Microstructures of global trade

In 1716, Italian officer Peter Robert Taparelli Count of Lagnasco was sent to The Hague by the Saxon-Polish Elector-King Augustus the Strong to purchase East Asian porcelain. The correspondence surrounding this undertaking is a thorough account of the trading situation in the Netherlands. The transcribed letters illustrate the availability of Asian goods, the competition among buyers, prices and trade networks, as well as the objects that were bought for the king. The publication examines the importance of individual merchants and their role in supplying the Saxon court with East Asian luxury goods.