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Subject:Napoleonic Dutch East Indies Arita ware?
Posted By: Ken Yap Fri, Oct 15, 2021 IP: 103.10.31.19

Hello. This is my first posting here and I hope not the last. I am an independent researcher specialising in the Peranakan culture.

Dating is my Achilles' heel but yet I find myself putting my head on the block by trying to date some pieces not by the reign but by the year! In so doing, I hope to be able to show the flow and evolution of a particular branch of Peranakan porcelain, as well as offering hopefully some new hypotheses.

I have attributed the attached pieces not to the Straits Settlements, but to Dutch Indonesia. The ormolu platter perhaps to the Napoleonic era circa 1810 and the covered bowl say 1890?

Any opinions would be most welcome. Please accept my sincere thanks in advance.

Kind regards and warm wishes,
Ken





Subject:Re: Napoleonic Dutch East Indies Arita ware?
Posted By: Bill H Sun, Oct 17, 2021

As you probably are aware, these Japanese patterns have heretofore been covered in the book "Straits Chinese Porcelain A Collector's Guide" by Ho Wing Meng, 1983 Times Editions PTE Ltd & reprints in 1994, 1996. I sense that Dr. Ho apparently sees a greater degree of concord between the terms "Straits Chinese" and "Peranakan" than exists in some quarters. However, I'll let the experts argue about that.

In my opinion, though, Dr. Ho correctly dates these Japanese porcelains shown in his book to between the reign of Daoguang (1821-50) and around 1920 of the Republic era, although he does mention apparently earlier pieces some collectors had assumed were Chinese due to the presence of Japanese character marks, such as "Kutani". In my opinion, the ormolu style mounts on the platter shown in your photo are identifiable as of a later period by their flimsiness, whereas the Napoleonic era produced what I've always taken to be a more classical "Empire" style of gilt metal and other decorative works.

Here are some views of a similar, 7.25-inch diameter unsigned Japanese kamcheng pot in my collection of "Nonya" wares.

Best regards,

Bill H.







Subject:Re: Napoleonic Dutch East Indies Arita ware?
Posted By: Ken Yap Mon, Oct 18, 2021

Dear Bill,

Many thanks for your response. Again, please let me apologise for my senior moment: Napoleonic Holland ended in 1810 whereas I was referring to 1910. Duh!

Yes, I research the Peranakan culture. In the case of my platter and covered pot, I imagine it was more for the Indonesian Peranakan Tionghua, or the Dutch colonialists, rather than for the Chinese Peranakans in the Straits Settlements of Malaya and Singapore.

I am trying to date more exactly according to year rather than reign or a time-period... pure folly, I know. In the case of these 2 pieces, I was wondering if a circa 1890 date would sound reasonable.

I am especially happy you responded as I remember reading about a Chinese magazine article about Peranakan ware. It is mentioned in the reference section in my blog article: https://bbddduck.wixsite.com/website/post/the-identity-of-ambiguity-continued. Is there any way I can get hold of a copy of this article? And also, please let me know if I have not credited correctly, as I am not academic.

If any part of my post is not appropriate, please just blank it out.

Thank you very much once again and I look forward to more opinions.

Take good care and all the best.

Kind regards,
Ken.

Subject:Re: Napoleonic Dutch East Indies Arita ware?
Posted By: Bill H Tue, Oct 19, 2021

One thing I failed to mention regarding the dating of these Japanese pieces is that the particular ones used in your post and mine were decorated with transfer-printed patterns, which process was introduced at the end of the Edo period but only came into widespread use in the following Meiji period (1868-1912). The use of transfers often is detectable by repetitive patterns or by fingerprints resulting from cobalt picked up when the patterns (typically printed on paper using etched copper plates) were being arranged. On your kamcheng pot, such a fingerprint smear is visible within the foot-rim, possibly from cobalt that came from handling the printed repetitive patterns that comprise the prominent circle around the foot. In my photos, fingerprints are visible on the side of the Kamcheng pot from the same likely source.

Considering when the transfer printed decoration came into widespread use, your suggested date of circa 1890 sounds reasonable to me.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Subject:Re: Napoleonic Dutch East Indies Arita ware?
Posted By: Ken Yap Wed, Oct 20, 2021

Thank you so much. It is such a relief to know I am not doing too badly at dating.

Best wishes and regards,
Ken.


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