Recent Acquisitions
On this page you'll find my latest acquisitions.
This way you can quickly browse through my recently acquired objects without having to browse through all the various categories.
After some time, each object in 'Recent Acquisitions' will be moved to their specific category.
Latest update: Recent Acquisitions; September 27, 2024.
Japanese Tea, Coffee and Chocolate wares 18th Century
Object 2012566
Tea bowl and saucer
Japan
1700-1730
Height of tea bowl 42 mm (1.65 inch), diameter of rim 76 mm (2.99 inch), diameter of footring 33 mm (1.30 inch), weight 58 grams (1.80 ounce (oz.))
Height of saucer 23 mm (0.91 inch), diameter of rim 127 mm (5.00 inch), diameter of footring 67 mm (2.64 inch), weight 98 grams (3.56 ounce (oz.))
Teabowl and saucer on footrings, slightly everted rims. The saucer with a spur-mark on the base. Imari decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red, green, black and gold with a central flower spray surround by an underglaze blue band with a meander pattern in gold and six lotus leaf-shaped panels in underglaze blue with foliate scrolls in gold filled with a flower head in gold on an iron-red ground. On the sides various flowering plants. On the rim a zig-zag lines-pattern border. On the reverse three flower sprays and on the base a single concentric band in underglaze blue. The tea bowl is decorated en suite.
The decorative style on this tea bowl and saucer is very similar to that used on other, earlier sold, Japanese Imari tea ware. The translucent enamel colours, the zig-zag lines-pattern borders and the reverses with the three wide spread flower sprays are all very similar. This could indicate that these may be the product of a single workshop but may or may not be the product of a single kiln, specialised in these high-quality tea wares. Judging by Dutch 18th century sales and inventories, Japanese porcelain was quite expensive at the time and even more highly valued than its Chinese counterpart.
The decoration on this tea bowl and saucer suggests that it could have been made for the Indian market. An identically shaped, sized and decorated set is in an English private collection.
For earlier sold, identically shaped, sized and decorated te bowls and saucers, please see:
For, earlier sold, Japanese tea wares decorated in this similar style, please see:
Sold object 2010334 (not included in this sale/offer)
Sold object 2010334 (not included in this sale/offer)
Sold object 2012088 (not included in this sale/offer)
Sold object 2012088 (not included in this sale/offer)
Sold object 2010609 (not included in this sale/offer)
Sold object 2010100L (not included in this sale/offer)
Sold object 2010100L (not included in this sale/offer)
Sold object 2011995 (not included in this sale/offer)
Sold object 2011995 (not included in this sale/offer)
Condition:
Tea bowl: A firing flaw to the exterior wall.
Saucer: Firing flaws to the base and a fleabite to the rim.
Reference:
Price: € 349 Currency Converter
Chinese Imari 1700-1800
Object 2012623
Dish
China
1700-1720
Height 35 mm (2.09 inch), diameter: 220 mm (11.61 inch), diameter of footring: 120 mm (5.59 inch), weight 295 grams (10.41 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring, spreading flat rim. Imari, decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red, and gold. In the centre a roundel with a flower vase filled with flowering branches and four roundels surrounded by an upturned leaf shape-pattern border. On the sides and rim dense leafy scrolls in underglaze blue and iron-red with four large, shaped panels alternating with four small, shaped panels all filled with flower sprays. On the reverse two widespread peony sprays.
The design on this Chinese Imari decorated dish was clearly copied by the Chinese from a Japanse original. Direct Chinese Imari decorated copies of original Japanese Imari decorated designs are very rare.
For an example of the original Japanse Imari decorated design, please see:
A comparison between the Chinese Imari decorated dish (object 2012623) and the original Japanese Imari decorated dish, object 2012343 (object 2012343 is not included in this sale/offer).
Condition: A firing flaw and some fleabites.
Price: Sold.
Japanese Blue and White wares 17th Century - Tableware and other Porcelain with Western Shapes
Object 2012624
Shaving basin
Japan
1670-1690
Height 68 mm (2.68 inch), diameter of rim 276 mm (10.87 inch), diameter of footring 114 mm (4.49 inch), weight 1.096 grams (38.66 ounce (oz.))
Shaving bowl or barber's on footring. Spreading flat rim with a semicircular section saved in the lower part, two pierced holes on top. One the base one spur-mark. Decorated in underglaze blue with a vase filled with peonies on a terrace. The rim with peony scrolls. The reverse witg two sketchy landscapes with a [avilion and trees. Three circles round the foot, one on the base.
The first documentary evidence for scheerbeckens or shaving bowls is a 1662 invoice from the Director of the Deshima factory in Nagasaki regarding an order for 258 of these dishes for shipment to the Netherlands. After this point shaving dishes become a regular export item.
