Page 65 - For the Love of Porcelain

4-5
Sherds from Cuper’s
cesspit, Kakiemon, Japan,
1670 - 90s, d. 11.5 and
12.5 cm, archaeological
ind Deventer, collection
and photo: Archeologie
Deventer

A certain amount of private cargo was
allowed on the ships, but goods that the
company traded in, including porcelain,
were prohibited and were confiscated when
found. 6 These confiscations revealed new
types of porcelain made in Japan. And so,
in 1656, the directors sent an order for
a ‘consignment of porcelain, as found to
be brought over by many individuals’. 7 In
other words, private trade brought over new
types, and official trade followed the lead. In
3 comes from an inventory of Oranienburg and Japanese one. As in the case of the lidded subsequent decades, official trade took off
Cabinet with Kakiemon from a ceiling painting dated to 1697 with jar in figure 1, the decoration of these vases and in all likelihood private trade flourished
bottles, Japan and a putto holding a Kakiemon-style jar that suggests that these pieces were made to order alongside it. In 1680 there was a sign that
5
Batavia, 1680 - 90s, resembles the example in the Rijksmuseum for European clients. private trade again had gained the upper
h. 16.5 cm, collection (fig. 1). The composition of the hand. The order the directors in Amsterdam
4
Rijksmuseum, decoration seems somewhat Japanese, but in This seems logical. By the late seventeenth sent to the Batavia government specified:
inv. no. NG-444 fact is a European fantasy, with a symmetrical century, many Dutch households had ‘everything curious and well selected (since
design of two rather stiff figures holding a displayed porcelain for many decades. the junk sent to us until to now is unsellable, 6
large unusual fan and a parasol, placed on Around 1680, the elite may well have desired and those brought over by private individuals Sherd from Cuper’s
either side of a central bird on bamboo. something special, something that almost were purchased from them very readily’). 8 cesspit, Kakiemon, Japan,
When the Dutch William III of Orange nobody else had. Kakiemon fitted the bill: It is clear that the prohibition on dealing in directors in Amsterdam, since private 1670 - 90s, d. 11.5 and
(1650–1702) married the English Mary it was expensive, and when made to order private goods was not strictly adhered to. luggage took up precious cargo space on the 12.5 cm, archaeological
Stuart II (1662–94), they took the fashion was even more exclusive. Let us explore the ships. Now, the quota made it visible: the ind Deventer, collection
for porcelain in the interior with them network of trade and consumers. Five years later, in 1685, the Japanese Japanese decided that private trade could and photo: Archeologie
after they became king and queen of government changed the trading system. amount to 40,000 tael of a total trade value Deventer
England and moved to there in 1689. Two Official and private trade Before 1685, private trade was invisible of 300,000 tael. This allowance of 40,000
famous Kakiemon vases are kept in their Porcelain trade with Japan started around because it was excluded from the official was strictly divided between the employees
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residence, Hampton Court (fig. 2). They 1655, when the VOC directors in figures. Now the Japanese government on Dejima. The largest sum of 10,000 was
were conceived as a pair, the decoration Amsterdam noticed that employees were institutionalised it and placed a quota on for the Chief Merchant. Just how much
reproduced in mirror image. Such mirror- bringing new types of porcelain back to private trade, so the government in Nagasaki 10,000 tael equalled in terms of porcelain
image pairs are a European concept, not a the Netherlands in their private luggage. could levy tax on it. This displeased the can be inferred from the chest with blue-

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