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 some time, each object in 'Recent Acquisitions' will be moved to their specific category.
Latest updates:
Recent Acquisitions; June 5, 2023.
Japanese Kakiemon / Kakiemon-style wares - Kakiemon-style wares
Object 2012527 & 2012547
Tea bowl and saucer
Japan
1680-1700
Height of tea bowl 42 mm (1.65 inch), diameter of rim 65 mm (2.56 inch), diameter of footring 31 mm (1.29 inch), weight 42 gram (1.48 ounce (oz.))
Height of saucer 25 mm (0.98 inch), diameter of rim 111 mm (4.37 inch), diameter of footring 58 mm (2.17 inch), weight 97 gram (3.42 ounce (oz.))
Tea bowl and saucer on footrings, spreading sides. The saucer with a foliated rim. Decorated in Kakiemon-style enamels with three formal lotus flowers arranged in a symmetrical pattern connected by scrolls the reverse is plain. (The matching tea bowl was acquired at a later date)
Kakiemon-style tea wares are relatively rare, although the the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) shipped polychrome tea bowls with matching saucers from the beginning of their porcelain trade with Japan. They met almost no competition from the Chinese until the 1680s. The formal symmetrical composition does not reflect the Kakiemon assortment, and these tea wares were probably made by a competing workshop. (Jörg 2003/1, p.198)
(This Japanese, Kakiemon decorated, double gourd vase (not included in this sale/offer) in the collection of the SKD Staaliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden is on the top bulb decorated with a connecting design very similar to that seen on this tea bowl and saucer.)
Identically shaped, sized and decorated tea bowls and saucers are in the collection of:
- Groninger Museum
- Museum Hessen Kassel
- Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (decorated with an extra flowerspray on the bottom of the tea bowl)
- Ashmolean Museum Oxford
- An English private collection
For an identically shaped, sized and decorated tea bowl and saucer, please see:
- Eastern Ceramics and other works of art from the collection of Gerald Reitlinger, (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1981), p.69, cat 164.
- Porcelain for Palaces. The Fashion for Japan in Europe 1650-1750, (J. Ayers, O. Impey & J.V.G. Mallet, Oriental Ceramic Society & The British Museum, London 1990), p.142, cat. 102.
- Japanese Export Porcelain. Catalogue of the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, (O. Impey, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam, 2002), p.84, cat. 76.
- Fine & Curious: Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (C.J.A. Jörg, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam 2003), p.198, cat. 248.
For an identically shaped and sized tea bowl decorated with an extra flower spray on the bottom, please see:
Condition:
Teacup: Perfect.
Saucer: Perfect.
References:
Ayers, Impey & Mallet 1990, cat. 102
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Price: Sold.
Chinese Imari 1700-1800 - Western Shapes
Object 2012531
Candlestick
China
1720-1740
Height 160 mm (6.30 inch), diameter of cylindrical candle holder 23 mm (0.91 inch), dimensions of foot 93 mm (3.66 inch) x 100 mm (3.94 inch), weight 221 grams (7.80 ounce (oz.))
Candlestick on low, spirally moulded domed foot, baluster stem with knops at the top and bottom, cup-shaped cylindrical candle holder. Chinese Imari, decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red and gold with florets between scrolls on an iron-red ground and spirally moulded panels filled with flowering stems alternating with grasses on the foot. The middle section with a spiralling border and leafy flower sprays. Just under the candle holder lozenge-shaped panels with a single flowerhead. On the candle holder leafy flower sprays.
The principal benefit of a form such as this in porcelain would have been the possibility of adding coloured decoration that a metal version would not accommodate. As a functional object however, it would have been impractical. Gilded-wood examples are common. The candlestick form is not uncommon in Chinese export porcelain. All would have been after European originals, most likely metal forms carried on board a ship by captains or used in a church setting. (Sargent 2012, pp.190-191)
The VOC (Dutch East India Company) started to order Chinese porcelain in European shapes as early as 1634. Ewers, beer mugs, candlesticks, salts, mustard pots and other objects for the Dutch table were made after wooden models, which served as moulds for the Chinese potter, or were copied from Dutch glass, ceramic or metal equivalents. Such pieces may justly be called Chine de commande, as they were ordered specially by Western clients. The term also applies to porcelain with Western decorations.
