they nonetheless show an active export art market growing in unison with the tea trade.