TEA TRADE DOCUMENT. Dutch East India Company (VOC). An unpublished manuscript document recording a cargo of tea from China carried on the VOC ship Vrouw Maria Cornelia, dated 1790, titled: Prisatie over de Lading Thee per het Schip Vrouw Maria Cornelia voor de Kamer Middelburg, alsmede de Pryze zo als dezelve op den 29 November 1790 zyn verkogt. Large folding leaf, 37.5 x 24.5cm, paper watermarked; manuscript in ink on (2) sides, with the title occupying a small section of the fourth side. Both sides of the manuscript list details of nine varieties of tea – Thee Boey, Congo, Souchon, Pecco, Songlo, Tonkay, Hysan Schin, Hysan, Soulong – as well as types of packing, the quantities and qualities of each variety of tea, and their prices, carried on the ship Vrouw Maria Cornelia for the Chamber of Middelburg – Zeeland, signed and dated 29 November 1790. Original folds, text clean and legible. Tea was the first global commodity for mass consumption, influencing trade and culture around the world, and the maritime industry – including the VOC – was crucial to this development. Provenance: Private collection, Melbourne; acquired from the estate collection of Pieter Geyl (1887-1966), prominent Dutch historian.