page_title: Jean Abraham Grill
section_title: Science and music
hierarchical_section_title: Jean Abraham Grill / Science and music
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Godegårds herrgård, built 1725, Motala kommun, Sweden.
context_page_description: Jean Abraham Grill, sometimes called Johan Abraham Grill, was a Swedish merchant, supercargo, director of the Swedish East India Company and ironmaster at Godegård with several factories.
  Grill journeyed to China twice as the representative for the SOIC. He lived in Canton as well as Macao for a total of almost ten years, doing trade for the company during the arrival of three Swedish ships. In China he lived the life of an adventurer; survived a shipwreck, traded with other East Asian countries together with his partner Michael Grubb and smuggled opium from India to China.
  He returned to Sweden in 1768, a wealthy man and lived the rest of his life in Swedish high society, writing minor essays about his travels as member of the Royal Swedish Academies of Sciences and Music. He married Lovisa Ulrika Lüning and bought the Godegård Manor and several ironworks, which he renovated and improved. When Grill died in 1792, his wife took over his business and ran the ironworks and factories.
  His most notable legacy is the notes, correspondence, accounts, cargo lists and books he kept during his life. They are preserved in the Godegård Archive and in the Gothenburg University Library.
context_section_description: Grill wrote a number of essays for the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences about his observations and experiences in Canton, and in 1773, he became a member of the academy. In 1774, Grill became its preses or president. He was also an accomplished flute player, and on 16 June 1772, he was elected as member no. 46 of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
  Grill was also interested in porcelain. Part of his orders may have been just a way to get his money transferred from China to Sweden after he was ordered to return home in 1768, but he also ordered his own armorial dinner service.
caption: The Godegård manor.
exif: {}