Recent Acquisitions
On this page you'll find my latest acquisitions, It may, however, take some time for all objects to load.
This way you can quickly browse through my recently acquired objects without having to browse through all the various categories.
After four weeks each object in 'Recent Acquisitions' will be moved to their specific category.
Latest update; November 18, 2019.
Red & Gold / Rouge-de-Fer 1690-1730
Object 2011492
Tea caddy
China
1700-1720
Height excluding cover 105 mm (4.13 inch), dimensions 90 mm (3.54 inch) x 57 mm (2.24 inch), weight including cover 355 grams (123.55 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 37 grams (1.31 ounce (oz.))
Rectangular tea caddy with canted corners on a flat, unglazed, base. On the flat top an unglazed cylindrical mouth. The original cover is missing. Fitted with a pewter cover (unmarked). Decorated in 'Red & Gold' / 'Rouge-de-fer' with iron-red and gold on the glaze with flowering lotus buds, round the neck half flower heads with leafy scrolls on an iron-red ground alternating with half flower heads with leafy scrolls. On the flat top the cylindrical mouth is flanked by flowering lotus buds. Curious detail is the slightly of centre placing of the filling opening.
As the Dutch porcelain historian Lunsingh Scheurleer decided on the term Melk en Bloed, Milch und Blut or Milk and Blood, respectively in his German and English publications, this term has been agreed upon in international academic literature as well as among porcelain collectors.
Melk en Bloed was only imported from China, mainly by Dutch private traders, in the short period of time between ca. 1700 and 1730, a heyday of porcelain art, when the Qing emperors Kangxi (rule 1662-1722) and Yongzheng (rule 1723-1735) reigned. In contrast to the state controlled archiving system of the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) chambers' transactions, order documents from individual dealers as well as private firms in the Netherlands had never been correctly archived and so source material regarding the identity of the persons who commissioned Melk en Bloed is utterly scanty. From the historical records of the electoral Saxon Court in Dresden in particular, we know that several dealers from Amsterdam were involved in the trade of red and gold decorated porcelain. For example the dealer Abraham van Theenen and the commercial enterprise of Godefroy & Dulong are documented there as suppliers, and the inventories of the year 1721 to 1725 record that Count Lagnasco (1659-1735), one of King Augustus the Strong's purchasing agents, acquired some of the most beautiful red and gold pieces of the Dresden collection on his shopping-tour in Amsterdam in 1716. (Suebsman 2019, p.13)
For a long time during the 17th century tea from China was in fact viewed upon as a kind of exclusive medicine, however after 1680 it quickly became very popular as a beverage among all classes. A cup of tea was often enjoyed in privacy at home as well as in public tea houses. The latter has even proved to have been a major contribution to women's emancipation, as it indeed allowed women to freely, and unaccompanied, visit these houses together with their lady friends. Tea was available in all sorts of different qualities, ranging from expensive to cheap. It was imported in great quantities from China, the only country where tea was cultivated in those days, to the Netherlands by the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC).
Following the tea hype, porcelain also made its way to the West: cups with fitting saucers, at first without a handle, later on sometimes with. Apart from a Chinese tea pot, 18th century tea sets often also included a corresponding rinsing bowl, milk jug, spoon tray, sugar pot and tea caddy. These tea caddies were almost invariably made of Chinese porcelain and rectangular or ovoid shaped. They were sometimes embellished with metal mounts. Blue specimens were sometimes over-decorated in enamel colours in the Netherlands (Amsterdams Bont) to make them look more appealing. In case a Chinese tea caddy was lost, it could be replaced by one made of Delftware. (source: The World at Home: Asian porcelain and Delft pottery held from 17 June 2017 to 10 March 2019 at the Groninger Museum, The Netherlands)
Condition: Two firing flaws and some glaze rough spots to the edges.
References:
Exhibition: The World at Home: Asian porcelain and Delft pottery held from 17 June 2017 to 10 March 2019 at the Groninger Museum, The Netherlands.
Price: € 599 - $ 661 - £ 512
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Famille Rose wares 1725-1800
Object 2010766
Dish
China
c.1750
Height 31 mm (1.22 inch), diameter of rim 207 mm (8.15 inch), diameter of footring 118 mm (4.65 inch), weight 250 grams (8.82 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring, lobed underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Decorated in various famille rose enamels with flowering plants growing from taihu (garden) rocks. The sides are undecorated. Around the rim a spearhead-pattern border. The reverse is undecorated.
