Lot Essay
This rare dish was ordered through the Dutch East India Company.
The first official shipment of lacquer, arranged by Jacques l'Hermite, a manager of the VOC in Bantam, arrived at Texel on the Dutch ship "de Roode Loeuw met de Pijlen" in 1610. Jacques l'Hermite advised the Board of Directors to commission the Japanese to produce lacquer following specifications sent from Europe.
From about 1610 Japanese lacquers were exported throughout the seventeenth century to Europe. Along with the cabinets (comptoirs), coffers and other functional objects there were rare forms including armorial dishes, ewers and basins. An example of the latter sold in these rooms, Lot 342, 11 November 1991. Many of these pieces were used by the VOC as gifts to rulers and high officials. Most of the armorial pieces including shields were privately ordered as they bear personal coats of arms, including those of the Company's Chief Merchants. An example, is the shield in the Rijksmuseum with the name Happart above coat of arms.
Private trade in lacquer was not permitted and is not recorded in the VOC documents. However, the merchants on Deshima were able to conduct private transactions. An eyewitness account mentioned by Nicoloas de Grauff, De Oost-Indische Spiegel Reysen na de vier gedeelten des Werelds etc... Hoorn 1701, 1704, states that when a ship returned from Japan it would rise out of the water almost three feet when the crew, officers and merchants possessions were taken on shore.
Cf. Imitation and Inspiration, Japanese Influence on Dutch Art, edited Stefan van Raay (Amsterdam, 1989)
Namban-Shikki, Cultural Exchange between East and West through Lacquer Craft, Sakai City Museum (Sakai, 1983)
Lacquerwork in Asia and beyond, Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia, no 11, ed. W. Watson, Univ. of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1982, pp. 124-158, article no. 7, Dr Oliver Impey, Japanese Export Lacquer of the 17th Century
The arms depicted on this dish are attributed to Hinlopen of Amsterdam in J B Rietstap's Armorial General (1884). An English blazon would be:
1. GULES A MULLET OR
2. AZURE A CRESCENT WITH A HUMAN FACE ARGENT
3. AZURE A CHEVRON OR BETWEEN THREE TREFOILS ARGENT
4. OR THREE PALLETS SABLE
Above the shield is a coronet of rank. According to Ottfried Neubecker's Heraldry (1976), such a coronet of nine points denotes a Count in the Netherlands. This accords with the statement by Rietstap that the Hinlopen family were Counts de Wael.
In Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden (AJ van der Aa, Haarlem, vol. VIII, 1867), a dictionary of national biography, the following are noted in the seventeenth century:
Gerard Hinlopen, born 30 September 1644, Hoorn
Jacob Jacobszoon Hinlopen
Jan Jacob Hinlopen, living 1624
Five are noted in Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordeboek (Leiden); of whom one had connections with the Dutch East India Company.
Michiel Tymonsz Hinlopen. He was a well known art collector in Amsterdam in the 17th Century. He formed a great collection of paintings and drawings. He was born there on 6 May 1618, and was buried there on 19 March 1708 (Grote Winkler Prins Encyclopedie, Vol II, Amsterdam, 1991).
The first official shipment of lacquer, arranged by Jacques l'Hermite, a manager of the VOC in Bantam, arrived at Texel on the Dutch ship "de Roode Loeuw met de Pijlen" in 1610. Jacques l'Hermite advised the Board of Directors to commission the Japanese to produce lacquer following specifications sent from Europe.
From about 1610 Japanese lacquers were exported throughout the seventeenth century to Europe. Along with the cabinets (comptoirs), coffers and other functional objects there were rare forms including armorial dishes, ewers and basins. An example of the latter sold in these rooms, Lot 342, 11 November 1991. Many of these pieces were used by the VOC as gifts to rulers and high officials. Most of the armorial pieces including shields were privately ordered as they bear personal coats of arms, including those of the Company's Chief Merchants. An example, is the shield in the Rijksmuseum with the name Happart above coat of arms.
Private trade in lacquer was not permitted and is not recorded in the VOC documents. However, the merchants on Deshima were able to conduct private transactions. An eyewitness account mentioned by Nicoloas de Grauff, De Oost-Indische Spiegel Reysen na de vier gedeelten des Werelds etc... Hoorn 1701, 1704, states that when a ship returned from Japan it would rise out of the water almost three feet when the crew, officers and merchants possessions were taken on shore.
Cf. Imitation and Inspiration, Japanese Influence on Dutch Art, edited Stefan van Raay (Amsterdam, 1989)
Namban-Shikki, Cultural Exchange between East and West through Lacquer Craft, Sakai City Museum (Sakai, 1983)
Lacquerwork in Asia and beyond, Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia, no 11, ed. W. Watson, Univ. of London, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1982, pp. 124-158, article no. 7, Dr Oliver Impey, Japanese Export Lacquer of the 17th Century
The arms depicted on this dish are attributed to Hinlopen of Amsterdam in J B Rietstap's Armorial General (1884). An English blazon would be:
1. GULES A MULLET OR
2. AZURE A CRESCENT WITH A HUMAN FACE ARGENT
3. AZURE A CHEVRON OR BETWEEN THREE TREFOILS ARGENT
4. OR THREE PALLETS SABLE
Above the shield is a coronet of rank. According to Ottfried Neubecker's Heraldry (1976), such a coronet of nine points denotes a Count in the Netherlands. This accords with the statement by Rietstap that the Hinlopen family were Counts de Wael.
In Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden (AJ van der Aa, Haarlem, vol. VIII, 1867), a dictionary of national biography, the following are noted in the seventeenth century:
Gerard Hinlopen, born 30 September 1644, Hoorn
Jacob Jacobszoon Hinlopen
Jan Jacob Hinlopen, living 1624
Five are noted in Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordeboek (Leiden); of whom one had connections with the Dutch East India Company.
Michiel Tymonsz Hinlopen. He was a well known art collector in Amsterdam in the 17th Century. He formed a great collection of paintings and drawings. He was born there on 6 May 1618, and was buried there on 19 March 1708 (Grote Winkler Prins Encyclopedie, Vol II, Amsterdam, 1991).