Japanese Porcelain
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800
Page 2
Japon de commande
In Japan porcelain was also manufactured to order, both for private parties as well as, in a few cases, for the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC). The private buyers were in fact solely Dutch East India Company employees of Deshima, The Dutch trading post in Nagasaki in Souhern Japan. As only European company, The Dutch East India Company was given the monopoly to trade in Japan. Japon de commande was therefore much more exclusive than Chine de commande.
Striking are the blue dishes featuring the Dutch East India Company monogram on them. There is hardly any record of these specific pieces to be found in the Dutch East India Company achieves, but they were apparently often manufactured to order as the Company's 'official' tableware, which was used aboard the ships, in the trading posts all over Asia and even at the dinner table of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia. Oddly enough it was never actually made in China itself, nor painted in enamel colours. Other motifs are family coats of arms, depictions of Dutch landscapes as well as of Dutch people and their ships. Also, quite striking are the bulbous flasks initialled with either their alcoholic or medicinal contents or with their owner's name. (Source: Groninger Museum)
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800 - Page 2
Object 2011632
Chamber-pot
Japan
Late 17th century
Height 60 mm (2.36 inch), diameter of mouthrim 80 mm (3.15 inch), diameter of footring 43 mm (1.69 inch), weight 115 grams (4.06 ounce (oz.))
Small chamber-pot on footring, spreading rim, curved handle with thumb-rest. Decorated in red, green, black and aubergine enamels and gold with two groups of flowering gardenias growing from rockwork. Round the foot two red lines, on the inside of the rim a karakusa scroll partly in red, partly outlined in red, and divided by single flowers. On the handle a floret between scrolls.
For an indentically shaped, sized and decorated chamber-pot, please see:
Jörg also shows a similarly sized and decorated cuspidor. (Jörg 2003/1, p.166, cat. 193)
For a slightly larger chamber-pot decorated in underglaze blue, please see:
The use of this small chamber-pot is unknown. It is too large to be placed in a doll's house. In general, miniatures were included in groups of decorative porcelain placed on shelves, brackets and consoles in the Dutch interior, or in the porcelain rooms of the grand houses such as those still in Pommersfelden and Charlottenburg, Germany. Similar miniature objects were also made of silver and glass, and the pieces of Japanese (and Chinese) porcelain fit into the general trend. (Jörg 2003/1, p.190)
Condition: Perfect.
References:
Jörg 2003/1, p.166, p.190, cat.191 & 193
Price: € 1.499 Currency Converter
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800 - Page 2
Object 2012466
Beer mug
Japan
1690-1730
Height 221 mm (8.74 inch), diameter of mouthrim 83 mm (3.27 inch), diameter of footring 75 mm (2.95 inch), weight 998 grams (35.20 ounce (oz.))
Beer mug on footring, compressed globular body. Tall cylindrical neck, Curved pierced handle. Imari, decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red and gold with two panels, one filled with flowering peony branches the other with flowering chrysanthemum branches. on an underglaze blue ground with flower heads and leafy scrollwork in gold. On the handle a floret between scrolls. On the base two rectangular paper labels.
One with the handwritten number '680 or 089' in blue ink (probably an old collectors inventory number). On the other label the handwritten text: 'JAPAN 17e eeuw 3.750,-' in black ink (probably an old dealers label stating its origin; Japan, age; 17th century and selling price; 3.750 in Dutch guilders).
