18TH CENTURY CANTON VIEW OF THE HONGS

Punch bowls decorated with views of the European Hongs or factories (meaning a warehouse where factoring was done in the old sense), lining the waterfront at Canton were popular forms of Export art from the earliest know Danish market bowl of 1765 through to the end of the century. The model de Gournay have based our design upon dates from circa 1785 and shows the British Hong with its characteristic long verandah Stretching out towards the waterfront. Each hong flies its home nation's national flag. The US flag joined those of European nations in 1785 after the visit of the first American ship, The Empress of China.