Loom width of green silk, hand painted with flowers. Silks decorated by painting were imported to England as both dress and furnishing fabrics. The rhythms imposed on trade with East Asia by the winds and seas prevented these painted textiles from taking a place at the cutting edge of European fashion. The length of voyages meant that decoration could not be altered quickly enough to keep up with the dictates of the most advanced western styles. They were rather perennial favourites throughout the late 18th and early 19th centuries, valued for their prettiness, exoticism and relative cheapness. Imported hand-painted silks were popular in England for both dresses and furnishings. However, they were rarely at the height of fashion because their decoration often went out of style during the long voyages from East Asia. They nevertheless remained long-term favourites with British customers from about 1780 to1830 because they were pretty, exotic and relatively inexpensive. Loom width of green plain-weave silk with hand-painted floral design, China, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, 1770-1780