China from China: Porcelain and Stories of Early American Trade

Since the Colonial era, Americans have treasured Chinese export goods. Silk, porcelain, and tea were highly valued commodities that were controlled by the British and subject to taxation until the end of the American Revolution. In February 1784, just five months after the war’s end, the Empress of China, the first American ship to trade directly with China, launched from New York with a hold full of ginseng, cloth, and otter pelts. Eager for the fruits of global commerce, America was ready to take its place on the world stage.

This exhibition explores the early U.S.-China trade, with a focus on Connecticut merchants and sailors who participated in this transpacific exchange, helping to shape American identity, industry, and global presence. In New Haven and Stonington, Connecticut, merchants launched sealing expeditions and trading voyages to China at the turn of the nineteenth century. The Neptune was most lucrative of these trips. The largest ship ever built in New Haven, the Neptune departed in 1796, sailing first to the Falkland Islands to hunt seals for fur and then on to China to trade the furs for silk, tea, and porcelain.