Reproduced from: Japanese porcelain. A collector's guide to general aspects and decorative motifs, (P.L.W. Arts, Lochem 1983), p.51, Plate 25. (copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by the publisher or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved)
Official shipments from Japan to The Netherlands ceased in 1683, but the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) trade in Japanese ceramics for the inter-Asian markets continued alongside the flourishing private trade. It is impossible to tell how the many pieces made after European models reached Dutch buyers, but the objects preserved in Dutch collections suggest an interested public. Much of it is decorated in Imari, appealing to Dutch taste at the time. Shaving bowls, goblets, tazzas, ewers, condiment sets, the various types of square bottles made after glass models, chestnut pots, tankards, coffeepots, salts and garnitures are part of this group of European-shaped porcelain, used mainly at the dinner table or for the embellishment of the interior. (Jörg 2003/1, p.156)
For centuries lo-alcoholic beer had been a common less risky alternative to water, which often was quite polluted. There has therefore been a long design tradition of beer ware such as beer jugs, mugs and crucibles. As soon as the possibility arose of having porcelain copies of all kinds of practical Dutch (household) ware manufactured in Japan and China, beer jugs were also often made to order there. Both tall straight models as well as bulbous types were available. In Japan beer mugs were only manufactured for trade during a short period of time in the late 17th century. The existence of Delft copies of these jugs illustrates that there must have been a considerable demand for them in the Netherlands in those days. (source: Groninger Museum)
From 1663 the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) ordered beer mugs which were manufactured in Japan after European models. Probably wooden models or mugs of German stoneware were included in shipments as examples for the manufacture in porcelain. The hole in the handle was used to later attach a pewter or silver cover in The Netherlands. (Hartog 1990, p.152)
For an identically shaped, sized and decorated beer mug, in the collection of the Groninger Museum, please see:
For an identically shaped, sized and similarly decorated beer mug, in the collection of the Kyushu Ceramic Museum, please see:
Condition: Some firing flaws to the body.
References:
Price: € 2.499 Currency Converter
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800 - Page 2
Object 2011975
Shaving bowl
Japan
1700-1730
Height 71 mm (2.80 inch), diameter of rim 164 mm (6.46 inch), diameter of footring 100 mm (3.94 inch), weight 937 grams (33.05 ounce (oz.))
Shaving bowl on high footring. Flat rim with a saved semi-circular section and two small holes opposite the cut-out section. Decorated in underglaze blue and overglaze iron-red, black, aubergine and yellow enamel with a central design of a flower pot on a low table on a terrace filled with flowering plants encircled by intertwined leaves. In the middle in the glaze, a large ring was, supposed to be, left unglazed but is glazed. On the rim three reserves each outlined with leafy scrolls alternating with branches of a flowering tree. On the reverse two wide spread prunus sprays.
Shaving bowls were used by barbers and were indispensable in the Dutch household too. They were made of earthenware, pewter, copper and even silver. They had an alternative use namely, to let blood from a vein in the arm during blood-letting, a medical procedure thought to drain bad blood from the system also performed by the barber/surgeon. In the seventeenth century, regulations were put in place in England to govern what barbers were permitted to do. Thus the became confined to bloodletting and treating external diseases. In Prussia the barbers' and the surgeons' guild joined in 1779, and it was said of great Prussian surgeons that they had risen "up from the barber's bowl'. Both purposes explain the semi-circular saving. The two holes are for a cord used to suspend it from the client's neck to catch lather and water during shaving, or to hang the bowl on the wall thus implying that owners also appreciated the bowl for its decorative value as well as its function. Chinese shaving bowls usually have the holes in the footring while Japanese examples have them in the rim. (Jörg 2003/1, p.184), (Sargent 2012, p.189)
Most shaving basins are decorated in Imari, but this example was made in one of the smaller kilns which used a different technique, in which the objects were stacked on to each other in the oven while in the middle of the shaving basin, in the glaze, a large ring was left unglazed in order to prevent that the objects would stick to each other during the firing process. That ring is sometimes quite visible, on this object it is subtly hidden in the decoration in enamel colours. (source: Fraeylema Nieuws, number 52, September 2015)
Condition: Various firing flaws to the reverse and a tiny fleabite to one of the corners of the cut-out section.
References:
Fraeylema Nieuws, number 52, September 2015
Price: € 799 Currency Converter
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800 - Page 2
Object 2011880
Shaving bowl
Japan
1700-1730
Height 88 mm (3.47 inch), diameter of rim 275 mm (10.83 inch), diameter of footring 115 mm (4.53 inch), weight 960 grams (33.86 ounce (oz.))
