Watercolours depicting the growing and processing of tea, the making and decoration of porcelain, the production of silk and the cultivation of rice were immensely popular in the last quarter of the 18th and first quarter of the 19th century, as they explained to the Westener the making of products sent to the West. The watercolours varied in complexity in composition and detail, but the finest became some of the most sought after items of the export trade.

See 'The Decorative Arts of the China Trade', Carl Crossman, p.176-179.