Guus Rรถell & Deon Viljoen
Uit verre streken Luxury goods from trading posts in the former Dutch East Indies, China, Japan and Africa 17th - 19th Centuries
Maastricht December 2013
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1 Nieuwe Wassende Graedige PasKaert van de Kust van Guinea en Brasilia, strekkende van Cap Verde tot Cap de Bon Esparanca en verders van Rio de Berbice tot de Rio de la Plata, te Amsterdam by Joannes van Keulen, Boek en Zeekaart Verkoper aan de Nieuwenbrug in de Gekroonde Lootsman. “Aan de Heer Abraham Anias werd deze Caart tot een teeken van agting opgedragen door zijn onderdanige dienaar, Joannes van Keulen”. 58cm by 98cm Between Guinea and Brazil is indicated “De Waage Weg”. On their way to Asia the ships had to sail between these two lines to avoid ending up under the African coast or being driven to the north if they sailed too far west. Abraham Anias (1694-1750) was cartographer for the VOC and the WIC (Dutch East and West India Company) in Middelburg, Zeeland. This map was published by Joannes’ grandson, Joannes II van Keulen (17041755) in 1728.
Johannes van Keulen (1654-1715) established himself as editor of sea charts in Amsterdam in 1678. In 1680, he obtained a privilege for 15 years from the States General of Holland allowing him to print and publish maritime atlases and shipping guides. This privilege protected him against illegal copying which was very important because of the extensive initial costs of producing cartographer’s atlases. Van Keulen named his firm “In De Gekroonde Lootsman” (In the Crowned Pilot), becoming one of the most successful publishing firms in Amsterdam and producing the largest and finest marine atlases. The first publication by Johannes van Keulen was his “Zee Atlas”, in 1680, the first printed shipping guide with about 40 charts of all sea areas of
the world, except Dutch East Indies. Maps of that area were kept secret by the VOC, the Dutch East India Company. Only in 1753 the secrecy was officially abolished. Van Keulen’s next edition “De Zeefakkel” (The Sea Pilot), in 1684, contained 116 charts and by 1695 the atlas contained 160 charts! Johannes’ son, Gerard van Keulen (1678-1726), and grandson, Johannes II van Keulen (1704-1755) continued his work and produced several new editions of the various volumes.
3 Two silver coins, Amsterdam 1743 Martin Holtzhey (Ulm 1697-Middelburg 1764) Diam. 2.9cm, weight 9 gram each The obverse with the portrait of Gustaaf Willem Baron van Imhoff (1705-1750), his age 37 (AETAT. XXXVII) and on the rim: GVSTAVVS GVILELMVS BAR AB IMHOFF GVB GEN IND OR F B (Gustaaf Willem Baron van Imhoff, Governor General of Dutch East India), and M.HOLTZHEY FEC. The reverse field the Dutch East India Company as a crowned lady shown on by the sun, seated on a throne with the VOC monogram and an anchor, holding scales in her right hand scales and in her left the emblem of Batavia (a sword surrounded by laurel). Under her the date MDCCXLIII (1743) Below the motto reads “SPES MELIORUM TEMPORUM” (hope for better times). Martin Holtzhey was a German medallist and mint master active in the Netherlands in the 18th century. 2 Cannon Holland, Middelburg, by Jaspar van Erpecom for the Zeeland chamber of the Dutch East India company (VOC), signed and dated “Jaspar.van.Erpecom.me.fecit.1690.” Bronze and wood gun carriage. Length: 1060mm (3’6’’ Mechelen feet), 1 pounder Provenance: H.L.Visser Collection, The Netherlands. Literature: R.Roth, The Visser collection, Arms of the Netherlands, in the collection of H.L.Visser, vol.II, Zwolle, 1996, cat. no. C68, illus. p. 193. When the Dutch Revolt started in 1568, ordnance production was in the southern provinces which remained under Spanish control. In the rebellious northern provinces there was a tradition of church bell casting, not of ordnance production. However, due to the religious intolerance of the Spanish, most protestants from the south fled to the north bringing money and expertise with them. By the 17th century the Dutch Republic had become the military arsenal of the world, able to equip at short notice not only their own army but many other European armies as well. Even more important than the army was the Dutch navy which in the 17th century was larger than those of England and France put together. Many ships needed cannon, certainly the ones sailing for the VOC to the far and dangerous ends of the world. Jaspar van Erpecom was a founder in Middelburg in the late 17th century. This cannon is the only known surviving piece signed and dated by him. Cast in 1690 this gun with it’s elaborate decoration, it’s conical trunnions, mouldings around the coat of arms and dolphins is more typical of mid- than the late-17th century designs.
Imhoff was send to Batavia on the ship “De Hersteller” (The Restorer) to restore order after the mass slaughter of the Chinese in Batavia in 1740. En route he visited the Cape of Good Hope where he presented his hosts with similar coins.