The term famille rose was first coined by the 19th-century French author Albert Jacquemart, who distinguished between specific groups in his descriptions of Oriental ceramics. (Jörg 2003/2, p.25)
After c.1730 famille rose rapidly succeeded famille verte as the mainstyle of enamelling for the Western export markets. About half of the regular export assortment of the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) and other companies consisted of 'enamelled' wares, as polychrome porcelain was generally called then, with the pink enamel dominant in a palette which also included green, iron-red, yellow, brown, black, overglaze blue and details heightened with gold. These more ordinary wares were less refined and not so well painted but nevertheless sold very well in Europe. (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p.206)
Condition: Some firing flaws and a tiny frit to the footring.
References:
Jacquemart & Le Blant 1862, pp. 77-105
Price: € 249 - $ 274 - £ 213
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Red & Gold / Rouge-de-Fer 1690-1730
Object 2011674
Dish
China
1720-1740
Height 25 mm (0.98 inch), diameter of rim 231 mm (9.09 inch), diameter of footring 125 mm (4.92 inch), weight 377 grams (13.30 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring, flat underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Decorated in 'Red & Gold' / 'Rouge-de-fer' with iron-red, silver (oxidised) and gold with a flowering peony and fruiting pomegranate spay, the sides are undecorated. Round the rim flowerheads with a cracked-ice motif in gold on an oxidised silver ground. The reverse is undecorated.
The Silvering technique appeared around 1700. When new (or polished), silver oxide brought another highly distinctive addition to the colour palette. It was used most frequently for armorials. Its tendency to tarnish and the difficulty of maintaining the thin layer of silver caused its use to wane by mid-century. (Sargent 2012, p.238)
The cracked-ice background was one of the new decorating methods in the Kangxi period: leaving certain decorative elements white on a blue background. Nowadays there is a preference for replacing the term 'cracked-ice' by 'erratic paths', after the paths of that name in Chinese gardens, as depicted on paintings and block printing from which this motif may derive. (Hartog 1990, p.149)
Condition: Some fleabites and a frit to the reverse rim.
References:
Price: Sold.
Chinese Imari 1700-1800
Object 2010916
Bowl
China
1720-1730
Height 79 mm (3.11 inch), diameter of rim 194 mm (7.64 inch), diameter of footring 70 mm (2.76 inch), weight 427 grams (15.06 ounce (oz.))
Bowl or klapmuts on footring with a spreading flat underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Chinese Imari, decorated in underglaze blue, overglaze iron-red and gold with on the outside a continuous scene with pagodas and pine trees on a shore and a crenulated wall with a fortress, pine and cherry trees. On the outer rim florets between scrolls alternating with lozenge ornaments. On the inside the centre shows a river scape with a pagoda on a shore, a pine tree, rocks, plants, mountains, trees and clouds. On the sides a continuous scene with pagodas and pine trees on a shore and a crenulated wall with a fortress, pine and cherry trees. On the rim four reserves filled with flower heads and leaves alternating with flower heads flanked by leafy scrolls.
Bowls of this shape with a flat rim are traditionally called klapmuts in Dutch, comparing the shape with a cap with flaps. Rinaldi states that they were specially developed to meet a demand from European customers, who wanted to be able to rest their spoons in the bowl without damaging the edge. In fact, the form was already well-known, not as shallow bowls, but as late 15th-early 16th century large and fairly deep dishes in underglaze blue or as Song and early Ming celadon saucers and dishes. The klapmuts is just another variety in the gradual development of this type. (Rinaldi 1989, p.118), (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p.60 & p.101)
The shape of this bowl (klapmuts) is unusual for its production time around 1720-1730.
The scene of houses and shrubbery near a river running before a crenulated wall is unusual in Chinese Imari ware. This type of decoration, with the brick wall and the pagoda is often referred to as the 'Chinese wall' while others think it is a Chinese fortress within walls. (Gordon 1977, p.47)
For identically decorated objects, please see:
- Collecting Chinese Export Porcelain, (E. Gordon, Universe Books, New York, 1977), p. 47, cat 31.
- Porzellan aus China und Japan. Die Porzellangalerie der Landgrafen von Hessen-Kassel, (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Kassel, Berlin 1990), p.355, cat. 138.
Condition: Firing flaws to the base and inner footring, a fleabite to the rim and a frit and fleabites to the footring.
References:
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p.60 & p.101
Price: € 749 - $ 828 - £ 644
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Blue and White wares since 1722 - Western Shapes
Object 2011413
Salt
China
1750-1760
Height 26 mm (1.02 inch), dimensions base 74 mm (2.91 inch) x 57 mm (2.24 inch), weight 138 grams (4.87 ounce (oz.))
Salt of oblong octagonal shape, on a flat unglazed base. The rectangular top has a rectangular indention in the centre. Decorated in underglaze blue. On the central indention a bouquet of flower. On the flat rectangular top and on the sides flower heads with leafy scrolls. Round the foot a upturned pointed leaf-shaped border.