Shaving bowl on footring a spreading flat rim, a saved semi-circular section and two small holes on the rim opposite the cut-out section. Polychrome decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red, black, green, grey and yellow enamel and gold with a jardinière filled with leafy flowering peonies. In the middle in the glaze, a large ring was left unglazed. On the rim two panels with floral scrolls in gold on a blue ground surrounded by floral scrolls reserved on an iron-red ground. On the reverse two wide spread prunus blossom sprays.
Shaving bowls were used by barbers and were indispensable in the Dutch household too. They were made of earthenware, pewter, copper and even silver. They had an alternative use, namely to let blood from a vein in the arm during blood-letting, a medical procedure thought to drain bad blood from the system also performed by the barber/surgeon. In the seventeenth century, regulations were put in place in England to govern what barbers were permitted to do. Thus the became confined to bloodletting and treating external diseases. In Prussia the barbers' and the surgeons' guild joined in 1779, and it was said of great Prussian surgeons that they had risen "up from the barber's bowl'. Both purposes explain the semi-circular saving. The two holes are for a cord used to suspend it from the client's neck to catch lather and water during shaving, or to hang the bowl on the wall thus implying that owners also appreciated the bowl for its decorative value as well as its function. Chinese shaving bowls usually have the holes in the footring while Japanese examples have them in the rim. (Jörg 2003/1, p.184). (Sargent 2012, p.189)
On recently sold object 2011818, a smaller but similarly decorated shaving bowl, the following was published in Fraeylema Nieuws, number 52, September 2015; 'Most shaving basins are decorated in Imari, but this example was made in one of the smaller kilns which used a different technique, in which the objects were stacked on to each other in the oven while in the middle of the shaving basin, in the glaze, a large ring was left unglazed in order to prevent that the objects would stick to each other during the firing process. That ring is sometimes quite visible, on this object it is subtly hidden in the decoration in enamel colors.'
Condition: Some wear to the decoration and a fleabite to the rim.
References:
Fraeylema Nieuws, number 52, September 2015
Price: € 799 Currency Converter
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800 - Page 2
Object 2012216
Shaving bowl
Japan
1700-1730
Height 74 mm (2.91 inch), diameter of rim 250 mm (9.84 inch), diameter of footring 100 mm (3.94 inch), weight 712 grams (25.11 ounce (oz.))
Shaving bowl on footring, spreading flat rim, a saved semi-circular section and two small holes on the rim opposite the cut-out section. Imari, decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red, green, turqioise and black enamel and gold with a jardinière filled with flowering peonies. On the rim panels filled with flowering cherry (sakura) on an underglaze blue ground with double prunus flower heads. On the reverse two wide spread flowering prunus sprays.
Shaving bowls were used by barbers and were indispensable in the Dutch household too. They were made of earthenware, pewter, copper and even silver. They had an alternative use, namely, to let blood from a vein in the arm during blood-letting, a medical procedure thought to drain bad blood from the system also performed by the barber/surgeon. In the seventeenth century, regulations were put in place in England to govern what barbers were permitted to do. Thus the became confined to bloodletting and treating external diseases. In Prussia the barbers' and the surgeons' guild joined in 1779, and it was said of great Prussian surgeons that they had risen "up from the barber's bowl'. Both purposes explain the semi-circular saving. The two holes are for a cord used to suspend it from the client's neck to catch lather and water during shaving, or to hang the bowl on the wall thus implying that owners also appreciated the bowl for its decorative value as well as its function. Chinese shaving bowls usually have the holes in the footring while Japanese examples have them in the rim. (Jörg 2003/1, p.184), (Sargent 2012, p.189)
The large circular firing crack, which originates from the rim and goes around the central decoration, apparently did not cause the shaving bowl to be rejected for sale. For other objects with similar large circular firing cracks, please see:
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Sold Ceramics - Sold Japanese wares with Western Designs 1653-1800 - Page 1 - Object 2011899.