4 A cabinet Cape of Good Hope, last quarter 18th century Stinkwood, amboyna, satin wood, oak and pine, with original silver escutcheons and handles marked by Daniel Heinrich Schmidt (1741-1811). Height: 255cm, width: 180cm, depth: 75cm This cabinet is illustrated in Cape Antique Furniture by Michael Baraister & Anton Obholzer, 2004 (pl. 1085). Cabinets, or armoires as they are called in the Cape, are the finest pieces of furniture made in the Cape, on par with anything made in Amsterdam or Germany. That is where most cabinetmakers in the Cape probably came from but frustratingly few names and no background or training of these craftsmen is known. From the mid 18th till early 19th century a typical Cape style in houses, mainly farms, and in cabinets evolved, showing an interesting fusion of styles from Europe and the Cape. Even though the actual work probably was done by slaves, mainly from the Bengal Coast and most of them probably illiterate, these cabinets undoubtedly needed professional drawings but so far none seem to have survived. Daniel Heinrich Schmidt was born in Strelitz, Gemany. He arrived in the Cape as soldier in 1768 and served as a sword-cutler in the service of the VOC (Dutch East India Company). In 1778 he received his burgher rights as a silversmith. Schmidt was one of the most important silversmiths in the Cape at the end of the 18th century. For his marks see Stephan. Welz, Cape Silver & Silversmiths, A.A.Balkema 1976, pg. 152. Another cabinet with identical silver escutcheons by Daniel Heinrich Schmidt is in the collection of the Iziko Museum, Koopmans deWet Huis in Cape Town
5 Dutch school “Arrival of a Dutch East Indiaman in Table bay” 18th century oil on canvas 37cm by 45.5cm In the flag of the ship is the monogram of the VOC Amsterdam Chamber and on its stern the ships name or the name of the artist, unfortunately illegible. In the earliest and most important view of the Dutch settlement at the Cape by Aernout Smit (1641-1710) in 1683, based on carefully prepared maps and drawings, the Castle was depicted with what was known as the “sea-gate”, the original entrance to the Castle facing the beach. The unknown painter of the present painting clearly had never visited the Cape of Good Hope but had based his observations of the geography and the buildings on the 17th-century Smit painting adding an 18th-century ship to the scene. By that time the original 17th-century gateway had been replaced by the existing entrance from the Parade erected by Governor Simon van der Stel in 1684.
7 Frans David Oerder (1867-1944) “Coconut rope weaver” Oil on canvas, signed F.D.Oerder and indistinctly inscribed “Coconut rope...” 38.5cm by 23.5cm Frans Oerder was born in Rotterdam, studied there and in Brussels, and moved to South Africa in 1890 together with his brother. After a difficult start, among other things painting poles along the Delagoa Bay Railway in employment of the Zuid Afrikaansche Spoorweg Maatschappij, in 1894 he became art teacher at the Staatsmeisjesskool in Pretoria. He also had a few private students among them Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (1886-1957) and he helped the sculptor Anton van Wouw (1862-1945) with commissions. 6 William James Cohen Stuart (The Hague 1857-1935) “Het Hollandsche Oefenescader liggende te Simonsbaai, 1876/77”, with the names of the ships, Zilveren Kruis, Curaçao, Leeuwarden and Van Galen. Watercolour on paper 25cm by 41cm William James Cohen Stuart was a Dutch marine officer, commander of several ships and fought in the long drawn out Atjeh war (1873-1914). The Atjeh Sultanate in the north of Sumatra commanded the Strait of Malacca and made the shipping through the Strait unsafe by piracy. Cohen Stuart became Minister of the Marine from 1905 to 1907 but stepped down because his plans to strengthen the Dutch Navy were rejected by parliament.
With the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War in 1899 he was appointed official war artist by President Paul Kruger. His sketches and paintings from this period are held in the War Museum in Bloemfontein, the Africana Museum in Johannesburg and the art collection of the University of Pretoria. After the war in 1903, he travelled and painted along the East African coast where this painting could have been painted, and he received several commissions for portraits such as that of General Louis Botha. In 1908 he moved to Holland where he married a fellow painter, Gerda Pitlo, and under her influence started on still life compositions, mainly flower studies. In 1938 he returned to Pretoria together with his wife where he was offered a studio in the tower of the City Hall and where he painted several important portraits including Jan Smuts. He died in Pretoria in 1944.
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8 Pascaert van ‘t Eylandt Ceylon, voordesen Taprobana, by de inwoonders genaemt Lankaun, by Joannes van Keulen, met privilegie voor 15 Jaar. Sea chart of Ceylon, previously called Taprobana and by its inhabitors Sankaun, by Johannes van Keulen with privilege for 15 years. 52cm by 60cm This map was published in the “Zee Atlas” of 1682. The Portuguese settled on the coast of Ceylon already in 1518, attracted by the richness of the island in pearls, precious stones, ivory, cinnamon and pepper. In 1638 the VOC conquered Batticaloa on the east coast, Galle in 1640, Colombo in 1656 and finally drove the Portuguese completely from the island in 1658 with the conquest of Jaffna. In 1796 the English replaced the Dutch on Ceylon, but all the time the kingdom of Kandy in the interior remained independent.
Ceylon (Sri Lanka) had a wealth of attractive and durable timbers used extensively in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. These included calamander, ebony, satinwood, rosewood and nedun. That may be one of the reasons why furniture-making reached such a high level of craftsmanship in Sri Lanka under Dutch influence in the late 17th and 18th centuries and continued well into the 19th century under the British. This is an exceptional example of Dutch-Ceylonese craftsmanship displaying the unusual figuring of the calamander wood to its full beauty.