Throughout history salt - and thus a salt cellar as well - has always been considered to be of great importance for a meal. It made food tastier and masked its spoilage, while it furthermore was also used to actually preserve food. All in all, salt was indeed simply seen as a basic necessity of life. It had to be imported for the Dutch market, for instance from Southern Europe or from the salt mines in Germany, which made it an expensive commodity. Moreover - due to its reference to the Biblical expression of Jesus calling his disciples the 'salt of the earth' - the use of salt has for centuries also been placed in a religious context.
At the dinner table salt was therefore commonly given a prominent place in especially for this purpose designed salt cellars, which particularly in the 17th century were rather large. Though commonly made of silver, pewter or ceramics, porcelain ones were at times also manufactured to order in China for the Dutch East India Company. Wooden salt containers were used as models. Around 1700 Chinese porcelain salt cellars were available in all kind of shapes, though by then their sizes were starting to decrease. In the course of the 18th century salt cellars continued to get smaller, less high and more angular. (source: The World at Home: Asian porcelain and Delft pottery held from 17 June 2017 to 10 March 2019 at the Groninger Museum, The Netherlands)
This salt falls into that last category, it was made in the second half of the 18th century and most likely after an European glass model of that time.
For a similarly sized and shaped and decorated in famille rose enamels, please see:
Condition: Two small chips to the foot.
Reference:
Exhibition: The World at Home: Asian porcelain and Delft pottery held from 17 June 2017 to 10 March 2019 at the Groninger Museum, The Netherlands
Price: € 199 - $ 221 - £ 171
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Zhangzhou (Swatow) wares 1570-1650 - Jarlets
Object 2011774
Jarlet
(Southeast) China, Zhangzhou (Swatow)
1570-1650
Height 87 mm (3.43 inch), diameter 83 mm (3.27 inch), diameter of rim 25 mm (0.98 inch), diameter of footring 67 mm (2.64 inch), weight 275 grams (9.70 ounce (oz.))
Jarlet on footring, nearly vertical sides and an angled shoulder, a short upright neck with a slightly flaring rim. Crackled glaze. Fitted with unmarked Indonesian silver engraved mounts round the foot and rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with three panels filled with a spotted deer, rocks and plants. Around the shoulder a ruyi head pattern border.
These jarlets, supposedly made as containers for the export of oil and ointments in small quantities to consumers all over Southeast Asia, were mass-produced over centuries. As empties, they were part of every kitchen. With the passage of time, they became heirlooms and antiquities of small value. (Harrison 1979, p.81)
These jarlets were unearthed in large quantities particularly in Indonesia. These kind of jarlets were mass-produced over centuries and are very common in Southeast Asia where they, apart from being used as burial objects, were used for medicines, unguents and cosmetics. (Rinaldi 1989, pp.88-91)
According to Adhyatman, the smaller jarlets were used in former times as containers of medicine. (Adhyatman 1999, pp.28-29)
This jarlet probably had an Indonesian provenance and was collected by a (former) owner when he or she lived in the Dutch East Indies. The mounts, enhancing the shape, indicate the value such pieces had in local Indonesian communities, where they were often regarded as pusaka, holy and venerated heirlooms. (Jörg 2003/1, p.65)
For a another jarlet with different shape and decoration but with identically shaped and engraved mounts, please see:
For similarly decorated jarlets, please see:
- Ausstellung Chinesischer Kunst, exhibition catalogue Gesellschaft für Ostasiatische Kunst und der Preussischen Akademie der Künste, (Würfel Verlag, Berlin, 1929), p.261, cat. 686.
- Porcelain and the Dutch East India Company, as recorded in the Dagh-registers of Batavia castle, those of Hirado and Deshima and other contemporary papers 1602-1682, (T. Volker, Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, E.J. Brill, Leiden 1954, reprint 1971), Pl. IV, cat. 5c.
- Zhangzhou (Swatow) Ceramics. Sixteenth to Seventeenth Centuries Found in Indonesia, (S. Adhyatman, The Ceramic Society of Indonesia, 1999), p.122, cat.150.
Condition: Some firing flaws and fine crazing to the glaze, due to the firing process and wear to the glaze due to use over the ages.
References:
Volker 1954, reprint 1971, Pl. IV, cat. 5c
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1977, cat. 53
Price: € 299 - $ 333 - £ 258
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Japanese Imari 1690-1800
Object 2010624
Beaker vase
Japan
1700-1730
Height 218 mm (8.58 inch), diameter of mouthrim 124 mm (4.88 inch), diameter of footring 65 mm (2.56 inch), weight 776 grams (27.37 ounce (oz.))
