Page 191 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

documents of ‘see through or cut through’ porcelain, most probably referring to the
type made at Jingdezhen with an extremely fine technique of reticulation, known in
Chinese as linglong or guigong (devil’s work). This is also the earliest request for
401
porcelain ‘well painted with Chinese persons’. In all probability this latter porcelain 388 See Ibid., p. 76. A number of such bowls are known
402
is a new type, the so-called Transitional porcelain mentioned earlier, as inferred in the in Western public collections. For examples and a
discussion on these bowls, see Harrison-Hall, 2001,
answer sent by Putmans to Batavia in September of that year, saying that ‘After we had pp. 366–368, no. 12:36 (including a translation of the
poem); and Ströber, 2013, pp. 212–213, no. 92.
given many and various undertakings to different merchants from year to year, finally 389 Volker, 1954, pp. 31 and 34. Mentioned in Ströber,
some arrived with a good batch of porcelains of different old assortments and some 2013, p. 212.
390 A bowl of this type depicted in a still life painting by
new paintings with Chinese figures, but still none of our patterns given them over two the French artist Jacques Linard (c.1600–1645), The
years ago. What will happen in future, time will tell. A much better buy than this Five Senses dated 1638, provides visual evidence of
403
the presence of such bowls in Europe at the time.
will not be had for the time being, but we tried because there are already complaints This painting, housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts,
Strasbourg, is published in Ströber, 2013, p. 212.
about some assortments on which a loss was made. We trust that this batch will please 391 Lu, 2004, pp. 89–98, pl. 5.
Your Honour and our Lords and masters, which we should like to her in future’. 392 Lu, 2005, p. 80; and Lu, 2009, p. 235, fig. 1–20.
404
Mentioned in Canepa, 2012/2, p. 16.
A memorandum sent by the Directors to Batavia in April 1638, which specifies 393 Ibid., p. 16 and p. 21, note 62.
394 Lu, 2009, p. 232, figs. 1–14 and 1–13, respectively. For
which assortments were most in demand in the Dutch Republic, is of particular fragments of various objects with this type of colour-
interest. Number 38 lists an order for ‘5,000 pieces at 3 gl each being a broken craek glazed decoration excavated from the Huazilou kiln
site, see Li, 2009, p. 49, fig. 32. Mentioned in Canepa,
[pierced, linglong work] com [Kraak bowl] and a good batch of half-sized ditto may 2012/2, p. 16.
395 See Xie Mingliang, Liu Yichang, Yan Tingshu and
also be brought’, and number 43 lists ‘decagonal tableplates of which we also order Wang Shujin, ‘The Relics excavated from Relanzhe
10,000 pieces also decorated with Chinese paintings, all rare and perfectly executed and Cheng and their meaning’, Monthly Magazine of
Archaeology at Relanzhe Cheng, 2003, Vol. 6, pp.
painted like the caraek [Kraak] porcelain and the bottles which have just arrived’. 405 25–34; and Wang Shujin, Liu Yichang, Yan Tingshu,
Zhong Guofeng, ‘Chinese and Japanese porcelain
The ‘3,000 pieces at 3 gl each being a half-sized cammelscop [camel cup] painted all excavated from Relanzhe Cheng’, Taiwanese
round with Chinese, the same is broken [pierced]’ listed in number 33, demonstrate Archaeological Report 2006, Central Taiwan:
National Natural Sciences Museum, Anthropology
that Kraak and the so-called Transitional porcelain were being produced and ordered Department, 2007, pp. 1–19; and Lu, 2009, p. 222.
396 I am grateful to Dr. Sakai Takashi for providing me
at the same time. In May of the following year, Batavia sent an order to Tayouan images of porcelain recovered from the site.
406
with a request that mentions craecqporceleijn (Kraak porcelain). As remarked by 397 Lu, 2009, p. 247, fig. 2–3. For images of the pyramid-
shaped ceiling of the Santos Palace, see Lion-
Jörg, these are the earliest known written references in Dutch of the use of the terms Goldschmidt, 1984; Canepa, 2010, p. 67, fig. 11. and
fig. 3.1.1.27 in this Chapter. Mentioned in Canepa,
craek, caraek and craecqporcelaijn to refer to Kraak porcelain found thus far in VOC 2012/2, p. 16.
documents. It reads: ‘Your Honour is again recommended to employ all possible 398 VOC 855. Cited in Viallé, 1992, p. 7.
