Page 17 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

Pic. 4: Dutch still life painting with Chinese Kraak porcelain by Floris van
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Dyck (1575 – 1651)

In 1662 during the Chinese civil war, the Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong (better
known in the West as Koxinga) led his Chinese troops from the mainland coast and
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won Formosa . Zheng established the Kingdom of Dongning until Formosa got
captured in 1683 by the Qing Emperor Kangxi. With this event the civil war came to
an end and China again become the world’s biggest porcelain producer and exporter –
a position it lost to the Japanese within two decades. When in 1653 the shipment of
Chinese porcelain to the Netherlands came to an end cause of the civil war, Dutch
customers were desperately looking for alternatives. Two options existed: first, to find
another Asian producer who could provide a substitute for Chinese porcelain; second,
to produce it domestically. The Dutch tried both. Japanese potters were encouraged to
copy Chinese Kraak porcelain (see plate 173). And the potters from Delft in South
Holland were businessmen enough to take a chance by establishing new pottery
companies. Out of the 34 factories in Delft, 17 were established within the ten years
between 1653 and 1662 as a direct response to the shortage of Chinese imports. Dutch
Delft ceramics are not porcelain but Faience – earthenware with a white tin glaze -
which looks like porcelain only from a distance (see plate 209). It is neither as
translucent nor as durable as porcelain. It still took the Europeans about 50 years
before they were able to produce real porcelain. The VOC, having lost its favorable
geographic location in Taiwan, however still played a crucial role as facilitator for the
trade on Asian goods to Europe and within Asia.
In order to safeguard this position, the Dutch sent an official delegation to the
young Qing Emperor Shunzhi in 1655. Their main purpose was to convince the
Chinese ruler to grant the Dutch direct access to the Chinese market, and to offer
support against the Ming rebels who controlled the coastal area of Fujian. The journey
started in July 1655 in Batavia reaching Canton by ship in September.

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