 The notes accompanying the State Library 's acquisition of its punchbowl indicate that on 25 February 1926 , William Bowyer Honey , Keeper , Department of Ceramics , Victoria & Albert Museum , had appraised this particular punchbowl . Honey concluded that the bowl was made in China during Emperor Chia Ch 'ing 's reign in 1796 – 1820 . In 1757 , foreign trade had been restricted to Canton . Chinese exports , consisting largely of tea , porcelain and silk , had to be paid for in silver . The European ( and soon the American ) presence was restricted to the Thirteen Factories known as hongs on the harbour of Canton ( now known as Guangzhou ) . The Canton hongs themselves are frequently illustrated on punchbowls , known as hong bowls , whereas the portrayal of ports that traded with Canton – such as Sydney and New York – are extraordinarily rare . The Canton System lasted until the defeat of China 's Qing dynasty by the British Empire in the first of the Opium Wars in 1842 . Virtually no Chinese export porcelain was produced from 1839 to 1860 because of the Opium Wars . Canton hong trade was subsequently overshadowed by the rise of Hong Kong as a trading centre – territory ceded to the British as a consequence of China 's military defeats – and the subsequent establishment of 80 Treaty ports along China 's coast . The punchbowls therefore are a product made just before China 's eclipse , commissioned in Canton , where they were painted and glazed by Chinese ceramic artists . The unpainted bowls , however , would have first been manufactured in Jingdezhan , a town 800 km ( 500 mi ) by road from Canton , where pottery factories have operated for nearly 2 @,@ 000 years , and still do today . 