- Sold Ceramics - Sold Kakiemon / Kakiemon-style wares - Kakiemon - Page 1 - Object 2011332.
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Sold Ceramics - Sold Japanese Other wares - Page 1 - Object 2011156.
- Ko-Imari from the collection of Oliver Impey, (Barry Davies Oriental Art, London, 1997), pp. 162-163, cat. 92.
Condition : A circular firing flaw (crack) and a short hairline to the rim.
References:
Price: € 249 Currency Converter
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800 - Page 2
Object 2010324
Beaker vase
Japan
1730-1750
Height 208 mm (8.19 inch), diameter of mouth 110 mm (4.33 inch), diameter of waist 93 mm (3.66 inch), diameter of footring 70 mm (2.76 inch), weight 740 grams (26.10 ounce (oz.))
Beaker vase of waisted cylindrical shape with a flaring rim and a spreading lower part tapering to a takefushi-shaped foot on a footring. Imari decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red and gold with two large shaped panels reserved on a blue ground, filled with jardinières containing flowering chrysanthemums and cherries. Around the mouthrim, two blossoming prunus branches.
This beaker vase was once part of a garniture which mostly consisted of three covered oviform-shaped jars and two cylindrical beaker vases with spreading mouths, all with the same decoration, They were very popular in The Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, where they were used as decorative items in the interior. (Jörg 2003/1, p.259)
Condition: An unglazed part caused by the firing process, two frits and a shallow glaze chip all to the underside of the rim.
Reference:
Price: € 249 Currency Converter
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800 - Page 2
Object 2010173
Small baluster vase with cover
Japan
1700-1720
Height 125 mm (4.92 inch), diameter 68 mm (2.68 inch), diameter of mouthrim 35 mm (1.38 inch), diameter of footring 35 mm (1.38 inch), weight with cover 163 grams (5.75 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 31 grams (1.09 ounce (oz.))
Small baluster vase on footring, domed cover with pointed knob. Imari decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red and gold. Around the foot a continuous floral scroll pattern border, on the body flowering daisy, chrysanthemum and peony plants and on the shoulder three panels filled with flowering plants reserved on a underglaze blue ground. Round the neck a pointed leaves pattern border in gold. On the cover a pointed leaves pattern border in gold with three groups of flowering chrysanthemum, peony and daisy plants, The gold pointed knob in the form of a chrysanthemum.
This small baluster vase with cover was once part of a garniture which mostly consisted of three covered oviform-shaped jars and two cylindrical beaker vases with spreading mouths, all with the same decoration, They were very popular in The Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, where they were used as decorative items in the interior. (Jörg 2003/1, p.259)
Condition: A small chip to the underside of the cover.
Reference:
Price: € 199 Currency Converter
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800 - Page 2
Object 2011988
Small beaker vase
Japan
1700-1720
Height 97 mm (3.81 inch), diameter 48 mm (1.89 inch), diameter of mouthrim 28 mm (1.10 inch), diameter of footring 27 mm (1.06 inch), weight with cover 82 grams (2.89 ounce (oz.))
Small beaker vase on footring. Imari decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red and gold. Around the foot a continuous floral scroll pattern border, on the body flowering daisy, chrysanthemum and peony plants and on the shoulder two panels filled with flowering plants reserved on a underglaze blue ground.
This small beaker vase was once part of a garniture which mostly consisted of three small covered oviform-shaped jars and two small beaker vases with spreading mouths, all with the same decoration, They were very popular in The Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, where they were used as decorative items in the interior. (Jörg 2003/1, p.259)
Condition: a firing flaw to the base and two frits to the footring.
Reference:
Price: € 199 Currency Converter
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800 - Page 2
Object 2012200
Dish
Japan
c.1750
Height 41 mm (1.61 inch), diameter of rim 194 mm (7.64 inch), diameter of biscuit base 134 mm (5.28 inch), weight 402 grams (14.18 ounce (oz.))
