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Lot Essay
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was founded in 1602 when six major trading companies amalgamated. Within the new company these became known as “Chambers” – Amsterdam and Zeeland, Delft, Rotterdam, Hoorn and Enkhuizen. The headquarters were in Amsterdam, however in 1619 the VOC decided to establish its centre of government and administration in Jakarta on the north coast of Java, which they named Batavia. This required the appointment of a governor-general who alongside appointed members of the Council of the East Indies, supervised the management of the Company in Asia. Willem van Outhoorn (1691-1704) and his son-in-law Joan van Hoorn (1653-1711) were successive governors-general of the VOC in Batavia in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Having settled in Batavia with his parents in 1663, Joan van Hoorn married Willem van Outhoorn’s daughter Susanna in 1693, with whom he had a daughter, Petronella van Hoorn (1698-1764). Eventually having left his post as governor-general in 1709, Joan van Hoorn returned to Amsterdam in 1710 with Petronella, a year before he died in 1711.
Men from prominent families with power and wealth such as Willem van Outhoorn and Joan van Hoorn used their access to exotic goods from Asia to accumulate luxuries and artworks as a display of status. Alongside the purchase of non-personalised articles such as the betel nut cutters in this lot, objects decorated with family coats-of-arms were privately commissioned – a fashion which existed from around the mid-17th century up to the early 18th century. Japanese lacquer seems to have been a popular choice for decoration in this manner, such as the octagonal box offered here. This box has been decorated around the sides with a Japanese traditional-style decoration of ladies in a landscape with plum trees and distant mountains in a manner seen on lacquer produced for domestic Japanese use, however the cover of the box prominently displays the van Hoorn coat-of-arms. In fact, further examples of such lacquerwork were recorded in the possessions of Willem van Outhoorn, Joan van Hoorn and Petronella van Hoorn, such as a lacquer dish now in the Rijksmuseum bearing the crowned symmetrical monogram of Joan van Hoorn and Susanna van Outhoorn (object number BK-1990-9, go to: http:/hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.308407), and a lacquer dish with the van Outhoorn arms in the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem (inv. AE 85682).1 Interestingly, two further lacquer dishes bearing the arms of Joan van Hoorn were later incorporated into a Dutch commode attributed to Matthijs Horrix, The Hague, circa 1780-95.2
Fine lacquer objects would have been ordered from the Dutch trading post on the Deshima peninsula in Japan, where Willem’s brother, Cornelis van Outhoorn (1635-1708), served three terms as head. Japanese lacquer was one of the trade items that had interested the Dutch since the beginning of the VOC’s trade with Japan with the first shipment arriving in Holland in 1610. However Japanese lacquer was expensive and in Asia, the VOC gave luxury lacquered objects as gifts to the Persian court, the Sultan of Johore and the Queen of Cambodia.3
Following the death of her first husband, Petronella van Hoorn remarried Lubbert Adolf Tork in 1722, who in 1721 had inherited Rosendael Castle near Arnhem. Petronella, who acquired the silver filigree circular box and cover in this lot, had formed a collection of filigree, which is described in the catalogue of contents of Rosendael Castle as well as her home in Amsterdam on the Herengracht.4
The small lacquer incense cabinet in this collection is of a style produced for the domestic Japanese market. Small boxes such as this were highly prized in Europe with their rich, exotic decoration of finely-cut and inlaid pieces of gold, silver, coral and mother-of-pearl. A small tiered box of similar style is in the collection of Burghley House (inv. 9017).5 Oliver Impey suggested that the small group of domestic blue and white dishes and lacquer in Burghley were probably purchased in Japan by an employee of the VOC and brought to Burghley in the 17th century.
