A large Kakiemon-style Dutch decorated Japanese porcelain wine bottle with initials PDR
H. 32 x Diam. 21 cm
Diam. 13 cm (foot ring)
Content approx. 4.5 litres
On the base, decorated in Japan in underglaze blue, are the initials PDR inside a wreath. Apart from that, the bottle was left blank, but was overdecorated in the Kakiemon style in Holland in red, green, and blue enamels with gold, called 'Amsterdams Bont' or ‘clobbered’.
The initials PDR possibly stand for Paulus de Roo. Paulus de Roo was born in Batavia in 1658, son of Cornelis de Roo opperchirurgijn (head-chirurgeon) of the VOC and Anna Andriessen. In 1685 he was a merchant and fiscal (public prosecutor) in Dutch Suratte. In 1689 he was Boekhouder-Generaal (head-bookkeeper) in Batavia and Secretary of the High Government in Batavia in 1690. In 1694 he was appointed Commmisaris of Suratte on the Malabar Coast, where he died in 1695. There were whispers that he was poisoned because he had made enemies by suggesting bookkeeping improvements and being too honest). He left behind his wife, Sebastiana Zas and three children.
Paulus de Roo had never been stationed in Japan, but the Governor-general under whom he served, Johannes Camphuys, had been Opperhoofd in Japan three times, from 1671-1673, 1673-1674 and 1675-1676. There are a few Arita wine bottles known with his initials I.C also inside a wreath on the base (see Uit Verre Streken, November 2015, no. 44). Paulus de Roo and Johannes Camphuys were close friends, and the present bottle might have been a present by Camphuys to his friend De Roo. To add to the suspicious death of De Roo: they both died in 1695…
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A pink, yellow and green enamelled porcelain VOC plate
Executed in rose-pink, yellow, and soft blue-green enamels, this design follows a silver ducatoon of 1728 in almost every aspect, with even the rim of the plate imitating the ribbed milling of the coin. On a shield is a crowned rampant lion, holding in his left paw a bunch of seven arrows symbolising the seven provinces of the United Netherlands, and in his right paw, a sword is shown supported by two crowned rampant lions. Below the shield is the monogram of the VOC, the Dutch East India Company, above the date 1728, and around it is the heraldic motto of the Dutch Republic CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCUNT (by unity small things grow). The first ducatoon, or zilveren rijder, on which the design of this plate was based, arrived in Canton, China, on the 2nd of August 1729 with the Coxhorn, the first VOC ship to sail straight to Canton and not by way of Batavia. It arrived in Amsterdam in 1730 with the ordered porcelain in this design. This is an early example of the so-called Chine de Commande porcelain. Although the Cantonese artists had a zilveren rijder as an example, they didn’t really understand the design, giving the lions grimacing human faces and cape-like manes. They also didn’t understand the Latin letters, since the R ends truncated, the V is an inverted A, and the E looks more like a Chinese character. The only Chinese porcelain known with this design is a tea set, comprising cup-and-saucers and a theapot. For a cup and saucer, see: Uit Verre Streken, June 2017, no. 49. The Dutch likely took a cup-and-saucer from China to Japan, ordering larger plates like the one present. Until recently, these plates were attributed to Chinese kilns, but they are more likely Japanese. This solves the debate on whether these dishes are modern Chinese forgeries. One has been found in an old Japanese collection and is listed in a catalogue, which makes the latter impossible. The enamel's hues and the porcelain's colour are, indeed, more Japanese than Chinese.
A very fine large Arita blue and white porcelain 'VOC' dish
_Arita, 17th century_ _Diam. 36 cm_ Provenance: Private collection, The Netherlands