10 Document box Sri Lanka, 18th century Burr amboyna with inlays of ebony and satin wood, brass mounts. The interior with compartments for pens, ink and sand. Height: 12cm, width: 46cm, depth: 31cm
9 Cabinet on stand Sri Lanka, second half 18th century. Calamander wood. Height: 216cm, width: 142cm, depth: 65cm.
Senior VOC officials at the many outposts far away from Batavia were obliged to keep diaries, not only of all trade and political developments but also of the customs and habits of the indigenous populations, including their houses, clothing, food, drink and religion. The temperament of the people had to be indicated (cruel, friendly, faithful or false), the way in which they brought up their children, in particular the ones begotten by Dutchmen or other Europeans. In addition detailed descriptions of agriculture, animal husbandry, mining and industries were included. Everything had to be copied three or four times, making portable writing-desks and document boxes indispensable items of furniture. Therefore many document boxes were made and quite a few have survived.
12 Bible box Sri Lanka, 18th century Ivory and silver. Height: 5.6cm, width: 13.9cm, depth: 9.8cm Carved on the lid with four swan- or peacock- like birds with intertwined necks. This box was possibly a marriage gift.
11 Bible box Sri Lanka, 18th century Ivory and gold. Carved on the lid with leaves and flowers. Height: 4.7cm, width: 12.7cm, depth: 9.9cm On their way to church the Dutch or Indo-Dutch ladies were followed by a slave girl carrying a precious little bible box. To show off their wealth these boxes were made of gold, silver, ivory or at least very expensive woods. In 1753 Governor General Jacob Mossel apparently esteemed it necessary to curb this ostentatious display of wealth. In his “Regulation against pomp and splendour� it was decreed, among other things, that only the wives or widows of the highest ranking VOC officials were allowed to be seen publicly with gold or silver boxes. This ivory and gold bible box may not have been for one of the very highest ranking ladies but it certainly was for one of the higher ranking ones.
13 French romantic school, 19th century “Indian Beauties” oil on canvas, unsigned 46.5cm by 38cm Two beauties bedecked with jewels at their toilet, a eunuch in attendance holding a cup and a fly-whisk On the back of the frame a label “Privateigentum ........ des Herzogs Carl Eduard von Sachs. Coburg Gotha”. Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the fourth and last reigning Duke from 1900 till 1918. Born in Claremont House, Surrey, son of Leopold, Duke of Albany, fourth son of Queen Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Charles Edward’s mother was the sister of Queen Emma of the Netherlands. He was a Prince of the United Kingdom and Duke of Albany. In 1900 he succeeded his uncle Alfred, who’s only son had committed suicide, as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in Germany and changed his name to Carl Eduard. He fought as general on the German side in World War I and consequently was stripped of his peerage by George V in 1919. At this time George V changed the name of the English Crown from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor. Carl Eduard later joined the Nazi Party, the SA and served in a number of positions in Nazi Germany. At the end of the war he was arrested by the Americans, released in 1950 and died in 1954 in Coburg in poverty. His daughter Sybilla married King Gustaaf Adolf of Sweden and his older sister was Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone.
14 Filigree box India, possibly Goa, late 17th century, possibly a reliquary box.
15 Round table India, Bombay Presidency, circa 1870
Silver filigree, parcel-gilt. Height: 12.5cm, width: 14.3cm, depth: 9cm
Indian blackwood, carved and pierced. Height: 81.5cm, diameter: 139 cm
Since these silver filigree boxes are unmarked it is often difficult to known where they were made; in India (Goa or Karimnagar), Indonesia (Batavia) or Sri Lanka. Those made in China (Canton) usually have a finer thread and may be decorated in enamels as is no. 32 in this catalogue.
The table consists of a top carved around the edge with a band of animals, buildings, trees and rocks. The scalloped apron is carved and pierced with scrolling foliate designs. The top is supported by a carved end pierced column surrounded by four crane-like birds each holding a snake in it’s beak and resting on a circular base with four feet in the form of dragons. The whole rests on four castors. This table is an extremely elaborate example of what carpenters were capable of making in Bombay in the second half of the nineteenth century.
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16 Nieuwe Pascaert van Oost Indien, verthoonende hen van C. De Bona Esperanca tot aen het Landt van Eso, Geleyt op Wassende Graeden en van veel fouten verbetert, met privilegie voor 15 Jaar. ‘t Amsterdam by Ioannes van Keulen, aan de Nieuwe Brugh, In De Gekroonde Lootsman, 1680. H. Van Loon fecit 52cm by 60 cm This map was published in the Nieuwe Lichtende Zee-Fakkel in 1684. The map shows the whole of the Indian Ocean from Cape of Good Hope to the East Indies, Japan and Australia with a wonderfully decorative cartouche at the top illustrating the possibilities and dangers of Asia in the form of Asian merchants and warriors. It also shows the increasingly complete outline of Australia based on the early 17th century discoveries of the west and south-west coast by Hartog (1616), Houtman (1619), Nuyts (1627) and de Witt (1628) and of the north coast and Cape York Peninsula by Carstensz in 1623. The discovery of Van Diemen Land by Abel Tasman in 1642 and 1644 is also included.
