A rare Chinese Famille Roser porcelain 'VOC' cup and saucer
Porcelain decorated in rose-pink, yellow and soft blue-green enamels, on a shield a lion rampant crowned, 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, the whole supported by two lions rampant and crowned. Below the monogram of the VOC, above the date 1728 and surrounding the inscription CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCUNT (unity makes small things grow), the heraldic motto of the Dutch Republic.
Diam. saucer: 10.7 cm
Diam. bowl: 6.6 cm
Height of bowl: 3.6 cm
The design of this tea service, ordered by the Dutch East Indies Company, was based on a ducatoon (zilveren rijder) issued in 1728 in the Netherlands for use in the Dutch East Indies. The first silver rider to reach Canton arrived there on the 2nd of August 1729 with the Coxhorn, the first Dutch ship that sailed straight to Canton and not by way of Batavia. It came back in Amsterdam in 1730 with 251 sugar bowls with lids in this design as part of a shipment of porcelain straight from Canton.
This is a rather early example of Chine de Commande porcelain. Although the Cantonese artists had the “zilveren rijder” as an example, they gave the lions grimacing Oriental faces, extraordinary crowns and cape-like manes. Also, the mistakes to be found in the inscription make it clear that the Chinese initially had trouble with Western lettering. On the present bowl and saucer the R ends in a curiously truncated fashion, the V is an inverted A, and the E looks more like a Chinese character. Later in the 18th century, after having endlessly copied Western designs, the Chinese painters no longer made these charming “faults”. For a cup and saucer together with the silver rider see Uit Verre Streken June 2017, nr. 49.
Part of the China collection.
Related objects
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 pink, yellow and green enamelled porcelain VOC teapot and saucer
A Japanese Ko-imari porcelain 'VOC' dish
Arita, Edo period, first half 19th century Decorated in blue and iron-red under glaze with in the center the VOC monogram in gold. The bottom with imitation Chinese Ming Dynasty Chenghua marks, 'Great Ming Chenghua period mark'. Diam. 21.2 cm Dishes like the one present were very expensive souvenirs for wealthy Japanese domestic tourists who visited Nagasaki to get a glimpse of the Dutch on Deshima. The design of this particular dish is unknown, and it is possibly unique.