Page 189 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

Saucer dishes with this particular decoration given by the board of Directors to the Governor-General and Councillors of the Indies
Fig. 3.2.1.13 Shards of white-glazed
cups with semi-pierced decoration
from the VOC shipwreck Geünieerde
Provinciën (1615)
Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province
Ming dynasty, Wanli reign (1573–1620)
© Yann Von Arnim
To supply porcelain to the Dutch Republic, the Company employees in Batavia
were forced to acquire any porcelain brought by the Chinese junks, even if not entirely
satisfactory in terms of quality. This is explicit in a letter written by Jan Coen to the
Directors in 1616, explaining that ‘Porcelain, to wit, mostly half, third and quarter-
368 Hendrick Buyck was the brother of Jacob Buyck,
sized dishes I send herewith a good lot which I have been obliged to take on credit. the last pastor of the Oude Kerck. In the freighting
They are, it seems to me, bad as to painting. Notwithstanding the big losses the contracts of 1591–1602, Buijck’s name comes up
several times. Mentioned in J. G. Van Dillen, Het
Chinese have incurred this year on this, the next junks which are expected at the end oudste aandeelhoudersregister van der Kamer
Amsterdam der Oost-Indische Compagnie, The
of this month will bring yet another lot of similar wares which have been made in stock Hague, 1958, p. 108.
in China, but after that, if there is no lack of money with us, you may expect fine and 369 Limburg, 2005, p. 22. Mentioned in Van Campen,
2014, p. 191.
beautiful porcelain’. 370 bid.
382
I
371 Published in William M. Kelso and Beverly Straube
The 1618 memorandum of the board of Directors, as the memorandum of 1607 (eds.), 2000–2006 Interim Report on the APVA
discussed earlier, demonstrate that the VOC was greatly concerned with making choices Excavations at Jamestown, Virginia, Richmond,
2008, p. 29, fig. 61. For the Witte Leew bowls, see
that offered the highest possible profits when purchasing or ordering porcelain from Van der Pijl-Ketel, 1982, pp. 156–157. Mentioned in
Gardiner, forthcoming 2015.
the Chinese to be sent to the Dutch Republic. It states that the Company employees 372 I am greatly indebted to Jan van Campen for
should buy cammelscoppen (camel cups) ‘which have straight or sheer rims, not those providing me with images of two Zhangzhou saucer-
dishes (one almost intact, the other reconstructed)
with everted rims like the common camel cups generally have, because the sort with recovered from the Witte Leeuw, which are now part
of the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
sheer rims will be worth at least a quarter more than those with everted rims’. Three Published in Van der Pijl-Ketel, 1982, p. 204; and
383
years earlier, the board of Directors had sent a letter to their representatives in Patani, Canepa, 2012/2, p. 12, fig. 1.
373 One is published in Vinhais and Welsh, 2006,
which repeated a memorandum of 1614, instructing that ‘none of that very small ware, pp. 78–79, no. 10. Also, see Michael Flecker,
‘A Cargo of Zhangzhou Porcelain found off Binh
to wit, the very smallest, of which 44,000 have been sent on the ship the Veer, of those Thuan Province, Vietnam’, Oriental Art, Vol. XLVIII,
you shall send none’. They were most likely referring to small cups, which are listed No. 5 (2002/03), pp. 57–63; and Michael Flecker,
384
‘Treasures of the Binh Thuan Shipwreck’, Heritage
in VOC documents as pimpelkens or pimpeltjes. This is suggested by the instruction Asia Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 4, June-August 2004.
188 Silk, Porcelain and Lacquer
have not yet been found at any of the excavated
Zhangzhou kilns. Mentioned in Canepa, 2012/2, the following year, in 1616, of not to send ‘tubs with pimpelkens, for we have more
p. 14.
385
374 Published in Sebastiaan Ostkamp, ‘Exportkeramiek than we shall sell in three years’.
uit Zhangzhou. Het zogenoemde ‘Swatow’ en Archaeological finds made at the VOC fortress at Fengguiwei in Penghu Islands,
andersoortige producten (Export ceramics from
Zhangzhou. The so-called ‘Swatow’ porcelain present-day Taiwan, occupied by the Dutch for only two years, from 1622 to 1624,
and other products)’, Vormen uit Vuur, nr. 206/207
386
(2009/3–4), p. 33, fig. 54. provide material evidence of the porcelain trade at the time. A large amount of
375 See Canepa, 2010, p. 65, fig. 6 and p. 66, fig. 10; and late Ming porcelain shards were excavated at the site, but only a small quantity is
Canepa, 2011/1, p. 61, fig. 7 and p. 62, fig. 11.
376 Mentioned in Volker, 1954, p. 25. from Jingdezhen. The Jingdezhen shards form part of Kraak dishes and plates with
377 No archaeological report or cataloguing of the
porcelain finds was made at the time of the maritime panelled or continuous rim borders of varying quality, as well as of globular kendi. 387
excavation. The wreck site also yielded a Portuguese An interesting find is a shard that formed part of a heavily potted bowl with an everted
nautical astrolabe made in 1568, Spanish silver
(reales de ocho) and spices. For information on the rim decorated on the outside with an abbreviated version of the famous Chinese poem
shipwreck, see Jacques Dumas, Fortune de Mer
a l’Ille Maurice, Paris, 1981. The porcelain shards Qibi fu (Ode to the Red Cliff) by Su Shi (1037–1101) and a river scene depicting
are now housed at the National History Museum the poet and other guests on a boat, made at the private kilns of Jingdezhen for the
in Mahebourg.