17 Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) The History of Java. London: Printed for Black, Parbury and Allen, Booksellers to the Hon. East-India Company, Leadenhall Street; and John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1817. Two volumes, 4to. Contemporary full red morocco, gilt tooled design to boards, gilt tooling and titles to panelled spines, marbled endpapers. With 2 maps (one large folding map of Java coloured in the outline), 10 hand-coloured aquatints by William Daniell and 53 etched or aquatint plates. First edition; with armorial book plate of Sir Stephenson Hamilton. This is one of the most influential and scientifically important books about Java. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826), Governor General during the British occupation
of the Dutch East Indies (1811-1815), was interested in every aspect of his subject; Javanese ethics, literature, poetry, music and musical instruments, drama, games of skill and methods of hunting, besides the more usual matters of interest such as population, natural history, religion, antiquities and military system. The marriage of a scientifically original text with beautiful illustrations by an accomplished aquatint engraver resulted in a book about Indonesia of outstanding quality; indeed a masterpiece (Bastin-Brommer p.6-7). The ten coloured aquatints, though unsigned, are by William Daniell. They illustrate Javanese life and costume and the Papuan boy who accompanied Raffles to England in 1816. The plate of the Borobudur is one of the first depictions of the monument. Raffles’ History of Java, the source of many basic Western ideas about the area, remains to this day a standard reference on the Indonesian Archipelago.
18 Javanese school “Portrait of a Javanese court official” circa 1830 Colour and gold on paper laid down on canvas and board 192cm by 70 cm This portrait is probably from the same hand as the series of five portraits of Javanese officials in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, originally from a Danish private collection. The figure in this painting is the same as the portrait of the Regent (“bupati”) or member of the royal court in the Rijksmuseum series. However, unlike the portrait in the Rijksmuseum, the “Regent” in the present painting is wearing a coat and shoes. He wears the same black cap decorated with gold (kuluk kanigoro), similar trousers of imported Indian fabric (patolu) and the same kind of batik hipcloth (dodot koncen) with the decoration of Garuda wings. It is currently not clear whether the present portrait belongs to
Portrait of the Regent in the series of five life-size portraits of Javanese officials in the collection of the Rijkmuseum Amsterdam
the group of five in the Rijksmuseum or whether other similar groups were painted by the same artist or studio. These portraits were painted in the period after the Dutch had regained control of their territories in Indonesia in 1816. The Colonial administration went to great lengths to familiarise the Dutch at home with the culture of the various ethnic groups in Indonesia. The five large paintings in the Rijksmuseum and this one would appear to be amongst the most ambitious illustrations of Javanese types and costumes from this period. Whether these portraits were painted from life or represent general types is not known but that they were painted by a local artist for a European patron seems almost certain.
19 Pair of spittoons Indonesia, circa 1800, silver, unmarked Height: 8.5cm, diameter: 12cm Pairs of small silver spittoons are rare.
20 Silver salver With maker’s mark “R” (unidentified), town mark of Batavia and additional mark “I”, circa 1700 One of a pair, the other unmarked but with Indonesian inscription on the back.
21 Guéridon/candle-stand Indonesia, early 18th century
Diameter: 34.1 cm, weight: 655gr (the other 669 gr. with three later feet)
Guéridons could fulfil a variety of functions in the 18th and 19th century domestic interiors. They were used as candle-stands, for spittoons, wigs or a bible. According to Jan Veenendaal (Furniture from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India during the Dutch period, Delft, 1985) the present type was used as a candlestand, the bowl acting as a drip pan.
In the collection of the Gemeentemuseum The Hague is a silver Persian bottle with the same marks (Titus Eliëns, Silver from Batavia, Wbooks 2012, p. 158) and a silver kendi with these marks is mentioned in an article by De Loos-Haaxman in 1936, Zilverwerk uit de Compagniestijd. It is assumed that “R” is a native silversmith since single-letter maker’s marks are generally attributed to native silversmiths (Jan Veenendaal, Furniture from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India during the Dutch period, 1987, 15, note 20).
Djati wood, a brass bowl and red lacquer. Height: 73cm
22 Cabinet on stand Sri Lanka or Batavia, first half 18th century Padouk, sono kelung, amboyna, nedun, and parquetry of various tropical woods including, menkulang, kay pelet and ramin. Height: 201cm, width: 168.5, depth: 66.5cm The underside bears an old label reading: “Zending J. Martens, tel. 254, Gg Halte Dierentuin 9, Weltevreden� and in writing an unreadable name and address. Weltevreden, about 12 km. south-east of the centre of Batavia (present day Jakarta), was named after the country house built there in 1761 by Governor General Jacob Mossel (Enkhuizen 1704-Batavia 1761) and sold to his successor Petrus Albertus van de Parra (Colombo 1714-Weltevreden 1775). In 1809 Governor General Daendels moved the offices of the Dutch colonial administration to the area around Weltevreden and it became the neighbourhood for the Europeans, living away from the unhealthy conditions in Batavia. Parquetry in Dutch colonial furniture is highly unusual because the tropical climate made the use of glues highly impractical. However, a very similar cabinet was recently sold from the Keerweder Estate outside Franschhoek, Western Cape, which would indicate that veneering and parquetry were used to an extent in colonial furniture.
23 Table Dutch East Indies/Batavia, first half 18th century Carved, painted and gilded wood. With later Belgian Rouge Royal marble top. Height: 75cm, width: 142cm, depth: 83.5cm The (human) faces on top of each leg have been removed in Muslim Indonesia.