Producing porcelain after models to the taste and needs of foreign customers was no novelty for the Chinese potters. Since the 14th century they had been making all kinds of special objects for the Persian, Indian, South-East Asian and other markets, and this new Western demand merely expanded the range of non-Chinese shapes.
In the late 17th and 18th century demand for Western shapes rapidly increased and Europeans became such important clients that several kilns in Jingdezhen came to specialise in 'Western' wares, probably making nothing else.
The constant changing demands of customers and the frequent ordering of new shapes made it necessary to provide the Chinese dealers with models. The Dutch and other European merchants supplied objects of earthenware, porcelain, silver, pewter or wood for that purpose, but it was also common practice to send drawings of the desired shapes. Literally hundreds of such drawn models were made in the West and handed over to the Chinese porcelain dealers in Canton with specifications regarding measurements, the number of pieces to be made and how they should be decorated. These middlemen then sent the drawings on to the factories in Jingdezhen, where they would have been thrown away after use, so that only a very few have by chance been preserved.
The European companies preferred to buy in bulk the basic, ordinary wares for which there was always a steady market. Pieces of an unusual Western shape or finer items such as coolers, ewers and basins, bough pots and covered jars were seldom bought. The costs of ordering these objects, the attention they needed and the small numbers the European market could absorb made them less interesting to the companies as merchandise. To the independent Western merchant, however, these considerations did not mater, while members of East Indiamen's crews filled their sea chests with exclusive porcelain in Western shapes.
In paklijsten (packing lists) of the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) candlesticks are mentioned as part of dinner services. The candlesticks of the Pronk dinner service at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome are a beautiful example. This candlestick clearly modelled after a portable Western metal chamberstick, could very well have been part of a large Chinese Imari dinner service. (Lunsingh Scheurleer 1989, pp.150-1532), (Jörg & Van Campen 1997, pp.252-253)
Although candlesticks were one of the earliest European forms chosen for copying (with the exception of the dinner service), these creations did not survive the 18th century in any quantity because they were too delicate for everyday use, in spite of their decorative appeal. Clearly this Chinese Imari candlestick also proved to be too delicate for everyday use and was broken ik two pieces, luckily it has been professionally restored. (Howard 1994, p.216)
Condition: A firing flaw and restored after being broken in two pieces.
References:
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1989, pp.150-152 & cat. 130
Jörg & Van Campen 1997, pp.252-253
Price: Sold.
Japanese Blue and White wares 17th Century - Other wares
Object 2012544
Miniature double-gourd bottle
Japan
1660-1680
Height 90 mm (3.54 inch), diameter 45 mm (1.77 inch), diameter of mouthrim 10 mm (0.39 inch), diameter of footring 30 mm (1.18 inch), weight 70 grams (2.47 ounce (oz.))
Miniature size double-gourd bottle with a long neck on a flat unglazed base. Decorated in underglaze blue. On the lower an upper bulbs rocks and trees alternating with grasses. Around the neck a border of descending pointing lotus leaves.
Double-gourd bottles of this small size are relatively uncommon, and the shape usually bears a later version of the Transitional style decoration. (Impey 2002, p.46, cat.16)
At the beginning of the 18th century, there was a fashion among wealthy Dutch ladies to have models made on the scale of a house, the so called "doll's houses". The rooms of these doll's houses were furnished with miniature pieces of porcelain, furniture, paintings, upholstery, and all other sorts of objects that would have belonged to the interior of a wealthy home. These doll's houses were very costly and certainly not meant for children to play with but were proudly displayed for friends and visitors and regarded as extremely luxurious items - counterparts of the cabinets of curiosities that were a fashionable hobby of rich men. Only a few of these doll's houses have been preserved. One example can be found in the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague showing an 18th century room with porcelain miniatures in cupboards and on brackets along the wall. In reality the majority of these "miniature doll's house vases" would have been part of the interior. A good example of an authentic porcelain room is the famous cabinet in Pommersfelden Castle, Germany, where groups of pieces on brackets are surrounded by these miniature vases lining the borders of the consoles. (Jörg & Flecker 2001, pp.50-51)
It was a popular pastime for the ladies of the Dutch patrician society to furnish doll's houses, whose various rooms reflected those of their own town palaces. Apart from the usual furniture, miniature versions of exotic luxury goods such as porcelain, fabrics, carpets, and lacquer were obligatory. The doll's house of Petronella Oortman, now in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, and that of Lita de Ranitz in the Historical Museum of the Hague are considered to be the most prominent examples. The Chinese had produced miniature ceramics for almost one thousand years for the decoration of birdcages, therefore it was no problem for them to supply the Dutch with doll's house porcelain. Miniature pieces were also displayed in ordinary porcelain rooms in cupboards and on brackets along the wall. (Suebsman 2019, p.76)
Condition: Perfect.
