Immaterial and material cultures: Asian colour schemes and domestic dyes in eighteenth-century Sweden Hanna Hodacs Research Fellow, University of Warwick

Europe's Asian Centuries Trading Eurasia Global History and Culture Centre Department of History - University of Warwick Asian Export Ware and Industrial Revolution Asian Goods in the Political Economy of Europe Asian Goods and European Consumer Cultures Asian Goods: Making and Distributing Asian Goods and the Transmission of Knowledge Bringing global perspectives and interdisciplinary methods to bear on histories of industrialization, consumer society and material culture Investigating the long distance trade between Asia and Europe in material goods and culture that transformed the early modern world. Professor Maxine Berg Project Director Dr Hanna Hodacs Research Fellow Dr Chris Nierstrasz Research Fellow Dr Felicia Gottman Research Fellow Dr Helen Clifford Museum Consultant Ms Meike Fellinger PhD Student Ms Jiao Liu Project Administrator

Silk and Tea in the North. Scandinavian Trade and the Market for Asian Goods in Eighteenth Century Europe, Palgrave, forthcoming Introduction Chapter 1: The Scandinavian trade with China Chapter 2: Buying Bohea in Canton: selling “Gothenburg Congo” in Scotland Chapter 3: Silk from China: fashion from France Chapter 4: Relocation and substitution: a local and global history of dyeing and drinking Chapter 5: Tea and silk in the North: geographies and chronologies Appendix A: Tea imported by SEIC and DAC Appendix B: Wholesale traders in tea in Gothenburg (1734, 1748, 1756), and Copenhagen (1756) Appendix C: Colour schemes on Poesis Damask, imported to Europe by SEIC Appendix D: Wholesale trades in silk in Gothenburg (1734, 1748, 1756), and Copenhagen (1756)

References to colours in English East India Company’s order lists to India 1709/10: order for Chintz from Ahmadavad, requests for “lively brisk colours In 1740: correspondence with the Coromandel coast, requests for “bright red colours” not “dead brick colour” In 1740: order for Chintz from Calcutta “to be of good colours without any green or brick colours”

English, modern AshCherryCrimsonFlesh (Pink)Jonquil Yellow Lemon YellowMazarin BlueMourant Blue German*)AschKirschenCarmoisinCoul de ChairJonquilleCitronMazarin BlauBleumourant SwedishAskfärgadKörsbärCarmoiseCoul. de ChairJonqvilleCitrongohltMazarinblåBlomerant Danish Aske Graa Carmoisin Jonquille Citron Bleumerant EnglishAshCherryCrimsonJunquilleCitronMazarin English, modern PearlPoppy RedPurpleRose (Pink/Red)ScarletSky BlueStrawTurquin Blue German*)PerlePonsoPurpurCoul de RoseScharlakenHimmel BlauPailleTurquin Blau SwedishPerlfärgPonceauPurpurCoul. De RoseSkarl.färgHimmelsblåPailleTurqvinblått Danish Perle Ponceau Roesa Pallie Turkin EnglishPearlPurplePinkScarletSkyblewStrawTurquin *Sources: German from SEIC Catalogue 1733, 36,42, Swedish from SEIC Catalogue 1740s, Danish from DAC Negotiation protocol, English, ordering lists of the EIC

Can colours and colour references help us understand the textile trade between Europe and Asia? And here particularly the trade in silk between China and Sweden?

Backgrounds Chinese Silk versus Indian Cotton – Different legacies – Different qualities – Different trajectories in the late 18 th early 19 th centuries Sweden, a periphery in the Eighteenth-Century Consumer Revolution – Re-export of up to 95% + of the goods imported from Asia – However Silk maybe an exception

Silk pieces put up for sale in Gothenburg by the Swedish East India Company 1733 to 1759 ( pieces excluding smaller pieces and ready made clothes) Silk bought for re-export

Sales Catalogue SEIC, 1748 Sales Catalogue DAC, 1756

From Herrborum Castle, Sweden

Different shades of red on Poisies Damask pieces imported by the Swedish East India Company

Different shades of blue on Poisies Damask pieces imported by the Swedish East India Company

Colours 31 pieces of Damask Poisies in 16 colours (30 lots) 37 pieces/ 6 colours (1 lot) Carmoise4 Jonguil323 Ponceau2 Brun/Brown1 Pärlfärg/Perl coloured1 Himmelsblå/Sky blue4 Askfärg/Ash coloured22 Skarlet/Scarlet colour23 Turquinblått/Blue Turguin1 Blyfärg/Lead coloured12 Grön/Green23 Mazarine blå/Blue2 Hwita/White2 Citronfärg/Lemon Yellow1 Coul. De Rose/Pink14 Swart/Black2 Price (average) per piece Swedish silver dollar

Johan Westring, The Colour History of Swedish Lichen, or how to use them for colouring and in other useful ways for the household, Johan Linder, Swedish Art of Dyeing. With Domestic Herbs, Gras, Flower, Leaves, Barks, Rots, Plants, and Minerals, first edition published 1720

Conclusion Distinguishing between global material culture (fibres, dyestuff, textiles) and immaterial culture (notions of colours, colour references) and how they sometimes travelled separately Such a distinction can help us link in this case the Swedish response to the Asian trade on its own accord, and not only in the light of e.g. developments in Britain, France or the Dutch Republic.