This sculpted table is a creative adaptation, probably by Chinese craftsmen working in Batavia, of baroque designs by Daniel Marot. Daniel Marot, a French Huguenot who had fled religious persecution in France and settled in The Hague, had an enormous influence on fashionable decoration in the Netherlands and also in Batavia in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. However his designs, published in a series of engravings, were not slavishly followed or copied in Batavia but reinterpreted, as in this example, with boldly carved dragon like legs and claw and ball feet.
25 Hugo Vildfred von Pedersen (Copenhagen 1870-1959) “The batik painter� Oil on canvas, signed Hugo V.P. Height: 98cm, width: 140cm Hugo von Pedersen was a pupil of the academy of arts in Copenhagen. This travellerartist visited Indonesia travelling through Java and Sumatra. He wrote a book about this trip which he illustrated with reproductions after his paintings, watercolours and drawings Door den Oost-Indische Archipel (Haarlem 1902).
24 Two-chairback settee Indonesia (Batavia), mid 18th century Makassar ebony Height: 115.7cm, width: 153cm, depth: 49.2cm This settee is clearly the work of Chinese carpenters working in Batavia.
26 Frederik Kasenda (Indonesian circa 1900-after 1950) View of Semarang, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower left hand corner “Frederik Kasenda, Semarang, maart 1928� 68.5cm by 123cm
This was the view from the terrace of the residence of the Dutch Resident in Semarang on the north coast of Java, looking out over the Java Sea. Quite a few landscape paintings signed by Frederik Kasenda are known but nothing is known about the artist. This is one of his earliest signed works.
27 Wilhelmus Jean Frederic Imandt (1882-1967) “View of the Bromo vulcano on Java” oil on canvas, unsigned 79.5cm by 150cm Born in the Netherlands, Willem Imandt arrived in Indonesia in 1908 where he worked as a drawing teacher in secondary schools till he became so successful as a painter that he could travel around the Archipelago full time and paint the Indonesian volcano’s and waringin trees. As a man of means and celebrated
painter of Indonesian landscapes he returned to Holland in 1928 where had a very successful solo-exhibition. With the threat of a war in Europe he returned to his beloved Indonesia in 1938. He settled in the pleasant climate of Malang where he painted and sold his paintings to the Dutchmen who retired there. This idyll was short-lived. During the war he was interned in a Japanese concentration camp and in 1946 returned to Holland penniless. Nevertheless, at the age of 72 in 1954, he ones more had a solo-exhibition of his Indonesian paintings. Imandt’s ability to portray the magical natural beauty of Indonesia remains unsurpassed. He died in The Hague, 17 June 1967.
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28 “Imperium Japonicum per sexaginta et sex regiones digestum atque ex ipsorum Japonensium mappis descriptum per Matthaeum Seutter....”. From “Atlas Novus” Georg Matthaeus Seutter (1678-1757) Augsburg, ca. 1740 Copperplate engraving, hand-coloured 46.5cm by 57.5cm Seutter was one of the most important and prolific German map publishers of the 18th century. He started as an apprentice brewer but beer apparently was not his business and he became an apprentice engraver with the prominent firm of J.B.Homan in Nurnberg. Early in the 18th century he started his own cartographic publishing firm in Augsburg. After a difficult start he became very successful and in 1740 the German Emperor Charles VI granted him the title of “Imperial Geographer”. However most of the maps he published were based on, if not copies of, earlier works by other cartographers. This map is a copy of a map by Adrien Reland, published circa 1720 in Amsterdam.
29 Two blue and white armorial chargers for the Dutch market China, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, late 17th-early 18th century Diameter: each 35.5cm The coat of arms on these dishes are those of the Pelgrom family and exist in at least two variations as seen in these examples. See also C.J.A. Jörg, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, p.301., 1997, and Kroes, Chinese armorial porcelain for the Dutch market, Zwolle, 2007, pp. 108-109 where similar examples are illustrated. Jörg describes these plates and dishes – originally from a large dinner set – “as good example(s) of early underglaze blue armorial porcelain made for a high ranking VOC official in the East”.
Jacob Pelgrom, born c. 1655 arrived in Batavia in 1688 on board of the “Langwijk” of the Amsterdam VOC Chamber. He was a Huguenot from Rouen who fled to Amsterdam after the freedom of the protestant religion was revoked by Louis XIV in 1685. In Amsterdam Jacob joined the VOC. His career as VOC official was mainly in Bengal where he arrived in 1689 and became the first director of this trading post from 1701 to 1705. From 1708 till his death in 1713 he lived in Batavia where he had several official functions including ontvanger-generaal (head of the tax department). Jacob married Catharina Pigou (1656-1709), from Amiens in 1681 and had at least four children. The youngest daughter, Johanna Catharina (1686-1734) married Anthonij Huysmans (1688-1729), who also became director of Bengal. The Huysmans-Pelgrom family became related to several of the principal families of the Dutch East Indies.
31 Small teapot Japan, Arita, late 17th century Height: 8.2cm, length: 14.5cm (handle restored) Painted in overglaze enamels in Kakiemon palette with prunus growing on rocks and cloud scrolls on both body and cover. Similar examples are in the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and the Groninger Museum, see Oliver Impey Japanese Export Porcelain (no. 82) and Christiaan J.A.Jรถrg Fine & Curious, Japanese export porcelain in Dutch Collections (no. 241).