References:
Price: Sold.
Object 2012553
Dish
China
1730-1750, over-decorated in England c.1770-1830
Height 27 mm (1.30 inch), diameter of rim 227 mm (9.13 inch), diameter of footring 119 mm (5.04 inch), weight 333 grams (11.74 ounce (oz.)),
Dish on footring with a flattened rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with a flowering peony tree. Round the rim a X-pattern border. Over-decorated in iron-red, gold, and various overglaze enamels in England, clobbered, c.1770-1830, with four reserves filled with a flower head on a densely painted green-speckled ('frog's-spawn') ground. In between the reserves leafy flower sprays and a butterfly in flight. The reverse is undecorated.
In the eyes of some scholars and collectors of both Chinese and European porcelains, Chinese export porcelains decorated in Europe are a chinoiserie hybrid. Thanks to this prejudice, such wares have been long overlooked and frequently denigrated with the term clobbered. In the late 19th century European decorated oriental porcelain was called 'clobbered', a word that came into the English language in the mid-19th century meaning as a noun, 'a black paste used by clobbers to fill up and conceal cracks in leather', and as a verb, 'to patch up, to cobble'. Later it was applied to old clothes meaning 'to renovate' and by the 19th century it was it was applied to porcelain. In 1900, F.Litchfield stated, 'There is a description of Chinese known as clobbered .... overpainted with ....ornament ..... sold for decorated oriental China.' It was a derogatory term meaning that the European decorator had plastered his style of decoration all over the pot with total disregard for the original which was the case in much Chinese blue-and-white over-decorated in the early 19th century and which are to blame for the poor reputation of these wares ever since. (Espir 2005, p.75), (Sargent 2012, p.499)
Condition: A frit and chip to the reverse rim.
References:
Price: Sold.
Japanese Kakiemon / Japanese Kakiemon-style wares - Japanese Kakiemon
Object 2012552
Dish
Japan (Kakiemon)
1680-1700
Height 33 mm (1.29 inch), diameter of rim 190 mm (7.48 inch), diameter of footring 115 mm (4.53 inch) weight 300 grams (10.58 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring. Lobed rim with wavy patterns in low relief, underglaze brown-edged rim. Four spur-marks in a Y-pattern. Decorated in underglaze blue with a overall design of a river scene, a fisherman with a net on a roofed jetty, a figure on the opposite bank near a bridge. On the reverse a scroll with pendant karakusa, on the base a square fuku (good luck) mark in running script.
This charming depiction of simple rural life will have fitted the Dutch ideal of Oriental exoticism. It is a typically Japanese scene, elements of which - the fisherman, the roofed jetty, the man at the bridge - are encountered in various combinations on other export ware of the period. This piece, however, is outstanding for its painstaking execution, the well-balanced composition, and its expressiveness. Very few similar pieces seem to be recorded; two (this type and a variant) are included in the catalogue Bleu-and-white published by the Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Arita. Twickel Castle, Delden, The Netherlands has seven identical dishes. (Jörg 2003/1, pp.148-149)
For an identically shaped, sized and decorated dish, please see;
- World's Blue and White, exhibition catalogue The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Arita 1993, cat. 183.
- Complete Catalogue of the Shibata Collection, (The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu 2003), p.251, cat. 1950.
- Fine & Curious: Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (C.J.A. Jörg, Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam 2003), pp.148-149, cat. 165.
- The Shibata Collection Part VII, (The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu, 2001), p.217, cat. 448.
- Complete Catalogue of the Shibata Collection, (The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu 2003), p.266, cat. 2071.
For an identically shaped and sized and similarly decorated dish, please see;
- Complete Catalogue of the Shibata Collection, (The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu 2003), p.251, cat. 1950.
- The Shibata Collection Part VIII, (The Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu, 2002), p.27, cat. 34.
The other variant, earlier sold object 2011790, not included in this sale/offer.
Condition: A firing flaw to the rim.
