Page 252 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

identify the object to which they originally formed part, a few of them appear to have Trade to the Dutch colonies [3.3.2]
formed part of a cup and/or bowl probably dating to the early seventeenth century
(Figs. 3.3.1.2.11 and 3.3.1.2.12). Other tiny blue-and-white shards were excavated at
the site Plaza de Justicia and Morande 83. The Dutch traded in the New World during much of the early seventeenth century
760
The textual sources and archaeological material discussed above have shown in defiance of English Law. According to a report of the New Netherland Board of
761
that large quantities of porcelain were imported from Manila into the New World, Accounts of 1644, the Dutch began exploring and trading along the Atlantic coast
initially to both Acapulco and Lima, and after the royal trade ban imposed in 1582 of what is today North America as early as 1598. In 1609, the English explorer
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(re-issued in 1592, 1593, 1595 and 1604) solely to Acapulco. Most of the porcelain Henry Hudson (1565–1611) in the service of the VOC sailed along the northeast
was blue-and-white made at private kilns of Jingdezhen, alongside smaller quantities coast of present-day United States in search for a northern trade route to reach Asia.
of porcelain made at private kilns of Zhangzhou. The majority of the Jingdezhen blue- Hudson failed his mission, but a Dutch official document indicates that by 1614
and-white porcelain was of the Kraak type, the quality ranging from high to rather thirteen Dutch merchant explorers had been granted exclusive trade rights for having
low. A small quantity of porcelain of the Kinrande type and porcelain decorated in ‘discovered and found with … five ships … during the present year certain New Lands
overglaze enamels, with or without underglaze blue, was also imported. Blanc de chine situated … between New France and Virginia, the Sea Coast whereof lie between forty
porcelain from the private kilns of Dehua appears to have begun to be imported in the and forty-five degrees of Latitude, and now called New Netherland’.
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late 1630s.
Unlike in Spain, porcelain had a great significance among the multi-ethnic Colony of New Netherland [3.3.2.1]
colonial societies of the viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru. This is evident in both In 1624, the colony of New Netherland was established by the States General awarding
761 Carlotte Wilcoxen, Dutch Trade and Ceramics in
documentary sources and archaeological finds made at a number of Spanish colonial America in the Seventeenth Century, Albany, 1987, exclusive trading rights and administrative responsibility to the newly founded
p. 13.
sites. Porcelain was widely distributed, both locally and regionally within each Fig. 3.3.1.2.11 Shard of a blue-and-white cup 762 Edmund B. O’Callaghan, Documents Relative to the Geoctroyeerde Westinsische Compangnie, or Dutch West India Company (hereafter
excavated at Plaza Mekis, Santiago
viceroyalty, and made its way into nearly every level of these multi-ethnic societies. Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province Colonial History of the State of New York, Albany, referred to as WIC), in what is now New York State, New Jersey, and parts of Delaware
Secular and religious sites in the viceregal capitals and other important urban cities/ Ming dynasty, Wanli reign (1573–1620), probably 1853–1858, p. 149. Mentioned in Wilcoxen, 1987, and Connecticut. The States General ended the monopoly in 1638 and proclaimed
p. 13.
towns yielded larger quantities of porcelain, alongside majolica imported from Europe, early seventeenth century 763 The ships and their commanders were Little Fox (Jan New Netherland open to all, whether Dutch or foreigner, for trade.
764
© Mónica Barrera de With), Tiger (Adriaen Block), Fortune (Henrick
than those in rural areas. The porcelains from the urban sites show a much wider Corstianssen), Nightingale (Thuys Volckertssen), Only a few shards of blue-and-white porcelain dating to the late Ming dynasty
range in terms of places of manufacture, types and qualities. Those from rural sites not Fig. 3.3.1.2.12 Shard of a blue-and-white cup and Fortuyn (Cornelis Jacobssen Mey). Cited in Ibid., have been found among the ceramic material excavated from seventeenth century
p. 14. Also see p. 17, note 5.
or bowl excavated at Plaza Mekis, Santiago 764 n the struggle for gaining global power, the town
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only show fewer types, but also a tendency to be of lower quality. Porcelain, however, Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province of New Amsterdam was taken over by the English contexts at the remains of a part of the site of Fort Orange, a fortress built by the
represents only a small percentage of the total assemblage of ceramic material recovered Ming dynasty, Wanli reign (1573–1620), probably and renamed New York. It was briefly restored to WIC in 1624 to protect their northernmost and isolated permanent settlement on
early seventeenth century Dutch control in 1673, but was permanently ceded
from these urban and rural sites. © Mónica Barrera to England the following year. The colony, however, the west bank of the Hudson River, near the present-day city of Albany. This is not
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Porcelain, as we have seen in the previous Chapter occurred with silk, was continued to be predominantly Dutch speaking in surprising, as the early colonial society that inhabited Fort Orange and its vicinity had
the early eighteenth century.