30 Coffee cup and saucer for the Dutch market Chinese, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, c. 1762 Height of cup: 6.5cm, diam. of cup: 6.5cm, diam. of saucer: 13.5cm This armorial service, in the Meissen style, bears the coat of arms of the Luls family from Wijk bij Duurstede and Utrecht. The Luls family originates from Aachen and Limburg, moved to Amsterdam as cloth merchants from the late 16th century and settled in the Province of Utrecht from the second half of the 17th century. This coat of arms was borne the first time by Gerard Luls, as alderman in 1679 and as burgomaster in 1687. He later acted as commissioner of the slave trade and governor of Curaรงao where he died in 1711. His son, Mattheus Luls (c. 1688-1767), also was burgomaster of Wijk bij Duurstede and held several important posts in the city and States of Utrecht. From his marriage with Catharina Comans he had eight children, including Willem Adriaan and Jan Luls. Willem Adriaan made a career in the East Indies and Jan headed for the West Indies, following in his grandfather footsteps In Curaรงao where he owned several plantations. Mattheus adopted the bears (or dogs) in black with gold collars as supporters, first recorded in 1720. This armorial porcelain was probably commissioned by him.
32 Silver-gilt, silver filigree and enamel box China, possibly for the South-east Asian market, early 19th century
33 “Brighton Pavilion” bamboo and cane armchair China, late 18th or early 19th century
Height: 8.5cm, width: 16cm and depth: 11.5cm
Bamboo chairs, settees and tables had a tremendous vogue in England after the Prince Regent furnished the Royal Pavilion at Brighton with bamboo furniture from China in the early 19th century. An almost identical example to the present chair is in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (Carl L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, Antique Collectors’ Club 1991, p.258). Already in 1757 William Chambers published a book of Chinese bamboo furniture designs for English furniture makers manufacturing bamboo furniture in the Chinese style.
Other filigree and enamel caskets, from the German Imperial and royal family von Hohenzollern, are in the David P.L.Chan, Chan Collection of Chinese Export Silver, 2005, no. 65 and 66. In the collection of Catherine the Great, now in The Hermitage Museum St. Peterburg, there is a silver filigree and enamel Chinese export basket, attributed to the Cantonese silversmith Cutshing, working in the early 19th century. M. Menshikova e.a., Silver Wonders from the East, Filigree of the Tsars, Waanders Zwolle, 2006.
Height: 92cm, width: 48cm, depth: 49.5cm
34 Ivory basket with lid China, Canton, circa 1810 Panels with openwork depictions of Chinese figures in landscapes and a carved quail on top of the lid. Height: 16cm, width: 19cm, depth: 11.5cm Similar form baskets from China are known in silver filigree as well (see our catalog Uit Verre Streken, June 2009, no. 8) and the filigree basket with enamel decoration by Master Cutshing (?), 1820-1840, from the Hermitage Collection (M.Menshikova e.a.
Silver Wonders from the East, Filigree of the Tsars). Inside the basket are the initials of Wouter Karel Willem Senn van Basel (Den Haag 1781-Velp 1856), son of Willem Adriaan Senn van Basel (Batavia 1755-Batavia 1817) and Anna Maria Hooreman (Negapatnam1751-Batavia 1788). Wouter never left Holland. In 1814 he married Anna Margaretha Matthes (1785-1837) in Utrecht. His father Adriaan studied law in Holland and returned to the Dutch East Indies in 1787 where he had a brilliant career in the VOC. Presumably he ordered the ivory basket with the initials of his son in China on the occasion of his son’s marriage in 1814 to Anna Margaretha Matthes in Utrecht.
35 Games table China, Canton (for the English market), circa 1790 Huang-Hua-Li wood (Pterocarpus indicus) with inlays of boxwood, ebony and bone. Height: 76cm, width: 113cm, depth: 54cm The sliding top reverses for a chess board and reveals a removable backgammon board. An almost identical games table, in the collection of Richard Milhender, is illustrated in Carl L. Crossman, The decorative arts of the China Trade, 1991, colour plate 89. This type of games table in the form of the English sofa table, is well known in several China trade as well as Indian and Indonesian examples. An immensely practical form, not only for the usual game playing in the tropical afternoons, but could also be used as a small writing table, tea or even a small dining table. An Indonesian example of an English sofa table in djati wood, very similar to the one illustrated in J.Terwen-de Loos, Het Nederlandse Koloniale Meubel, plate 68, is also in our collection
36 Buddhist temple China, Guangzhou (Canton), Qing dynasty, Guangxu period, last quarter 19th century carved, painted and gilded wood The one side inscribed:“Made by Xu San You“, on the other an address “ Lianxing Street Province Guangdong East¨ (Canton Province). Over the arch are the Chinese characters for “Zen (Temple) Guard“. On the base a poem by the Northern Song Dynasty poet Lin Bu, from “Mountain Park Xiaomei”, reading “sparse and crosswise over clear and shallow water, fragrance and movable moon floating in the evening”. Height: 212cm, width: 92.5cm, depth: 59cm
San You was the oldest and most prestigious workshop in Guangzhou (Canton) close to the north bank of Pearl River. Carvings by San You still exist in prominent altars in major religious centres in China such as the Chen Ancestral Shrine and Foshan’s Zumiao Ancestral Temple in Guangzhou as well as in important temples in Hong Kong and South East Asia. San You, formed by three friends, started as a single workshop but later divided into three independent units owned by the three original owners who kept the San You name but added their own family name, Xu, He and Zhao, as a prefix. Of the three, carvings from the workshop of Xu San You were the most popular in North America. Between 1875 and 1911 he made, among others, the altar face in the Tam Kung Temple and the shrine for the Dart Coon Club in Vancouver, the boat shaped hanging to the Bok Kai Temple in Marysville, the altar façade to the Tin How Temple in San Francisco, an altar table façade for the Hoy Sun Ning Young Association in Seattle and one for the Hongmen Association in Vancouver and another boat shaped hanging for the Oroville Museum. The Chinese in North America may sometimes have bought such carvings off the shelf from dealers in China who kept the Guangzhou workshops’ products in inventory but more likely they ordered them with specific requests straight from the Xu San You workshop. This temple, ended up in a Chinese restaurant in The Hague, Netherlands, by way of Malacca. The four winged figures/angels could have been added in Malacca or The Hague since figures like these are not known in Chinese Buddhist iconography.