References:
Arita 1993, cat. 183
Price: Sold.
Famille Verte wares 1680-1725 - Famille Verte for Asian Markets
Object 2012543
Kendi
China
1700-1725
Height 182 mm (7.17 inch), diameter 160 mm (6.30 inch), diameter of mouthrim 55 mm (2.17 inch), diameter of footring 95 mm (3.58 inch), weight 1,1157 grams (40.81 ounce (oz.))
Ribbed kendi on footring. Mammiform spout on the shoulder, the tall spreading neck is waisted at the base between a single rib. Splayed mouth with overturned rim. Decorated in underglaze blue with a simplified, river scene with a pavilion, flowering plants and trees and swirling clouds. In the background mountains and trees. On the shoulder two meandering borders and on spout swirling clouds. On the neck, a simplified 'tulip' motif, on the rim two florets between scrolls.
At first glance one would define this kendi, due to its shape and decoration, as being Japanese and date it last quarter 17th century. The decoration could even lead one to belief that it was decorated in the Japanese early enamel style. Nevertheless, It is the footring that gives the origin of the kendi away, a closer look reveals it as being a Chinese made after a Japanese Arita original in the first quarter of the 17th century. It is decorated with famille verte enamels and wa most likely made for the Southeast Asian markets. Chinese kendi copies of Japanese originals are extremely rare.
Sold object 2012427. a Japanse Arita kendi 1670-1690. (not included in this sale/offer)
Sold object 2012427. a Japanse Arita kendi 1670-1690. (not included in this sale/offer)
Sold object 2012543 a Chinese kendi 1700-1725.
Sold object 2012543 a Chinese kendi 1700-1725.
It is difficult to identify enamelled porcelain made in the second half of the 17th century for the inter-Asian markets, i.e., the Indonesian archipelago, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Burma and the east coast of India. Written documentation is largely absent and the few Chinese references do not specify shapes and decorations. For underglaze-blue wares we have the Vung Tau wreck of c.1690, but that cargo included no enamelled wares. More information will hopefully come from other systematically salvaged shipwrecks. Meanwhile the literature does not help much either and this subject is rarely broached. Nevertheless, the market must have been substantial in particular after the 1640s when overseas trade and shipments of wares from the kilns in Jingdezhen and in Fujian became irregular due to the civil wars in China. Japanese porcelain shipped by the Dutch and the Chinese, or Vietnamese porcelain may have partly filled the gaps but quantities may not have been substantial enough.
Apart from Jingdezhen porcelain, it was the so-called Swatow or Zhangzhou ware from several local kilns in Fujian that had largely met the demand in south-east Asia.
In 1675 the kilns in Jingdezhen were destroyed and this was a demarcation line in production, marking the end of the extended 'transitional' period and the beginning of a new era, New types were developed for the internal market as well as for export, including wares for the south-east Asian Markets. The new enamel combinations (yellow, red, green) although often harking back to the Shunzhi period, justify the inclusion of these wares in the famille verte context.
A significant number of these inter-Asian market wares have been preserved in the Netherlands , mostly with an Indonesian provenance. They were taken home by retiring Dutchmen after serving in the former Dutch Indies, or collected in situ by people like Reinier Verbeek. In particular the Princessehof Museum in Leeuwarden and the Groninger Museum have a good selection of these wares. (Jörg 2011/2, p.27)
Jörg states that the kendi is a drinking and pouring vessel widely used in Asia. Its basic shape is a bulbous body, a long neck and a tubular or breast-shaped (mammiform) spout on the shoulder. The kendi has no handle and one holds it by the neck and drinks from the spout. The kendi seems to have evolved from the Indian kundika and spread throughout Asia, changing shape and adapting to existing local vessels for similar use. Kendis of Chinese kraak porcelain of the first half of the 17th century and Japanese kendis of the second half were part of the Dutch East India Company's (VOC) porcelain assortment for the inter-Asian trade. Apparently, they also reached The Netherlands in small quantities, probably as part of the belongings of retiring VOC employees. They were not used according to their traditional function in The Netherlands and must only have been decorative items or were filled with flowers as shown on paintings. Kendis were not used in Japan (or China) and were made exclusively for export in Arita from the 1660s. Kendis usually have a smooth body, but Japanese potters frequently made a variety that is vertically ribbed by moulding the piece. Another characteristic of Japanese kendis is the broad overturned mouthrim, seen less often in Chinese pieces.
