The Dutch connection: Asian export art in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Magazine Antiques, March, 1998 by Christian J.A. Jorg

The company, soon successful, was an important force behind the economic boom in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century. With its Asian headquarters in Batavia (now Jakarta) on the island of Java (see Pl. IV), it established trade settlements, called factories, in the main Asian centers. Although ultimately responsible to the directors at home, the governor-general and the members of his council in Batavia had much freedom to make decisions - a sensible arrangement because it took more than a year to send a letter to Amsterdam by ship and receive the reply. The company's trade empire lasted until it went bankrupt in 1796. Its possessions in Asia were then taken over by the Dutch government, laying the foundation for Dutch colonial expansion in the nineteenth century.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the VOC's trade with the East was its influence on decorative arts produced in the West. Ceramics, lacquer, textiles, and souvenirs from China, Japan, and India were much sought after in the Netherlands, where they were used to ornament interiors and as sources for imitation and inspiration for new designs.

Here I shall explore three types of Oriental decorative arts made specifically for the Dutch and consider their influences on Dutch decorative arts: porcelain from China, lacquer from Japan, and chintz from India.

In the early seventeenth century, the Netherlands was at war with Spain and its ally Portugal. The latter had set up a trading network in Asia in the mid-sixteenth century and frequently shipped Chinese porcelain to Southeast Asian markets and in lesser amounts to Portugal, although, curiously, not to other European countries, where it was much sought after. In 1602 and again in 1604 the Dutch attacked and captured a Portuguese ship carrying porcelains, which they auctioned in the Netherlands for astonishingly high prices.(2) Since the Portuguese traded in ships of the carrack type, the Chinese porcelain they brought back was known in Dutch as kraak porcelain, a name still used for thinly molded wares in sets of standard sizes. The porcelain is often slightly warped and has sand from the kiln fused into the base and foot ring. It is invariably decorated in underglaze cobalt blue, often with landscapes that include animals. Characteristic is a border of alternating wide and narrow panels (see Pl. II).(3)

The Chinese potters developed kraak porcelain in the second half of the sixteenth century and sold it throughout Southeast Asia. When the Dutch came to trade, they bought and shipped back thousands of pieces of this porcelain for resale at an excellent profit. For the burgher class this porcelain demonstrated their new status and wealth. It was exotic, rare, sturdy, finely decorated, and easy to clean.

The VOC met the Western demand for specialized objects, such as mustard pots, salts, and beer mugs by providing the mainland Chinese with models from the company's base in Formosa (now Taiwan). Beginning in 1633 the specialized Western shapes became part of the export assortment, made after Western models supplied in wood, glass, pewter, and earthenware (see frontispiece and Pl. V).(4)

The decoration of these new porcelains followed a style called transitional, referring to the period from about 1620 through 1680, between the decline of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and the ascendance of the Qing (1644-1912). In the 1620s the Chinese porcelain factories lost their imperial patronage and had to find new markets. This resulted in new shapes and decoration, reflected in the wares made for the Dutch.(5) The decoration was no longer confined to panels but made use of the whole surface. In addition to beautifully painted landscapes, popular motifs were animals, flowers, and figures taken from Chinese woodcut illustrations. Stiff, symmetrical, tulip-like flowers on the necks of vases and ewers for the Dutch market betray Western influence, but otherwise the export wares have decoration in the Chinese style, including those in European shapes. Most wares were decorated in underglaze blue, but in the 1640s polychrome decoration in overglaze enamels was introduced and was an immediate success.

Civil wars in China so disrupted the porcelain trade that by the middle of the seventeenth century a shortage of wares had developed in the Netherlands as well as in Asia. To provide an alternative the VOC shifted to Japan, where kilns in Arita on Kyushu had been producing porcelain since the early seventeenth century. These blue and white wares were a great success in the Netherlands and led to the expansion and specialization of several of the Arita kilns (see Pl. VIII).(6) At first the VOC wares were decorated in the kraak and transitional styles, but soon a specifically Japanese style was developed. Polychrome wares followed, and these richly painted Imari (see Pl. VII) and Kakiemon porcelains became very fashionable. Although they were more expensive than the Chinese product, the demand could not always be met.

This situation triggered a fascinating development in the Netherlands. Since the 1620s earthenware producers in Delft, Haarlem, and probably Rotterdam had been trying to make high quality imitations of Chinese porcelain. However, it was only after a prolonged period of experimentation that they succeeded in making thin, light, white-glazed earthenware decorated in blue in the Chinese style (see Pl. VI). Delft became the center of the industry since its former beer breweries could accommodate the large and sprawling potteries. The number of factories there grew from four in 1647 to more than twenty in 1661.(7)