37 Chinese ancestral altar China, Guangzhou (Canton), Qing dynasty, Guangxu period, 19th century
38 Ema Japan, Edo period, 18th century
Carved, painted and gilded wood, Height: 75.5cm, width: 59cm, depth: 36.5cm
Height: 63.5cm, width: 31cm
A very similar altar is in the Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum Malacca, where it is shown in the standard altar arrangement, placed against the wall partitioning the front room from the next. (Khoo Joo Ee, The Strait Chinese – A Cultural History. Amsterdam – Kuala Lumpur 1961, p. 57). Behind the altar doors the images of ancestors were kept.
Ink and pigments on wood. Inscribed with a title “Oranda-jin” (Dutchman), the commissioner’s name and his home town “Osaka, Yamadaya Itaro”, dated “Konoto Tenmei gonen Mi Kugatsu” (September 1785). Votive painting of a Dutchman, hung in shrines as prayers of petition or thanks.
39 Japanese export rectangular plaque for the Dutch market, circa 1790-1795, A lacquer plaque by “Sasaya”, fl. 1770s-1780s Japan, for the Dutch market Black lacquer, gold and silver on copper depicting the Battle of the Dogger Bank, showing the opposing fleet of the Dutch and British navies under half sail, in two shades of gold (hiramakie) against clouds of silver (togidashi) and a choppy sea below in similar style. The reverse with the inscription “HET EINDE VAN HET GEVECHT, EN HET VLUGTEN OF OPLOEVEN DER ENGELSEN OP DOGGERSBANK” (the end of the fight and the fleeing or manoeuvring into the wind of the English on the Dogger Bank), beneath a motif of two anchors and banners with sun rays, and scattered sprigs of various Japanese flowers including “kikyo”(Chinese bell-flowers), “kiku”(chrysanthemum), “nadeshiko” (wild pink), “botan”(peony) and “ayame”(iris).
Height: 33cm, width: 55.2cm, depth: 1cm This is one of a series of lacquered copper plaques made for export in Nagasaki by Sasaya, depicting scenes of European cities and famous battles. While several series of plaques depicting the battle were produced, this plaque is one of only four recorded plaques in this particular style depicting one of the stages in the battle between the Dutch and the British at the Dogger Bank, which took place on 5th August 1781. These plaques are discussed at some length by Oliver Impey and Christiaan Jörg in, Japanese Export Lacquer, 1580-1850, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2005 ( p.54 and 55). This plaque is after a print by Matthias Sallieth (1749-1791), published in 1782. According to Impey & Jörg the figure of Sasaya remains elusive. It is unclear from the existing records whether Sasaya was an individual lacquer worker, a representative of a workshop or a merchant. The name Sasaya appears in the Dagregisters of the VOC settlement on Deshima as early as 1776 (Impey & Jörg, 2005, 267). In December 1780, Great Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic, because the Dutch had for some time been supplying the Americans in their War of Independence by shipping French supplies in support of the American war efforts. Therefore the British blockaded the Dutch coast and intercepted any Dutch shipping entering or leaving Dutch ports. The battle which took place over Dogger Bank on August 5th 1781 was short-lived. The British fleet was better prepared. Nevertheless, heavy casualties were sustained on both sides and the outcome was a victory in the eyes of both sides.
41 Ivory figure Japan, Meiji period, early 20th century Ivory figure of Wang Xizhi (303-361), holding the ruyi scepter (symbolizing good fortune) in one hand and the peach of immortality in the other, Inscribed underneath: Xizhi Height: 19.6cm
40 Koubang Japan, silver Koubang/Ginban “4 Momme 6 Fun”, 17th century. 6.5cm by 3.9cm For a long time Japan was by far the leading supplier of silver, gold and copper for the VOC through their office in Deshima. But after 1685 the Japanese authorities limited the import of goods and as a consequence the export of silver and gold sharply declined.
Wang Xizhi, who lived in the Jin Dynasty (265-420), was the most famous Chinese calligrapher, traditionally referred to as the “Sage of Calligraphy”. His most famous work, “Lantingxu” (Preface to the Poems composed at the Orchid Pavilion), was written at a gathering of 42 poets during the Spring Purification Festival in 353. Wang Xizhi had invited the poets to enjoy the companionship of wine and compose poems which he then wrote down. The calligraphy was more important than the content of the poems. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty admired his calligraphy so much that he was said to be buried with the original Lantingxu. Unfortunately only copies of his work remain today. One of his hobbies was rearing geese and legend has it that by observing how geese turned their necks Wang Xizhi learned how to turn his wrist while writing. Wang had seven sons, all of them notable calligraphers.