Arts states that the gorgelet (Portuguese: gorgoletta) or ghendi of the Japanese was originally a drinking vessel in general use everywhere in Asian countries. The porcelain form originated during the Ming period probably from a far older earthenware prototype. Later on, after the habit of tobacco-smoking appeared in Asia at the beginning of the 17th century, it was also used as a nargileh base in many Mohammadan countries. The VOC registers indicate that ghendi were made by the Japanese more or less from the beginning, as an imitation of the Chinese examples. In 1669 Bengal ordered from Deshima twenty large and small ghendi. The biggest market was Southeast Asia. In 1671 Chinese junks carried a consignment of 700 Japanese-made ghendi from Deshima to Batavia and another six hundred in the following year.
For an identically shaped, sized and decorated Japanese kendis, please see:
- Japans porselein met blauwe decoraties uit de tweede helft van de zeventiende en de eerste helft van de achttiende eeuw. (D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer in Mededelingenblad Nederlandse Vereniging van Vrienden van de Ceramiek, vols. 64/65, 1971), p.109, cat. 176.
- Oosterse keramiek uit Groninger kollekties,exhibition catalogue Groninger Museum, (C.J.A. Jörg, Martinipers/Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen 1982). p.77, cat. 116.
- Hizen wares abroad, The 10th anniversary special exhibition, (Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Kyushu, 1990), p.80, cat. 93-97.
- Fine & Curious: Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (C.J.A. Jörg, Hotei publishing, Amsterdam, 2003), p.66, cat. 52.
Condition: Some glaze loss to the ribs and some pieces glued back to the rim.
References:
Lunsingh Scheurleer 1971, cat. 176
Price: Sold.
Japanese Blue and White wares 17th Century - Dishes
Object 2012545
Dish
Japan
1660-1690
Height 33 mm (1.30 inch), diameter of rim 216 mm (8.50 inch), diameter of footring 130 mm (5.12 inch), weight 420 grams (14.82 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring, spreading the rim lobbed. On the base four spur-marks in a Y-pattern. Decorated in underglaze blue with two hôô birds, one perched on pierced rockwork amongst fruiting pomegranate and camellia, the other in flight above. The sides and rim in kraak style with six wide panels (fuyõ-de) filled with fruiting pomegranate branches growing from rocks alternating with various banana plants and grasses separated from each other by narrow panels filled with scrolls in blue on blue. On the reverse a foliate scroll.
The lobed rim on this dish it is not that often seen on early blue-and-white Japanese Artia dishes dating from this period.
Dishes decorated with the same central design are also known with the rim in kraak style with six wide panels (fuyõ-de) filled with bamboo, peony, and prunus, separated from each other by narrow panels filled with scrolls in blue on blue.
Condition: Firing flaws to the base and footring.
Price: Sold.
Japanese Imari 1690-1800 - Dishes
Object 2012542
Dish
Japan
1700-1710
Height 41 mm (1.61 inch), diameter of rim 325 mm (12.80 inch), diameter of footring 175 mm (6.89 inch), weight 1,247 grams (43.99 ounce (oz.))
Dish on footring, wide flat rim with a slightly upturned edge. On the base four spur-marks in a Y-pattern. Imari, decorated in underglaze blue and overglaze iron-red, green, turquoise, yellow, grey, and black enamel and gold with a large flowering peony spray surrounded by flower heads and lotus buds on a wide arabesque scroll in underglaze blue outlined in gold. On the rim a continuous foliate and peony scroll with flower buds and flower heads. On the reverse three widespread flower sprays and round the foot a band with upturned spiky lotus leaves.
It's rather special in that the flat shape of this dish clearly reflects the model that was used by the Chinese potter, namely a Dutch pewter plate. The decoration on this dish is of the early (1690-1710) Japanese Imari type with the use of translucent green, turquoise, yellow, grey, and black enamel.
(reproduced from: Mistrovská dĩla Japonského porcelánu / Masterpieces of Japanese Porcelain, (F. Suchomel, Prague 1997), p.145, cat. 198, not included in this sale/offer)
For an identically shaped, sized and similarly decorated dish, please see;
Condition: Some loss of enamel.
Reference:
Price: Sold.