As well as lacquer, ceramics became an important embellishment in decorative schemes for grand houses across Europe as exemplified by Queen Mary II and William III at Het Loo in Holland and Kensington Palace in London in the 17th century. In the 1640s China was at civil war, leading to the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the accession of the Ching. As a result of this, one of the areas badly affected was Jingdezhen and its porcelain production decreased dramatically. The VOC looked to Japan to supply this deficit. Porcelain from Japan is first recorded as being ordered by the Dutch in 1653 and sent to Holland in 1657. It is well documented that the Dutch desired pieces in the manner of the export Chinese patterns, based on the Kraak and transitional styles that they had been accustomed to ordering from Jingdezhen. Initially the export from Japan consisted mainly of blue and white porcelain in the form of shaving bowls, bottles, vases, tankards and jugs. The forms were derived directly from European models or Chinese transitional wares. The Arita blue and white ewer offered here is decorated in the Chinese transitional style with Japanese stylisation, and is of a form influenced by Frankfurt faience. The apothecary bottle in this group is modelled on the dark glass bottles that were used for storing port or wine in Europe. These bottles are generally called apothecary bottles because the Dutch East India Company purchased them for domestic use in hospitals and apothecary shops in Batavia, however, there were special orders some with monograms such as VOC, and as here, that of Joan van Hoorn, Governor General of the VOC. There is another example also with the monogram of van Hoorn in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2002.447.38).6
Also included in this group are three serpentine objects which have been inherited through the van Wassenaer and van Pallandt families. Originally hardstones such as serpentine were believed to possess miraculous powers to protect against poison. Serpentine was mined in northern Germany and the tankard, canister and circular box in this lot may have been made there.7 The arms on the cover of the tankard are those of the van Wassenaer family. For another example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (M.31-1953), go to: http:/collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O91597/tankard-unknown/
1 Illustrated in Oliver Impey and Christian Jorg, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580-1850, (Amsterdam, 2005), p.39
2 Illustrated, Ibid, p. 297
3 Ibid., p. 28
4 Karina H. Corrigan, Jan van Campen, Femke Diercks, Janet C. Blyberg eds., Asia in Amsterdam, The Culture of Luxury in the Golden Age, (New Haven and London,
2015), p. 98
5 Op. cit., Impey & Jorg, p. 305, the box illustrated p. 306
6 Go to: http:/www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/49292?sortBy=Relevance&ft=apothecary+bottle+with+initials+ivh&ofset=0&rpp=20&pos=1
7 For further information on turned serpentine works, see Jutta Kappel, ‘Turned Serpentine Works’, in: Princely Splendor: The Dresden Court 1580-1620, Dirk Syndram and Antje Scherner, eds. (Milan / Dresden, 2004)
Men from prominent families with power and wealth such as Willem van Outhoorn and Joan van Hoorn used their access to exotic goods from Asia to accumulate luxuries and artworks as a display of status. Alongside the purchase of non-personalised articles such as the betel nut cutters in this lot, objects decorated with family coats-of-arms were privately commissioned – a fashion which existed from around the mid-17th century up to the early 18th century. Japanese lacquer seems to have been a popular choice for decoration in this manner, such as the octagonal box offered here. This box has been decorated around the sides with a Japanese traditional-style decoration of ladies in a landscape with plum trees and distant mountains in a manner seen on lacquer produced for domestic Japanese use, however the cover of the box prominently displays the van Hoorn coat-of-arms. In fact, further examples of such lacquerwork were recorded in the possessions of Willem van Outhoorn, Joan van Hoorn and Petronella van Hoorn, such as a lacquer dish now in the Rijksmuseum bearing the crowned symmetrical monogram of Joan van Hoorn and Susanna van Outhoorn (object number BK-1990-9, go to: http:/hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.308407), and a lacquer dish with the van Outhoorn arms in the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem (inv. AE 85682).1 Interestingly, two further lacquer dishes bearing the arms of Joan van Hoorn were later incorporated into a Dutch commode attributed to Matthijs Horrix, The Hague, circa 1780-95.2