407
399 As pointed out by Viallé, Specx refers to the return
means in order that our principals’ order may be fulfilled, especially the fine and rare cargo of 1632, which consisted mainly of porcelain
taken as booty. Ibid., p. 33, note 4.
assortments of porcelain and piece goods, so that we shall obtain for once true flavor 400 VOC 1111. Cited in Ibid., pp. 8–9; and Jörg, 1993, p.
of China’s fruits and that we may also get the reputation of being able to bring kraak 184. The measurements of the pieces, as mentioned
by Viallé, were given as whole, half-sized, third-
porcelain and exquisite fabrics from China’. It is likely that the large porcelain dishes sized, quarter-sized, single or double. Viallé, 1992,
408
p. 33, note 6.
used to display food from the Indies, along with fruits and other products from Persia, 401 A very refined technique of linglong seems to
Arabia, the Moluccas, Japan and China on a long table during a banquet offered to have appeared in the Wanli reign, as frequent
mentions of linglong porcelain are found in the
Maria de Médicis, Queen Mother of France, by the Directors of the VOC at the East lists of porcelain supplied for the court of Emperor
Wanli. This technique continued to be used in the
India House in Amsterdam in the late summer of 1638, were all Kraak porcelain. 409 Chongzhen reign in combination with painting in
According to Kasper van Bearle, a famous Dutch scholar and poet who witnessed the circular panels decorated in underglaze cobalt blue.
For a general discussion on linglong porcelain and
festivities performed for Maria de Médicis and her suite, the Directors ‘made her a a few examples dating to the late Ming dynasty, see
Teresa Canepa, ‘Introduction’, in Luísa Vinhais and
present of very rare and exquisite things from their house, like porcelain dishes’ a few Jorge Welsh (eds.), Linglong, exhibition catalogue,
days after she visited the East India House. London and Lisbon, 2004, pp. 13, 14 and 17, and
410
pp. 28-45, nos. 1–4, respectively.
An order for 192,400 pieces of porcelain placed in 1643 by the VOC with the 402 Viallé, 1992, p. 9.
403 Porcelain ordered with specific motifs for the VOC
Chinese merchant Jousit listing 2,000 small cups ‘half cut through’ and 2,000 small will be discussed in section 3.4.2.2 of this Chapter.
cups ‘wholly cut through’, indicates that reticulated porcelain remained popular in 404 VOC 1116. Cited in Viallé, 1992, p. 9.
405 VOC 316. Cited in Ibid., pp. 17 and 19; and Canepa,
the Dutch Republic for at least a decade. Thirty bowls of octagonal shape and a 2008/2, p. 58, note 5.
411
406 VOC 316. Cited in Viallé, 1992, pp. 17 and 21.
few others of circular shape, all with cobalt blue and reticulated decoration dating Mentioned in Canepa, 2008/2, p. 18.
to the Chongzhen reign, were recovered from the Hatcher junk, a Chinese junk that 407 First mentioned in C.J.A Jörg, ‘Kraakporselein’,
Antiek, vol. XXV, no. 2, August/September 1990, p.
sank in the South China Sea while en route to Batavia in c.1643 (Fig. 3.2.1.14) 64, note 14.
408 VOC 863. Cited in Viallé, 1992, p. 22; and Canepa,
(Appendix 3). 412 2008/2, p. 58, note 6.