Shipwreck Porcelains - The Nanking Cargo, 1752
Objects 2012522
Covered jar
China
c.1720
Provenance: The Nanking Cargo sale, Christie's Amsterdam, 28 April - 2 May 1986
Height with cover 238 mm (9.37 inch), height without cover 210 mm (8.27 inch), diameter 230 mm (9.05 inch), diameter of mouthrim 83 mm (3.27 inch), diameter of footring 115 mm (4.53 inch), weight including cover 2,414 grams (86.10 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 259 grams (9.14 ounce (oz.))
Oviform jar on footring with a wide cylindrical cover over the short, unglazed neck. Decorated in underglaze blue with leafy lotus alternating with stylized (Shou) longevity characters. Round the foot a petal panel border and on the shoulder a band with ruyi motifs. On the cover leafy lotus and on the sides a band with ruyi motifs. On the base of the jar and inside the cover the original Christie's The Nanking Cargo sale lot 3246. (Amsterdam 1986, p.138. lot 3246)
On Monday January 3, 1752, the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) ship Geldermalsen, struck a reef on her return journey to the Netherlands and sank in the South China Sea. Of the crew 32 survived and 80 went down with the ship and her cargo of tea, raw silk, textiles, dried wares, groceries, lacquer, and porcelain.
The cargo of Chinese porcelain was originally potted in Jingdezhen, Jiangzi province then shipped to Nanking for delivery to the VOC vessel Geldermalsen for final transportation to the Netherlands. The Geldermalsen struck a reef on her return journey to the Netherlands and sank in the South China Sea on January 3, 1752. The cargo was recovered by Captain Michael Hatcher and his team in 1985 and sold by Christie's Amsterdam on 28 April - 2 May 1985 as 'The Nanking Cargo. Chinese Export Porcelain and Gold' two hundred and thirty-five years later. (Jörg 1986/1. pp.39-59).
An interesting detail is that Captain Michael Hatcher found the wreck of the Geldermalsen on the same reef as he earlier, in 1983, found the wreck of a Chinese junk. both wrecks were about a mile apart. This Chinese Junk wreck came to be known as "The Hatcher Junk" she had a cargo of Kraak and Transitional porcelain objects that were dated c.1643. (Sheaf & Kilburn 1988, p.27)
Two large crates are taken along on the Geldermalsen containing the 'permitted small boxes', addressed to various persons in the Netherlands. The contents are not specified, but one naturally thinks of all of silk fabrics and porcelain.
Besides the tens of thousands of pieces of Company porcelain, Hatcher has also recovered a small number of far more exclusive objects. Very likely these were private possessions. Crew members and pasgangers take along their souvenirs or pieces that they can sell at home with considerable profit. Those remaining in the East send an exotic present to family or friends. The objects found are typical trinkets and may very well have been packed in the permitted boxes. What exactly belonged to whom cab no longer be traced. Thus, we consider all the porcelain not clearly belonging to the VOC to be private porcelain.
In all, this includes 370 objects. There are 177 tea bowls and saucers, some of a smaal, ribbed model with flaring sides, which we usually date as being early 18th century. Here is the evidence that they were manufactured at least until the middles of that century. There are small, delicately made vazes, one set of large and one of small cupboard garnitures, ginger pots, an incomplete tea service of soft-paste porcelain, several ewers and basins and a small ragout tureen. A rarity is one single octagonal plate decorated in blue-and-white with a river landscape. On the rocky bank to the right is depicted a building which seems to be a Christian church with ywo crosses on top of it. Tea pots and all kinds of 'unassorted' articles complete the list. The group of 68 porcelain figures is by far the nicest. (Amsterdam 1986, p.98)
In their permitted boxes of one square foot the private individuals on the ship could not transport large objects. They bought small items, small but exquisite. They were valuable souvenirs, gifts and sometimes perhaps commercial articles, but their real value lay in the exotic aspect.
In that respect little has changed. We still visit porcelain auctions, Chinese porcelain still has its artistic, historical, and financial value and it still continous to fascinate us. (Amsterdam 1986, p.103)
In total only three blue-and-white oviform jars and covers in the 'Private Cargo', 'Chinese Ceramics' were sold, divided over the lots: 3546, 3247 & 3248. (Amsterdam 1986, p.138, lots 3546, 3547 & 3548)
Condition: Poor, a piece of the wall from the jar is missing.
Reference:
Amsterdam 1986, lots 3546, 3547 & 3548
Price: Sold.
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