Page 28 - A Time and A Place Catalogue, Jorge Welsh

01 Plate
Porcelain decorated in A circular plate with a slightly everted rim, made
underglaze cobalt blue from white porcelain and painted in underglaze
cobalt blue, decorated at the centre with a scene
China — Qing dynasty, showing a group of figures engaged in the process
Kangxi period of destroying a building; some are dislodging bricks
(1662-1722), ca. 1695 and beams, others are pulling on ropes, one climbs
a ladder, and in the foreground, next to a cannon,
Ø 19.7 cm another figure empties large sacks possibly containing to smuggle wine into the city hall of Rotterdam,
merchandise, all framed within a double blue line.
Provenance The rim is decorated with four reserves containing
Elinor Gordon Collection fruiting branches alternating with a cell diaper
border, within single and double blue lines. The
reverse of the plate is decorated with an apocryphal
six-character Chenghua reign mark within a double
blue line circle on the base, while the rim is painted Rotterdam, many of whom also believed that he
with a wide continuous stylised lotus scroll and
swastika pattern border, above another double
blue line circle. The foot ring is unglazed.
044
This scene is thought to be the earliest depiction
of a Western political event represented on Chinese
export porcelain. The episode, which is widely
designated as the ‘Riots of Rotterdam’ or the
‘Kosterman Revolt’, occurred during the months
of September and October 1690. These riots
resulted from a fight that emerged from an attempt
involving a guard named Cornelis Kosterman, on
the night of 28th of August of the same year.1 A clerk
was killed during the fight, for which the smuggler,
Kosterman, was blamed and sentenced to death
on the 16th September. His brutal and gruesome
execution sparked outcry from the people of
was innocent. This plate illustrates the culmination
of the revolt on the night of the 6th October, when
the townspeople demolished the house of the Chief
Bailiff Jacob van Zuylen van Nyevelt, who they held
responsible for sentencing Kosterman to death. →
Front and back view
of the plate