Lot Essay
One of the first Dutch lacquerers of metal objects was H. Cocq, who was based in Amsterdam and had worked in this field since 1741. His treatise on lacquering techniques was published posthumously in 1771. Lacquered metal objects became very popular around 1800, at which time English lacquer was preferred above Dutch, which was an incentive for several lacquerers to advertise their products as 'English lacquerware'. (T. Eliëns, Kunst, Nijverheid, Kunstnijverheid, Zutphen, 1990, pp. 151-152)
At the Nijverheidstentoonstellingen or Industrial Exhibitions, which were so popular in the 19th Century, lacquerware products were much admired, often generating more positive publicity than the entries of other catagories. Several Dutch lacquerers participated in the World Exhibitions as well. Frans Zeegers, for instance, who was based in Amsterdam, participated in the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, where he was awarded a prize for a folding screen of which an English reporter had pointed out that it was 'the most remarkable object among the furniture exhibited'. (Eliëns, ibid, pp. 152-157)
This tray is closely related to the oeuvre of the Rotterdam artist-lacquerer Lodewijk Nooijen, who started his career as a painter in Amsterdam and officially became Fabriekant in Japansche en Geïncrusteerde Lakwerken after his move to Rotterdam in 1858. Nooijen often combined landscapes or still-lifes with lacquerwork, with occasional inlays of mother-of-pearl, which was one of his specialities. (R.J. Baarsen, et. al., De Lelijke Tijd, pronkstukken van de Nederlandse Interieurkunst 1835-1895, Amsterdam, 1995, pp. 180-182, nos. 67 and 68)
See illustration
At the Nijverheidstentoonstellingen or Industrial Exhibitions, which were so popular in the 19th Century, lacquerware products were much admired, often generating more positive publicity than the entries of other catagories. Several Dutch lacquerers participated in the World Exhibitions as well. Frans Zeegers, for instance, who was based in Amsterdam, participated in the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, where he was awarded a prize for a folding screen of which an English reporter had pointed out that it was 'the most remarkable object among the furniture exhibited'. (Eliëns, ibid, pp. 152-157)
This tray is closely related to the oeuvre of the Rotterdam artist-lacquerer Lodewijk Nooijen, who started his career as a painter in Amsterdam and officially became Fabriekant in Japansche en Geïncrusteerde Lakwerken after his move to Rotterdam in 1858. Nooijen often combined landscapes or still-lifes with lacquerwork, with occasional inlays of mother-of-pearl, which was one of his specialities. (R.J. Baarsen, et. al., De Lelijke Tijd, pronkstukken van de Nederlandse Interieurkunst 1835-1895, Amsterdam, 1995, pp. 180-182, nos. 67 and 68)
See illustration