A 17th or 18th Century Japanese Kraak Style V.O.C Dish

c.1670 - 1720

A Japanese Export Porcelain Dish for the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, (V.O.C.) c.1670 – 1700 or perhaps 1720. This Arita porcelain dish has the V.O.C. monogram to the center within a circle, the V with a smaller O and a C interlinked.  This is surrounded by a pair of phoenixes among fruiting peach and camellia. The Kraak style border is of panels with bamboo, peony and prunus. According to Christiaan J.A. Jörg in Fine and Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections (Christian J.A. Jörg, Hotei Publishing, 2003. ISBN 90-74822-16-9. Page 225, plate 285), “VOC dishes were probably ordered by the High Government from 1668, when it started to require porcelain from Batavia. VOC dishes were used as an early form of in-house corporate promotion at high-ranking Company employees, at the Factories in Asia, and probably in the officer’s cabins aboard ship”. Jörg goes on to mention the remains of similar dishes have recently been excavated in Deshima, he dates these dishes to c.1670 to 1720. This is the first Japanese VOC dish I have had in 40 years in business.

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SOLD

 

Condition
Some wear to the glaze in the denter of the dish. Firing faults - two small areas to the center where there is no glaze, a piece of kiln grit to the edge.
Size
21.3 cm (8 1/4 inches)
Provenance
An old label to the base "From the collection of Mr Justice R. P. Davis - see Davis Collection, S.A. Museum (Oriental China)". This appears to refere to an exhibition of December 1953. British Antique Dealers Association label. Sold at Christie's Amsterdam - European Noble and Private Collections, 24 - 25 June 2008, lot 385.
Stock number
25997
References
For a VOC dish of this design dated to 1680 - 1720 in the Groninger Museum see : Fine and Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections (Christian J.A. Jorg, Hotei Publishing, 2003. ISBN 90-74822-16-9. Page 225, plate 285. Another of these VOC dishes is in : Kraak Porcelain, A Moment in the History of Trade (Maura Rinaldi, Bamboo Publishing,1989) Page 226, plate 286. A similar Japanese V.O.C. dish dated to c.1660 is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Accession Number: 2002.447.40.

Photos

Information

Japanese Porcelain with the V.O.C Monogram

 

Japanese V.O.C. Dish Dated to c.1660

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Accession Number: 2002.447.40.

This porcelain dish is emblazoned with the monogram VOC, which stands for the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, the Dutch East India Company. During most of the Edo period (1615–1868), the Dutch were the only Europeans allowed to trade with Japan. They were confined to the small man-made island of Deshima, off the coast of Nagasaki, from which point they acquired Japanese porcelain. Although the Dutch brought many wares back to Europe, the dishes inscribed VOC were intended only for officers of the company. This dish has a white background decorated ornately in underglaze blue, with a paneled border around the rim. This is typical of the type of export ware known as kraak, which originated in China and was imitated by potters in Japan at the request of the Dutch.
This porcelain dish is emblazoned with the monogram VOC, which stands for the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, the Dutch East India Company. During most of the Edo period (1615–1868), the Dutch were the only Europeans allowed to trade with Japan. They were confined to the small man-made island of Deshima, off the coast of Nagasaki, from which point they acquired Japanese porcelain. Although the Dutch brought many wares back to Europe, the dishes inscribed VOC were intended only for officers of the company.
This dish has a white background decorated ornately in underglaze blue, with a paneled border around the rim. This is typical of the type of export ware known as kraak, which originated in China and was imitated by potters in Japan at the request of the Dutch.

 

Japanese V.O.C. Dish Dated to c.1660 - 1680

Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

 

  • Museum number:

    3-1886

  • Gallery location:

    Japan, Room 45, The Toshiba Gallery, case 3

 

Dish, blue and white porcelain, with VOC monogram, Arita ware, 1660-1680
Dish, blue and white porcelain, with VOC monogram, Arita ware, 1660-1680

 

 

 A large Arita dish with the monogram of the VOC [Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie], Edo period, late 17th century; 38.5 cm. diam. Price realised GBP 13,750. Lot 87. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

 

A 17th or 18th Century Japanese Kraak Style V.O.C Dish
A 17th or 18th Century Japanese Kraak Style V.O.C Dish with copper Duits. Robert McPherson Antiques stock number 25997.

 

V.O.C. Duits

The Dutch East India Company was almost a country within a country. It had its own army and navey, an inormous administration and its own coins with the monogram of the company. The Duit was an internatonal currency used by the V.O.C. The single largest recipient of Dutch duit coins was Java. Ceylon and Malabar did also circulate the coins. The word duit was absorbed into the Malaysian and Indonesian vocabulary, becoming a slang word for 'money', besides wang (Malay) and uang (Indonesian).