42 Japanese Namban export lacquer coffer for the Portuguese market. Momoyama period, late 16th century. Black lacquered cedar wood (urishi), decorated with gold dust, silver dust, colour (maqui-é) and mother of pearl (raden). Copper gilt fittings, the lock plate with heads of horses. Decorated with typical Japanese plants, ho-o and butterfly in four panels divided by a zig-zag pattern. Height: 29cm, width: 41cm, depth: 24cm Provenance, Danish private collection. In 1541 a Portuguese trading ship was cast ashore in Japan, on Kyushu island, and this opened up the first official contact between Japan and Europe. In 1549 the Spanish Jesuit father, Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima with the express purpose of introducing European culture and Christianity in Japan and
was granted permission by the Lord of Shimazu Takahisa to engage in missionary work. From this time on the civilization of southern Europe, Spain and Portugal, introduced into Japan by Jesuits and Portuguese traders, was to exert great influence on Japanese culture. Christianity spread very rapidly in Japan together with European culture and (religious) art. Soon a school of Japanese artists arose who created very many paintings and objects in the European manner. This development started to worry the rulers of Japan and in 1613 the Christian faith was banned in Japan. In 1639 Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, expelled all Portuguese and Spanish visitors, completely suppressed Christianity and closed the country to foreigners. Only the Dutch and Chinese were allowed to remain on small islands in the harbour of Nagasaki. As a result all art in the European manner, whether imported or created in Japan, was destroyed or discarded. Out of the thousands of “Namban” objects made in Japan in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, only the ones exported to Europe survived. In recent years some of them have been brought back to Japan
43 Japanese scroll painting of Jan Cock Blomhoff and the wet nurse Petronella nursing Cock Blomhoff’s son Johannes. Signed, Jo Girin (17791859). Circa 1820 Watercolour on paper, laid down on a silk scroll The watercolour 78cm by 27.5cm the silk scroll 144cm by 38.5cm
Depictions of Dutchmen in prints, scroll paintings and netsuke were popular in Japan as representatives of the outside world in a country living in self-imposed isolation. Out of fear of western influence, particularly by missionaries, in 1639 the Shogunate chose to follow the policy of Sakoku (locked country), allowing only the Dutch and the Chinese small trading posts in the harbour of Nagasaki. The Dutch were forced to stay on the man-made fan shaped island of Deshima. Since the Shogunate forbade Japanese from leaving the country all information of the outside world had to come from the small Dutch and Chinese trading posts. Hence the interest in anything Dutch.
About the artist Jo Girin little more is known than a few signed paintings circa 1810 of the Nagasaki harbour. The Shogunate did not allow European women on Deshima island, only Japanese geishas. In 1817, after a long absence of Dutch ships reaching Deshima due to the French occupation of Holland, the new “Opperhoofd” Jan Cock Blomhoff, arrived with his wife Titia, his little son Johannes and the Indonesian wet nurse Petronella. All requests to the Japanese authorities for the women and small boy to stay on Deshima were to no avail. The Japanese authorities were persistent and after 5 months, on the next boat, the women and Johannes had to leave. Blomhoff would never see his wife again. In the meantime, the short presence of European women on Deshima, became a very popular subject in Nagasaki prints and paintings 44 Netsuke Dutchman holding a cockerel. Stag antler, Edo period, late 18th century Height: 5.5cm
45 Netsuke Dutchman carrying a deer over his shoulders.
46 Netsuke Dutchman holding a cockerel and Chinese fan.
Ivory and eyes inlaid with horn, Edo period, late 18th century.
Ivory and horn, early 19th century. Height: 10.7cm
Height: 9cm This Dutchman wears a three-quarter length overcoat under which a short scabbard can be seen. His eyes and buttoned gaiters are inlaid with horn. Netsuke of Dutchmen often show them holding a cock, a reference perhaps to the fighting cocks kept on Deshima to provide entertainment and betting opportunities during the long periods of boring inactivity on the small island between arrivals of a ship from Batavia once or twice a year.
47 VOC dish Japan, Arita, late 17th century Diameter: 37cm The dish painted in underglaze blue, the centre with the VOC monogram surrounded by two ho-ho birds and the border with alternating panels of pomegranates and bamboo. The distinctive blue and white plates with the VOC monogram were produced, in the popular Chinese Wanli “Kraak� style, at the peak of the Japanese ceramic exports between 1660 and 1680 during the internal wars in China. Plates with the VOC mark were for the exclusive use of Officers of the Company (O. Impey, Japanese export porcelain, Amsterdam 2002, pg. 55) but sometimes for diplomatic gifts as well. The porcelain production at Arita was never very profitable for the Dutch and when the Qing Dynasty had established itself in China the Dutch and others looked for porcelain in China again.
Guus Rรถell +31 653211649 g.roell@xs4all.nl www.guusroell.com Deon Viljoen +27 833249097 +27 21 8829996 deonv@deonviljoen.com www.deonviljoen.com Cover Fragment of an Indian chintz for the European market Title page V.O.C. cannon no. 3 Above Crest of the Luls family no. 30 Photography Michiel Stokmans Design A10design Printed by Pietermans Drukkerij, Lanaken, Belgium