Blossoming lotus flowers, peonies, and butterflies float across this silk fabric from China. In the late 1700s, dress and upholstery silks like this one were exported from the international trading port of Canton (present-day Guangzhou), China. Prior to the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), colonial settlers in Maryland purchased textiles primarily through the British East India Company, an English monopoly that shipped goods between British colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. After gaining independence, the newly formed United States began direct trade with China. The first American-owned ship returned to Baltimore from Canton in 1785. Baltimore City’s Canton neighborhood sits on the property of that ship’s captain, John O’Donnell (1749–1805), an enslaver and merchant who named his plantation after the port. B. Luberda, Gallery Rotation in Eltonhead Manor, May 31, 2024