Symposium | Seeds of Exchange: Canton and London in the 1700s

Join us for a symposium accompanying the exhibition Seeds of Exchange: Canton and London in the 1700s, exploring the rich history of botanical exchange, scientific curiosity and cross-cultural collaboration that connected gardens, artists and scholars across continents in the late eighteenth century. 

This symposium brings together academics, curators, and museum professionals to examine the networks of knowledge, materials and people that shaped early modern botanical science. Through presentations, panel discussions and Q&As, we will unpack the stories behind the plants, paintings and research featured in the Seeds of Exchange exhibition – and consider their legacies today. 

Please find the indicative programme subject to change:

9.30 Registration & arrival 

10.00 Welcome & introductions by Garden Museum Director, Christopher Woodward & Garden Museum Deputy Director, Sarah Hardy

SESSION 1: Collections, Commerce & Canton 

10.15 Peter Crane. The John Bradby Blake collection at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation 

10.40 Jordan Goodman. The Father, the Son and the Chinese Visitor: An Unexpected Twist in the John Bradby Blake Story Between Canton and London 

11.05 John McAleer. The British in China: The East India Company and the Canton Trade in the Eighteenth Century 

11.30 Morning break

SESSION 2: Plants & People 

11.50 Richard Coulton. John Bradby Blake, the East India Company, and the tea-trade between China and Britain 

12.15 Stephen Davies. Captain John Blake and finding one’s way to Canton

12.40 Seeds of Exchange: Honouring Shared Knowledge and Cross-Cultural Collaboration

13.05 Lunch

SESSION 3: Objects, Representation & Legacy

14.05 Karina H. Corrigan. Botanical Paintings Commissioned by John Bradby Blake (provisional title)

14.30 Emile de Bruijn. Fact and Fiction: Representations of China in 18th-Century Britain

14.55 Discussion – Yuqing Liu and others.

15.20 Afternoon break.

15.40 Winnie Wong. The Farther from Home, the More Precious the Object: Clay Portraits and their Makers

16.05 Emma House. Curator’s Reflections, Panel Discussion and Closing Remarks

17.00 – 18.00 Reception

Speakers Include:

Professor Winnie Wong, Professor of Rhetoric at University of California, Berkeley

Karina H. Corrigan, Deputy Chief Curator and H. A. Crosby Forbes Curator of Asian Export Art at Peabody Essex Museum

Emile de Bruijn Assistant National Curator Decorative Arts, National Trust

Jordan Goodman Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at University College London

Peter Crane President of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation

Chin Ru Foo DEI Consultant and Interpretation Consultant for Seeds of Exchange exhibition

Emma House Curator at the Garden Museum

Dr Richard Coulton Reader in Eighteenth-Century Studies and Digital Humanities, Queen Mary, University of London

Dr John McAleer Associate Professor of History at the University of Southampton

Professor Stephen Davies Honorary Institute Fellow, The University of Hong Kong’s Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Karina H. Corrigan Deputy Chief Curator and H. A. Crosby Forbes Curator of Asian Export Art
Peabody Essex Museum

Yuqing Liu Lecturer in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Edinburgh