Beaker vase on footring, waisted cylindrical shape spreading to the rim, a takefushi-shaped foot. Imari decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red and gold with around the foot a spiral-pattern border and just above the foot two widespread flowering irises sprays. On the body flowering peony, pine, cherry and iris plants with a reserve filled with a river scape. Round the neck an upturned leaf-shaped border filled with flowering peony and leafy scrolls on a gold ground alternating with chrysanthemum flower heads with leafy scrolls in gold on an underglaze-blue ground, above and in between each panel a floret between scrolls. Round the rim two panels reserved on a dark blue ground filled with a flower head and leafy scrolls in gold alternating with panels with half flowerheads and leafy scrolls on an iron-red ground. On the inside two widespread flower sprays with leafy scrolls.
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)
The shape of the bulging foot, which spreads and then turns sharply inward, is seen on many ewers of this period as well as on later jars, vases and other pieces. It is a distinctively Japanese feature, called takefushi, 'bamboo-noded' foot. (Jörg 2003/1, p.74)
Condition: Some unglazed firing flaw spots and some fine crazing to the glaze.
Reference:
Price: € 299 - $ 311 - £ 258
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Chine de commande - Western Subjects 1680-1800 - Various Subjects - Outdoor Scenes
Object 2012228
Chocolate cup
China
1740-1760
Height 66 mm (2.60 inch), diameter 60 mm (2.36 inch), diameter of mouthrim 58 mm (2.28 inch), diameter of footring 30 mm (1.18 inch), weight 82 grams (2.89 ounce (oz.))
Chocolate cup with handle, on footring. Decorated in various overglaze enamels with a father, sitting beside his daughter holding her hand, looking at his wife holding a shepherdess-staff in a landscape with mountains and trees. The handle is flanked with a river scape in a medallion its coners with smaller medallions filled trees.
Cups of this shape, which always have a handle, are usually called coffee cups, but in fact are chocolate cups. This is made clear from the numerous references and descriptions of "chocolate cups with handles" in the records of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Orders state that "the cups must be straight without overhanging rims", the cup narrower inside. An average height of 70 mm is given and is stressed that the diameter of the rim should be equal to the height. Drawn models of 1758 which have fortunately been preserved, show four cups of this shape with different handles, which are specified as "chocolate cups" in the description. Large tea, coffee and chocolate services always included this type of cup, but they could be bought separately as well. Enamelled cups and saucers were bought by the Company for around 20 cents and sold in the Netherlands for around 50 cents apiece. (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p.215, cat. 240)
This Chine de Commande scene is probably taken from a European print, of which the original has not yet been identified.
Condition: A frit and a chip to the inner rim.
References:
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 240
Price: Sold.
Object 2011103
Bowl
China
1730-1750, over-decorated in the Netherlands, Amsterdams Bont, c.1750-1770
Height 68 mm (2.78 inch), diameter of rim 149 mm (5.87 inch), diameter of footring 53 mm (2.09 inch), weight 265 grams (9.35 ounce (oz.)),
Bowl on footring with steeply rounded sides and a straight underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Decorated with a wide band of floral anhua decoration between narrow hatched or cash diaper borders in underglaze blue. Over-decorated in the Kakiemon palette in iron-red, gold and overglaze green, blue and black enamel, in the Netherlands, Amsterdams Bont c.1750-1770 with a large panel filled with a bird perched on a branch, bamboo and flowering magnolia and with banded hedges alternating with a smaller panel filled with a fisherman by a sentry house on a leafy scroll ground. On the inside four flower sprays between narrow hatched or cash diaper borders in underglaze blue. On the bottom a flower head anhua decoration with an over-decorated flower head with leaves.
The finest Kakiemon porcelains were enamelled on very white clay in a palette of translucent blue, yellow. blue-green, red and black enamels and gold. The composition, the range of motifs and the delicacy of the painting in a restricted palette all contribute to a distinctive style which is instantly recognisable. Many of the subjects of the design, especially the birds and the flowers, originated in China but had subsequently been absorbed into Japanese art. (Espir 2005, p.78)
While underglaze blue was perfectly suited to Imari over-decoration it added nothing to Kakiemon only constraining it within its borders, but it seems that an attempt was made by the Dutch decorators to widen the market for Kakiemon by modifying the style to fit the more common blue-and-white porcelain. As only a few of the larger items such as teapots, stands, slopbowls and milk jugs remain, and teabowls and saucers are very rare, one can only conclude that the attempt was unsuccessful. (Espir 2005, p.91)
The hedge of rice straw, known as a 'banded hedge' because of the ties binding it together, is one of the trademarks of Kakiemon design as are flying and perching birds, tigers and the bamboo leaves on the ground. (Espir 2005, p.82)
Condition: Some fleabites and two frits to the rim and some wear to the decoration.
References:
Price: € 499 - $ 554 - £ 430
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
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