Page 191 - Made For Trade Chinese Export Paintings In Dutch Collections

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establishment, the collection grew considerably, employed as educational tools at that time.
which led to it being moved to the ground floor In 1840, Abraham Anne van de Kasteele
of the Mauritshuis in The Hague in 1820. The (1814-1893) was appointed as successor to his
informative guidebook, Handleiding tot de father Reinier Pieter. He remained director until
bezigtiging van het Koninklijk Kabinet van his retirement in 1876. The guide, Korte
Zeldzaamheden from 1823, written with passion handleiding ter bezigtiging der verzameling van
and understanding by R.P. van de Kasteele, the zeldzaamheden in het Koninklijk Kabinet op het
first director of the Royal Cabinet, provides a Mauritshuis in ’s Gravenhage, that A.A. van de
spatial and geographic breakdown of the Kasteele had made in 1855, uses group
cabinet. 72 Furthermore, the comparative numbering and so is utterly useless in terms of
190 ethnography, the trade relations of the gaining an insight into the collection at that
Netherlands and the development of art all get a time. 77 The catalogue makes no separate
place in the catalogue, which can be seen as a mention of the three harbour views from China.
first step towards a serious study of material They were classified by Van de Kasteele in the
culture from a comparative perspective. 73 The last chapter as ‘objects belonging to
division was made in relation to function and ethnography’, under the heading ‘Some Paintings
material. The trade relations of Holland with in Oil’. 78 We know that he made a bit of a mess
East Asia were exposed on the basis of images. of things during his directorship. An important
Room 1 of the Royal Cabinet contains “art inventory and a register, in which all the gifts
products of the Chinese”, displayed in cabinets and purchases were recorded with the names of
against the wall, on lecterns in the middle of the the donors, went missing, and diverse foreign
rooms and as paintings aside on the walls. 74 The visitors also criticised the catalogue for its
three paintings are specifically mentioned. 75 confusing descriptions of the objects. 79 Under
The fact that they were included in the his regime, the Royal Cabinet became an exotic
catalogue as separate items is not that strange. cabinet of rarities that was popular with the
We know that it was a challenge for Van de public, but completely missed the developments
Kasteele to show the versatility of the collection. in museums and science in the nineteenth
As Rudolf Effert also remarks, the comparative century. Everything points to the fact that, when
ethnography, with the emphasis on trade and Van de Kasteele was in charge, the paintings led
crafts, by means of studying the objects and a dormant and insignificant existence on the
artefacts, gives meaning to the study and ground floor of The Hague’s Mauritshuis.
understanding of the people on earth. 76 The In May 1876, A.A. van de Kasteele resigned
ethnographic presentation was arranged both after 36 years of directorship; a few months
geographically and in terms of materials and use. later, the management was turned over to David
With the opportunity to compare cultures, the van der Kellen Jr. (1827-1895). He would lead
Royal Cabinet returned to the eighteenth- the cabinet for almost seven years until it was
century ideal of visual education. The three split up in 1883. In April 1880, the Minister of
Chinese harbour views were seen as products the Interior proposed to Van der Kellen and
characteristic of the cultural dynamic between Lindor Serrurier (1846-1901), deputy director of
East and West and symbolic of ‘trade and crafts’ the Leiden-based National Museum of
between these geographically distant areas. In Ethnography (Rijks Ethnografisch Museum),
addition, it was obvious that they should be that the Royal Cabinet be split into a

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72 Van de Kasteele 1824.
73 Effert 2003, 53.
74 Van de Kasteele 1824, 9.
75 Ibid., 30. “Kamer 1, Aan de muur, ter zijde. [...] Gezigt van de haven Wampoa, zeer uitvoerig naar het wezen
geschilderd, in olieverw, op doek in eene zwarte verlakte lijst, met verguld bies. Gezigt van de stad Makäo,
geschilderd , als boven in dito lijst en van gelijke grootte. Gezigt van de reede te Kanton of Kwam-tung, en de
faktorijen der aldaar handeldrijvende natiën, met veel gewoel van beelden enz., geschilderd en van grootte als de
voorgemelde.”
76 Effert 2003, 54. Rudolf Effert studied Cultural Anthropology in Leiden and obtained his PhD in 2003. His
research concerns the history of Dutch ethnography and cultural anthropology in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, on which he has published several monographs and articles.
77 Van de Kasteele 1855.
78 Ibid., 29.
79 Effert 2003, 59-60.