Dish (once part of a butter tub with matching dish set) with a broad biscuit band and three similar feet, the recessed centre glazed, flat rim with slightly everted edge. Decorated in underglaze blue and gold with a river scene showing a pavilion, a gate and trees on the rocky bank. Near the pavilion two groups of square objects (rocks or racks?). Round the rim a border with a diaper pattern in gold alternating with reserved ruyi-shaped and trapezoid panels filled with stylised flowers. (Jörg 2003/1, pp.180-181, cat. 221)
For an identically shaped and decorated butter tub dish, please see;
For identically shaped and decorated dishes with matching butter tubs, please see;
- Ko-Imari from the collection of Oliver Impey, (Barry Davies Oriental Art, London, 1997), pp. 142-143, cat. 80.
- Fine & Curious. Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (C.J.A. Jörg, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2003), pp.180-181, cat. 221.
- Ko-Imari in Paris. Enchanting beauty: 350 years of Japanese porcelain exports to Europe / Pari ni saita Ko Imari no hana: Nihon jiki Yōroppa yushutsu 350-shūnen kinen, (O. Koji, Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, Tokyo 2009), p.191, cat. 165
Condition: Some firing flaws.
References:
Price: € 749 Currency Converter
Japanese wares with Western Shapes or Designs 1653-1800 - Page 2
Object 2012431
Bottle
Japan
1800-1850
Height 181 mm (7.13 inch), diameter 92 mm (3.62 inch), diameter of mouthrim 20 mm (0.79 inch), diameter of footring 65 mm (2.55 inch), weight 497 grams (17.53 ounce (oz.))
Bottle of cylindrical shape, the foot tapering sharply inwards to the thin footring, the shoulder tapering into a short neck with double mouthrim. Inscribed in underglaze blue just under the shoulder with 'JAPANSCHZAKY' (Japanese sake).
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This is a common type of sake and soy bottle. The letters on this piece are handwritten; they are stencilled on later bottles. They must have been produced in considerable quantities and are still quite common. Large numbers of sherds have been found at excavations in Hasami, a ceramic centre south of Arita now regarded as the place of origin of these wares (Impey 1975). Not surprisingly, sherds have also been found during excavations at Deshima (Arita 2000). It is interesting to note that Delftware copies of c.1840 were made for the 'Japanese Store' of D. Boer in The Hague (Arita 1993/3, cat. 69). The Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo, has a Hasami bottle of this type inscribed in Russian (Tokyo 1984).
These bottles were used as containers for transporting soy and sake to the West. (Jörg 2003/1, p.224)
For similarly shaped and decorated bottles, please see:
- The Japanese porcelain trade of the Dutch East India Company after 1683, (T. Volker, Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, E.J. Brill, Leiden 1959), Pl. XVII, cat. 22, 29.
- Hizen wares abroad, The 10th anniversary special exhibition, (Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu, 1990), p.85, cat. 104.
- Fine & Curious. Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (C.J.A. Jörg, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2003), p.224, cat. 283.
Pictures of a similarly shaped and sized bottle (late 18th-early 19th century) inscribed in a light underglaze blue with 'JAPANSCHZOYA' (Japanese soy). The shape and lettering of this bottle show an individual touch and differ from the more later 19th-century pieces. It is therefore considered here as a forerunner and is dated accordingly. For more pictures of this earlier sold bottle please see:
Delftware copy of c.1840 made for the 'Japanese Store' of D. Boer in The Hague (not included in this sale/offer). (Reproduced from: Mededelingenblad Nederlandse Vereniging van Vrienden van de Ceramiek, 128, 1987), p.24. Afb. 12) (copyright in bibliographic data and images is held by the publisher or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved)
Condition : Firing flaws to the body and footring.
References:
Volker 1959, Pl. XVII, cat. 22 & 29
Price: € 399 Currency Converter
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