Chinese Porcelain
Batavia Brown (Capucin) wares 1700-1800
Page 1
In the Netherlands, porcelain decorated in this type of underglaze brown has historically been called "Batavia Brown" or "Capucijnergoed" ("Chick-pea ware", after the legume). The first name may have been coined because most goods exported to The Netherlands from the East were sent via Batavia and has nothing to do with a Batavian production or decoration, It is a very common type with the decoration usually contained within medallions. Occasionally, a gold decoration has been painted on the brown glaze. The brown colour is achieved by using iron oxide as a pigment, which like underglaze blue, needs to be fired at high temperatures. Considerable quantities were exported to the Western and Inter-Asian markets from c.1700. The pieces are rarely refined and can be considered as articles for everyday use by the middle-classes. (Jörg 2002/2, p.120)
Batavia Brown (Capucin wares) 1700-1800
Object 2012178
Rosewater sprinkler
China
1700-1720
Height 195 mm (7.68 inch), diameter 95 mm (3.74 inch), diameter of mouthrim 6 mm (0.24 inch), diameter of footring 46 mm (1.81 inch), weight 386 grams (13.62 ounce (oz.))
Double-gourd rosewater sprinkler with spherical body gradually tapering into a long-pointed neck on a tall, spreading foot with a deep recessed glazed base. Covered with underglaze light brown with reserved decoration in underglaze blue of fan-shaped panels filled with a riverscape and leaf-shaped panels filled with a flowering plant.
Rose water sprinklers, known as gulabpash, have been used in India since the Mughal period for the purpose of refreshing oneself by moistening one's face, washing hands after a meal or for sprinkling a visitor as a gesture of welcome. Dutch traders discovered them in India and subsequently ordered porcelain bottles in various designs to be made in China. These bottles were partly sold in the Ottoman Empire, where local silversmiths fashioned artistic stoppers for them. Today, rose water bottles are found in the Sultan's Collection in Istanbul as well as in some Dutch museums, for example the Princessehof in Leeuwarden or the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. (Suebsman 2019, p.74)
Perfumation and thurification have a very long history and can be traced back to prehistoric times. For thurification various types of incense burners were and are used until this day. For perfumation, rose-water was used that was stored and applied in specially made sprinklers. (META-Museum: Chinese Export Silver for the Islamic World, (A. von Ferscht, www.chinese-export-silver.com))
Rosewater sprinklers were are known to be decorated in underglaze blue, in 'Red & Gold' or 'Rouge de Fer' , or the body was (partly) covered in powder blue, Batavia brown or some other monochrme colour. At first they were only exported and used as such in Batavia later on in the West they were often fitted with metal or silver mounts. In the Netherlands they served as curiosities and decorative items. (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, p136)
Condition: Perfect.
References:
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 140
Price: € 1.499 - $ 1,743 - £ 1,327
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Batavia Brown (Capucin wares) 1700-1800 - Page 1
Object 2011251
Cup and saucer
China
1730-1745
Height of cup 55 mm (2.16 inch), height of foot 12 mm (0.47 inch), diameter of rim 86 mm (3.39 inch), diameter of footring 44 mm (1.73 inch), weight 107 grams (3.77 ounce (oz.))
Height of saucer 21 mm (0.83 inch), diameter of rim 138 mm (5.43 inch), diameter of footring 79 mm (3.11 inch), weight 104 grams (3.67 ounce (oz.))
Cup and saucer on footrings. Batavia Brown covered with underglaze light brown. Decorated in 'Red & Gold' / 'Rouge-de-fer' with iron-red, black enamel and gold on the glaze. On the centre of the saucer a decoration of a single flowering plant surrounded by two leaf and two fan-shaped cartouches filled with pagoda and a flowering lily plant growing form behind a fence. On the exterior wall three orchids (Cymbidium virescens), the Lan Hua. a motif commonly seen on fine Chinese export porcelain of around 1740. The exterior wall of the teacup two leaf and two fan-shaped cartouches filled with pagoda and a flowering lily plant growing form behind a fence. On the bottom a single flowering lily plant.
The high spreading foot and recessed base on the cup is unusual its a feature rarely seen Batavia Brown cups (or saucers).
This type in dark brown is traditionally called 'Batavia brown' or 'Capucijnergoed' ('Chicl-pea ware'. after the legume) in the Netherlands, 'capucin' or 'feuilles mortes' in French, or simply "brown glazed" in England and the United States. The brown colour is achieved by using iron oxide as a pigment, which like underglaze blue, needs to be fired at high temperatures. Considerable quantities were exported to the Western and inter-Asian markets from c.1700. The pieces are rarely refined and can be considered as articles for everyday use by the middle-classes. (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, pp.136-137), (Jörg 2002/2, p.120)
Condition cup: Perfect.
Condition saucer: Perfect.
References:
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, cat. 143
Price: € 299 - $ 335 - £ 261
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
Batavia Brown (Capucin wares) 1700-1800 - Page 1
Object 2011028
Covered jar
China
1730-1745
Height including the cover 132 mm (5.20 inch), height excluding the cover 95 mm (3.74 inch), diameter 117 mm (4.61 inch), diameter of rim: 113 mm (4.45 inch), diameter of footring 68 mm (2.68 inch), weight with cover 497 grams (17.53 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 164 grams (5.79 ounce (oz.))
Covered jar on footring. A domed cover with ring knob. Batavia Brown covered with underglaze dark brown. Polychrome decorated in various, famille rose, overglaze enamels with flowering plants in all leaf-shaped medallions on the body and cover.
Porcelain decorated in this type of underglaze dark brown has historically been called 'Batavia Brown' or "Capucijnergoed" ('Chicl-pea ware'. after the legume). Occasionally, a gold decoration has been painted on the brown glaze. 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. (Jacquemart & Le Blant 1862, pp.77-105), (Jörg 2002/2, p.120)
Condition: Perfect.
References:
Jacquemart & Le Blant 1862, pp.77-105
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1968, cat. 137
Price: € 399 - $ 448 - £ 348
(the $ and £ prices are approximates and depend on the € price exchange rate)
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