integrated into the daily life not only of the Spanish elites sent from the Iberian 765 The Dutch continuously occupied Fort Orange until a low income in comparison with that of the Dutch Republic, and thus could not
1664. The ceramic material recovered from the site
Peninsula by the Crown and the clergy, but also of the Creole and indigenous residents includes majolica and Delft manufactured in the afford an expensive foreign trade good like porcelain. By 1652, Fort Orange was
766
of both viceroyalties. The reasons behind this colonial porcelain consumption are most Netherlands, as well as tin-glazed earthenware and still the most important settlement in the area, with the best houses and nearly all the
stoneware from Italy, England, the Iberian Peninsula
probably related to the fact that porcelain was far more accessible in the New World and Germany. Wilcoxen, 1987, p. 82. institutions located within the fortress. It is interesting to note that two rim shards
767
766 Roderic H. Blackburn and Nancy A. Kelley (eds.),
than in Spain, and that it was considerably less expensive than the majolica imported New World Dutch Studies: Dutch Arts and Culture that formed part of a globular mustard pot decorated in the so-called Transitional style,
from Europe. Thus residents of lower socio-economic stand were able to acquire in Colonial America, 1609–1776: Proceedings of the one of a small number of porcelain shapes made to order for the Dutch after European
Symposium Organized by Albany Institute of History
porcelain, even if only in small numbers. Porcelain did not only have practical and and Art, Albany, 1987, pp. 41–42. models in the 1630s and early 1640s that will be discussed in section 3.4.2.1 of this
767 Paul R. Huey, ‘Archaeology of Fort Orange
ornamental functions in the colonial households, but also served as social indicators. and Beverwijck’, in Nancy A. McClue Zeller Chapter (Fig. 3.4.2.1.26), were excavated from the cellar of the house of Hendrick
The Spanish and other European colonists, as well as the Creoles, who could afford to (ed.), A Beautiful and Fruitful Place: Selected van Doesburgh, a successful gunstock maker who emigrated from Amsterdam with
Rensselaerswijck Seminar Papers, Albany, 1984,
own porcelains would have used them as tableware when guests were entertained, and p. 327; and James W. Bradley, Before Albany. An his wife Marietje Damen in 1651 (Fig. 3.3.2.1.1). The finds also include two shards
768
Archaeology of Native-Dutch Relations in the Capital
perhaps more importantly placed them in visible areas of the household to exhibit their Region 1600–1664, New York State Museum Bulletin of a Kraak porcelain dish with a panelled border and of a tea or wine cup, which
509, Albany, N.Y, 2007, p. 139.
wealth and social status in front of their guests. Moreover, these imported porcelains 768 llustrated in Paul R. Huey, Aspects of Continuity and were among the household artifacts excavated from cellar no.1 at the Flatts Farm (Fig.
I
served to advertise their connections with the Spanish colonies in Asia. The clergy, Change in Colonial Dutch material Culture at Fort 3.3.2.1.2). It is not known whether these few pieces of porcelain were brought as
769
Orange, 1624–1664, unpublished PhD dissertation,
just as we saw occurred in the Iberian Peninsula (both Spain and Portugal) and in University of Pennsylvania, 1988, p. 411–412. I am personal possessions by the Dutch colonists to the New World or were acquired there
Manila, appear to have valued highly porcelain and thus became regular consumers, indebted to Paul Huey, retired archaeologist of the through trade with other European colonies.
New York State Bureau of Historic Sites, for granting
most probably for use during religious ceremonies. me permission to include images of the porcelain Although archaeological finds of porcelain are thus far scant, it seems likely that
shards in this doctoral dissertation.
769 Mentioned in Bradley, 2007, p. 161. For images of most of the porcelain imported was blue-and-white from Jingdezhen, including both
760 I am grateful to the archaeologists Mónica Barrera, the Kraak shards, see Ibid., p. 164, fig. 5.27. These Kraak and the so-called Transitional porcelain. It is surprising that even porcelain made
Verónica Reyes and Claudia Prado, Consejo de images are also found in the website http://www.
Monumentos Nacionales, for providing me with newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/ to order for the Dutch after European models found its way to the Dutch colonies in
images of the porcelain shards excavated in digital-exhibitions/arent-van-curler-and-the-flatts.
Santiago, Chile. Accessed May 2014. the New World by the mid-seventeenth century. Although no documentary evidence

250 Silk, Porcelain and Lacquer Trade in Chinese Porcelain 251