378 A cup of this type has been excavated in Delft. Chinese domestic market (Appendix 2). This may have been the type described as
388
I am grateful to Sebastiaan Ostkamp, senior
archaeologist, Amsterdam Archaeological ‘character cups’ in the invoice of the Mauritius of February 1623, and as ‘500 large
Projects (ADC), for providing me with images of cups painted with Chinese characters’ in the invoice of the Schetdam of December
the porcelain.
379 Mentioned in Ostkamp, 2009, p. 31; and Canepa, 1626, which sailed from Batavia to Amsterdam. Bowls of this type for the domestic
389
2012/2, p. 15.
380 I am grateful to Yann Von Arnim for providing me market, as well as those decorated with the Eight Immortals on a ground of repeated
with images of some of the thousands of blue-and- shou characters recovered from the Wanli shipwreck (c.1625) (Fig. 3.1.1.19) and the
white and white porcelain shards recovered from
the wreck site. survivor campsite of the shipwreck São Gonçalo (1630), seem to have appealed to
381 Mentioned in Robert Parthesius, Dutch Ships in
Tropical Waters. The Development of the Dutch Europeans tastes, probably because the foreign Chinese script was regarded as extra
East India Company (VOC) Shipping Network in Asia
390
1595–1660, Amsterdam, 2010, pp. 63–64, Table 4.1. exotic. Most finds at Fengguiwei are Zhangzhou blue-and-white porcelain, which
382 Cited in Volker, 1954, p. 26; and Berger Hochstrasser, include shards of bowls decorated with circular fruiting branches similar to a find made
2007, pp. 133–134. at Wolio Castle, and shards of klapmutsen decorated with deer within a continuous
391
383 VOC, INV. No. 313, 30 Nov. 1618, Memorie van
Bewindhebbers der OI Compagnie, waarnaar zich
de commiezen bij het doen van hun inkoopen rim border. This latter find is rare, as Zhangzhou klapmutsen are seldom found
392
hebben te richten. Cited in Viallé, 2014, p. 49. in land archaeological excavations or shipwrecks. A few Zhangzhou shards with
393
384 Volker mentions only 440 pieces, but Viallé’s
research of the VOC archives has shown that there colour-glazed decoration were excavated at the site, including one with white slip on
were 44,000 pimpelkens mentioned in the original a blue glaze similar to shards excavated at Wolio Castle. Similar finds of Zhangzhou
394
document. See, Volker, 1954, p. 26; and Viallé, 2014,
p. 45. blue-and-white porcelain were made the site of the VOC fortress, Fort Zeelandia, at
385 Cited in Ibid.
386 I am greatly indebted to Dr. Lu Tai-Kang, Department Relanzhe Cheng in Dayuan (present-day Anping in south Taiwan), where the Dutch
of Art History, Tainan National University of the
Arts, for providing me with research material on the moved their settlement in 1624. The site also yielded shards of Kraak dishes and
396
395
Zhangzhou porcelain found in Taiwan and Penghu a blue-and-white saucer dish decorated with a stylized leaf and a Chinese inscription
archipelago. Lu has written extensively on this
subject, including A study of Imported Ceramics similar to the examples mounted in the ceiling of the Santos Palace in Lisbon and
in Taiwan in the 17th Century-Exploring the History
of Taiwan from Late Ming to Early Qing Dynasties those recovered from the Binh Thuan shipwreck, which sank in the first decade of the
through the Ceramics, unpublished PhD Thesis, seventeenth century.
397
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan,
2005; ‘Zhangzhou Blue and White Wares of the 17th From a letter written in July 1630 by Governor-General Jacques Specx in Batavia
Century found in Taiwan and Penghu Archipelago’,
Studies in memory of Chen Chang-wei, 4th Issue, to Governor Hans Putmans in Tayouan, the VOC settlement in Formosa, we learn
Taipei, 2009, pp. 217–257; ‘Ceramic Relics from that high quality porcelain was preferred in the Dutch Republic. Specx wrote: ‘Do
Fengguiwei at Penghu during the Dutch Settlement’,
The National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese not fail to send a large assortment of all kinds of fine porcelain, this being one of the
Art, Issue No. 221, August 2001, pp. 116–134; ‘Export
Porcelain Excavated from Penghu Fengguiwei’, best returns and easily marketable in the fatherland’. Four years later, in June 1634,
398
Tianye Archaeology, Vol. 9, December 2004, Specx wrote again to Putmans with a request for porcelain of high quality, saying ‘The
pp. 89–98; and ‘The Fujian Merchants and Southern
Fujian’s Trade Ceramics Found in Taiwan’, in Li fine porcelain found a ready sale in Holland and the demand continues. Therefore
399
Jian’an (ed.), Minshang Wenhua Yanjiu Wenku.
Xuezhe Wencong: Kaoguxue shiye zhong de we shall expect a large consignment from China of different kinds and with a free trade
Minshang (Research Series of Fujianese Business Your Honour should procure rare porcelains like piringhs [plates] with flat borders
Culture. An assortment of scholarly articles:
Fujianese Business Culture in Archaeological like the Dutch pewter tableplates, jugs, mugs, also doorluchtich [see through] or cut
Perspective), Beijing, 2010, pp. 114–127. For a recent
discussion on the Zhangzhou porcelain from the through porcelain, all of the finest to be had, well painted with Chinese persons.
VOC fortress at Fengguiwei, see Canepa, 2012/2, Whole, half, /3 and ¼ dishes, finer than the ones sent so far, will be pleasing and
1
pp. 16–17.
387 For images of these shards, see Lu, 2005, pp. 73–77. profitable for the Company’. 400 As noted by Viallé, this is the earliest mention in VOC
Trade in Chinese Porcelain 189