Page 115 - Made For Trade Chinese Export Paintings In Dutch Collections

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envision China in a certain way.” Moreover, diverse collections differ in nature, the origin
pictorially, they reveal a lot about the Chinese and acquisition data often justify the (logical)
people of the period, and, as Cobb also explains, placing of Chinese export paintings in these
“their contemporaries in the West may have assortments. Many of them were part of the
found them instructive as well as entertaining.” 5 collections of these museums from the outset,
Did Chinese painters believe in such Western in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century
preconceptions, which contributed to the design Holland. In addition to museums as a (re)source
of their images? We do not know. But even with for the history of art, we must acknowledge the
their knowledge, we can assume that they were importance of the many and diverse private
painting beyond reality. It is as though the collections, which ended up in a Dutch museum
114 artisans composing their paintings and albums collection – from those belonging to famous
were saying: “This is how our common people collectors, such as the Dutch lawyer Jean
work; here is our drama, enjoyed by Chinese Theodore Royer (1737-1807), to those compiled
of all classes; this is our sense of justice; here are much later in time and on a smaller scale by
our beloved boats, which fill our rivers and other passionate individuals. Today’s private
harbors and release us from crowded streets; this collections, however, are not the subject of Made
shows our fondness for bright colors; and here for Trade.
is our deep love of nature – flower, trees, insects, The next section, Sites and modalities,
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and birds.” The buyer’s interpretation of the presents an inventory of the Dutch collections
Chinese world was thus displayed through the of Chinese export painting. This section is
Chinese painter’s artworks. Notwithstanding the structured with the following subheadings:
fact that many channels were responsible for the introduction; sets and albums; and genres with
knowledge construction of China, how the Chinese subject matter. In turn, the specifics of
Western audience saw the Chinese images, and each of the ten distinguished genres – either
what they saw, was culturally constructed. thematic, technological, compositional or social
Justified by the visual oeuvre of the various – are acknowledged in order to understand their
genres pertaining to Chinese subject matter, meaning and corresponding use value.
which were important ‘information’ channels,
it appears that the belief in this (distorted) image 4.2.
of China – of ‘China as a concept’ – from the Sites and modalities:
time these images started to flow around the Sets and albums, and genres
world, is still contemporary. 7 with Chinese subject matter
Finally, to characterise the value of the Dutch Introduction
collections of Chinese export paintings as a Obviously, the best way to gain understanding
whole, it is also important to mention the broad of the various genres with Chinese subject
variety of collections in which these non- matter is to study the paintings themselves. The
canonised paintings are conserved. It appears collections relevant for this study consist of over
that, in the past, these paintings were 800 inventory numbers, with more than 4,000
appropriated by various museological paintings, of which about 3,000 belong to the
discourses. Chinese export paintings in the valuable and extensive Royer Collection held at
Netherlands can be found in collections Museum Volkenkunde/National Museum of
belonging to maritime museums, city archives World Cultures. As mentioned in Chapter 3.3,
and libraries, ethnology museums and in leading among the many distinguishable works are:
national art museums. But, even though these unique singular paintings; identical pairs on

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4 Shang 2015, 58. William Shang (PhD) is Professor in the School of Global Studies, Tama University, Kanagawa,
Japan, and Honorary Research Fellow, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Studies (Incorporating the
Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong). He co-authored Picturing Cathay: Maritime and Cultural Images
of the China Trade, 2003.
5 Cobb 1956, 243.
6 Ibid.
7 Gommans 2015, 337. Jos Gommans, Professor of Colonial and Global History, Institute for History, Leiden
University, asserts that “[C]hina as a concept still makes sense as it was not superimposed on by foreign rulers. So
China provides a strong self-image, proven in history and proclaimed by a long list of Chinese officials and
scientifically confirmed by Sinologists. It is only recently that historians, who stress, for example, the Mongol
impact or China’s ignored ethnographic and religious diversity has challenged this Sinocentrism. But as a category,
China is still highly convenient for global historians.”