190 Silk, Porcelain and Lacquer
Fig. 3.2.1.14 Blue-and-white bowls with
reticulated decoration from
Hatcher junk (c.1643)
Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province
Ming dynasty, Chongzhen reign (1628–1644)
Diameter: 11.7cm; height: 6cm
British Museum, London
(museum no. 1984,0303.12a-b)
Archaeological evidence of porcelain from Dutch cities
Porcelain found in archaeological excavations which can be dated by stylistic comparison
to the early seventeenth century would have been brought to the Dutch Republic as
booty taken from Portuguese or Spanish ships, and Chinese junks, as cargo imported
by the VOC during its first years of trade in Asia, or as private trade. The majority,
as it will be shown in the following pages, is Kraak porcelain not of particularly high
409 Mentioned in Viallé, 2010, pp. 188–189. quality. As Ostkmap has recently noted, excavations on a large number of cesspits have
410 Kasper van Baerle, Blyde inkomst der revealed that porcelain circulated mainly to towns located in the western provinces
allerdoorluchtighste Koninginne, Maria de Médicis,
t’Amsterdam [The entry in state of the most of the Dutch Republic. In Holland and Zeeland, many finds have been made at
413
serene Queen, Maria de Médicis, in Amsterdam], Enkhuizen, Alkmaar, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Delft, Rotterdam and Middelburg. 414
Amsterdam, 1639. This extract is taken from the
French version of Van Baerle’s book, Marie de In Middelburg, where as mentioned earlier the cargo of the São Tiago was sold
Médicis, entrant dans Amsterdam: ou, Histoire
de la reception faicte à la reyne mere du roy trés- at public auction, excavations yielded porcelain of relatively high quality. It includes
chrestien, par les bourgmaistres & bourgeoisie de la fragments of a Kraak plate (partially reconstructed) with deer in a landscape within a
ville d’Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1638, p. 91. Cited in
Viallé, 2010, p. 189, note 4. white cavetto and a continuous water plants border found in the cesspit of a building
411 Cited from an extract of the 1643 order published in
Sheaf and Kilburn, 1988, Appendix B, p. 169. on the Glasmarkt in use from the last decade of the sixteenth to the early seventeenth
412 Published in Ibid., p. 44, pl. 53 and pp. 70–71, pl. 110. century, which relates in size and decorative style to a plate recovered from the Spanish
413 Thus far only a small quantity of seventeenth century
porcelain has been found in the towns of Venlo, shipwreck San Diego (1600). Dating to this same period, are shards of a Kraak camel
415
Den Bosch and Nijmegen, situated the eastern
provinces of The Netherlands. For a discussion on cup found in a cesspit of a building on the Singelstraat, which shows a similar interior
the porcelain finds in these towns, see Ostkamp, decoration to that seen on a bowl from the San Diego. Further finds related to the
416
2014, pp. 64–65, and fig. 10. A survey of finds in the
eastern and northeastern areas in present-day The porcelain from the San Diego include a fragment of a bowl decorated with cranes
Netherlands is not yet published.
414 Mentioned in Ostkamp, 2014, p. 64. standing on lotus reserved in white on blue found in a cesspit in Alkmaar, which can
415 Published in Ibid., pp. 61–62, fig. 6. For the San Diego be dated to between 1580 and 1620.
417
example, see Carré, Desroches and Goddio, 1994,
p. 346, cat. 119. A fragment of a Kraak plate rather crudely painted with deer in a landscape
416 See Ostkamp, 2014, pp. 61–62, fig. 7; and Carré,
Desroches and Goddio, 1994, p. 340, cat. 110, within a white cavetto and rim border with chilongs, almost identical to that from the
respectively.
417 Published in Ostkamp, 2003, p. 19, fig. 6 (left side); Portuguese shipwreck Nossa Senhora de la Consolação (1608) discussed earlier (Fig.
and mentioned in Ostkamp, 2014, p. 61. The San 3.1.1.16), was found in a cesspit in Middleburg. Other finds of this type of plate
418
Diego yielded not only bowls but also bottles with
this decoration. See Carré, Desroches and Goddio, attest to the popularity of this porcelain design in the Dutch Republic in the early
1994, pp. 318–319, cat. 110.
418 Mentioned in Ostkamp, 2014, p. 56. Also see decades of the seventeenth century. This includes a plate of smaller size found in a
the related plate in a private collection in Japan, cesspit in Amersfoort, which was filled with waste from the household of Jacob Peutius,
illustrated on p. 55, fig. 3.
419 H. F. Wijnman, ‘Twee vonstcomplexen: de afvalkuil a physician who worked there from 1603 until his death in 1618; and one other
419
van dr. Peutius en een beerput’, in W. J. van Hoord plate found among a number of Kraak and other Jingdezhen blue-and-white pieces of
(ed.), Observantenklooster Amersfoort, Ameersfort,
1982, pp. 73–74; Ostkamp, 2011, pp. 14–15, figs. 17 porcelain in the cesspit of a building on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal in Amsterdam, in
and 19; and Ostkamp, 2014, p. 56.
420 Ibid., p. 53, fig. 7 and p. 61. use between 1600 and 1625 (Fig. 3.2.1.15). This latter cesspit also yielded fragments
420
Trade in Chinese Porcelain 191