From the late 16th century through the early 20th century, the kilns of Jingdezhen produced porcelain specifically shaped to Western tastes and decorated by artists in Guangzhou (Canton) with the patterns and subjects that European and American buyers wanted. The export trade, dominated first by the Portuguese, then the Dutch (VOC) and English (East India Company), and later by American clipper ships, moved millions of pieces of porcelain to Western markets and created the distinctive 'China Trade' aesthetic that blended Chinese technique with Western form.

Canton ware — the blue-and-white export porcelain decorated with characteristic scenes of a landscape with figures, boats, bridges, and willow trees — is the most commonly found Chinese export porcelain in American estates. Made from the late 18th through the early 20th century, Canton appears as platters, vegetable dishes, soup tureens, sauce boats, and full dinner services. Rose Medallion — the polychrome enamel export ware with alternating panels of figures in court dress and panels of flowers and birds — is equally common and was the fashionable Chinese porcelain in American homes from the 1840s through the early 20th century.

Fitzhugh pattern (a geometric border of butterflies, flowers, and trellis, surrounding a central medallion) was made in blue, orange, green, and brown and is particularly prized by American collectors because of its historical association with the China Trade. Armorial porcelain — made to order with European or American families' coats of arms — is the rarest and most historically significant category: pieces traceable to specific families with documented coats of arms carry strong premiums.