Shaving bowls were used by barbers and were indispensable in the Dutch household too. They were made of earthenware, pewter, copper and even silver. Beside their function as a shaving utensil, they had an alternative use, namely to let blood from a vein in the arm during blood-letting. This was a medical procedure thought to drain bad blood from the system, which was 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, they 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 in the rim are for a cord or string. A shaving basin with the actual silk string still attached was excavated in Amsterdam. The string was 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. Shaving bowls can be seen hanging on the wall as such in some dollhouses.
Cornelis Troost, Arlequin toovenaar en barbier, 1738, Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands, inv. nr. 184. In spite of the satirical intent, the painting reflects actual usage.
The doll’s house of Petronella Dunois (1650-1695), c. 1676, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, inv.nr. BK-14656. Two shaving dishes are suspended on the left wall.
Chinese shaving bowls usually have the holes in the footring instead of the rim. Most Japanese barber’s bowls are more or less rounded, whereas Chinese barber’s bowls usually are oval (for a Chinese example, please see Sold Archives object 2011301)
Larger pieces of Japanese porcelain such as plates, bowls and dishes, had a tendency to ‘sag’ during firing. That’s why they were often supported in the kiln by small stoneware pillars. After firing, these small cones or spurs which adhered to the base were knocked off, leaving behind small unglazed rough patches or spur marks on the base. The supports were arranged in X, Y or other patterns. Whether they have any relevance to dating or an attribution to a specific kiln is still unresolved. These spur marks are typically Japanese and are rarely seen on Chinese porcelain.
This shaving bowl shows one large spur, instead of several small spur marks, which is unusual.
For an almost identically decorated Japanese shaving bowl, please see:
- Hizen wares abroad, The 10th anniversary special exhibition, (Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu, 1990), p.39, Fig.38.
- Fine & Curious. Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (C.J.A. Jörg, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2003), p.184, cat. 227.
Condition: Some firing flaws due to the firing process.
References:
Price: Sold.
Chinese wares over-decorated in the West 1700-1800 - Dutch over-decorated Amsterdams Bont
Object 2012625
Bowl
China
1700-1730, over-decorated in the Netherlands, Amsterdams Bont, c.1730-1760
Height 72 mm (2.83 inch), diameter of rim 147 mm (5.79 inch), diameter of footring 60 mm (2.36 inch), weight 275 grams (9.70 ounce (oz.))
Bowl on footring with steeply rounded sides and a straight underglaze brown-edged rim (jia mangkou). Carved anhua (secret) floral decoration. Decorated in underglaze blue with four roundels filled with flowering plants and a zig-zag lines pattern border round the rim. On the bottom a double concentric band. Over-decorated in iron-red, black, gold and other overglaze enamels, in the Netherlands, Amsterdams Bont, c.1730-1740 with a reserve, filled with a lady and a servant walking in a garden landscape. The lady is holding a lantern while her servant is holding up an umbrella alternating with a reserve filled with flowering plants. In between the reserves a single flowerhead with foliage in iron-red. On the bottom a basket containing flowering plants and hanging ribbons surrounded by insects in flight. On the inner wall four flower sprays. Round the inner rim an ornamental border.
As Dutch and English decorators copied so few famille verte pieces it is tempting to allocate all the European decorated pieces which have a predominantly green palette to the famille verte style even though they may hardly resemble the Chinese originals., The Chinese blue and white bowl and tankard in fig. 34. both decorated with figures in a landscape, are chinoiseries in the famille verte palette, and as this type of decoration is seen on some Chinese porcelain made in the 1750s and 60s, it is evident that this style of over-decoration remained popular. The distinctive way the creases in the men's clothes on the bowl are painted is also seen on Delftware of the mid 18th century suggesting that the bowl was painted in Holland. On the tankard the painting is not as good and is perhaps English which tends to be looser in style as on the blue and white bowl in fig.35, which represents a distinctive group of mainly tea wares sketchily painted probably in the 1720s and 30s in a palette of bright greens, yellow and strong red with Chinese ladies often holding lanterns. (Espir 2005, p.102)
For a similarly, shaped, sized and over-decorated in the Netherlands, Amsterdams Bont, bowl, please see:
For a similarly decorated bowl and under dish in the collection of oriental ceramics in the Groninger Museum, please see:
- The collection of the oriental ceramics in the Groninger Museum, Objectnumber 2020.0196.
- The collection of the oriental ceramics in the Groninger Museum, Objectnumber 2020.0198.
Condition: Some loss of enamel and tiny frit to the rim.
Reference:
Price: € 499 Currency Converter
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