Fine lacquer objects would have been ordered from the Dutch trading post on the Deshima peninsula in Japan, where Willem’s brother, Cornelis van Outhoorn (1635-1708), served three terms as head. Japanese lacquer was one of the trade items that had interested the Dutch since the beginning of the VOC’s trade with Japan with the first shipment arriving in Holland in 1610. However Japanese lacquer was expensive and in Asia, the VOC gave luxury lacquered objects as gifts to the Persian court, the Sultan of Johore and the Queen of Cambodia.3
Following the death of her first husband, Petronella van Hoorn remarried Lubbert Adolf Tork in 1722, who in 1721 had inherited Rosendael Castle near Arnhem. Petronella, who acquired the silver filigree circular box and cover in this lot, had formed a collection of filigree, which is described in the catalogue of contents of Rosendael Castle as well as her home in Amsterdam on the Herengracht.4
The small lacquer incense cabinet in this collection is of a style produced for the domestic Japanese market. Small boxes such as this were highly prized in Europe with their rich, exotic decoration of finely-cut and inlaid pieces of gold, silver, coral and mother-of-pearl. A small tiered box of similar style is in the collection of Burghley House (inv. 9017).5 Oliver Impey suggested that the small group of domestic blue and white dishes and lacquer in Burghley were probably purchased in Japan by an employee of the VOC and brought to Burghley in the 17th century.
As well as lacquer, ceramics became an important embellishment in decorative schemes for grand houses across Europe as exemplified by Queen Mary II and William III at Het Loo in Holland and Kensington Palace in London in the 17th century. In the 1640s China was at civil war, leading to the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the accession of the Ching. As a result of this, one of the areas badly affected was Jingdezhen and its porcelain production decreased dramatically. The VOC looked to Japan to supply this deficit. Porcelain from Japan is first recorded as being ordered by the Dutch in 1653 and sent to Holland in 1657. It is well documented that the Dutch desired pieces in the manner of the export Chinese patterns, based on the Kraak and transitional styles that they had been accustomed to ordering from Jingdezhen. Initially the export from Japan consisted mainly of blue and white porcelain in the form of shaving bowls, bottles, vases, tankards and jugs. The forms were derived directly from European models or Chinese transitional wares. The Arita blue and white ewer offered here is decorated in the Chinese transitional style with Japanese stylisation, and is of a form influenced by Frankfurt faience. The apothecary bottle in this group is modelled on the dark glass bottles that were used for storing port or wine in Europe. These bottles are generally called apothecary bottles because the Dutch East India Company purchased them for domestic use in hospitals and apothecary shops in Batavia, however, there were special orders some with monograms such as VOC, and as here, that of Joan van Hoorn, Governor General of the VOC. There is another example also with the monogram of van Hoorn in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2002.447.38).6
Also included in this group are three serpentine objects which have been inherited through the van Wassenaer and van Pallandt families. Originally hardstones such as serpentine were believed to possess miraculous powers to protect against poison. Serpentine was mined in northern Germany and the tankard, canister and circular box in this lot may have been made there.7 The arms on the cover of the tankard are those of the van Wassenaer family. For another example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (M.31-1953), go to: http:/collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O91597/tankard-unknown/
1 Illustrated in Oliver Impey and Christian Jorg, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580-1850, (Amsterdam, 2005), p.39
2 Illustrated, Ibid, p. 297
3 Ibid., p. 28
4 Karina H. Corrigan, Jan van Campen, Femke Diercks, Janet C. Blyberg eds., Asia in Amsterdam, The Culture of Luxury in the Golden Age, (New Haven and London,
2015), p. 98
5 Op. cit., Impey & Jorg, p. 305, the box illustrated p. 306
6 Go to: http:/www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/49292?sortBy=Relevance&ft=apothecary+bottle+with+initials+ivh&ofset=0&rpp=20&pos=1
7 For further information on turned serpentine works, see Jutta Kappel, ‘Turned Serpentine Works’, in: Princely Splendor: The Dresden Court 1580-1620, Dirk Syndram and Antje Scherner, eds. (Milan / Dresden, 2004)