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2025 Our Next Update : A Mixture of Different Ceramics.

A New Ceramic Exhibitions in The Netherlands

Dragons and Demons – 5,000 Years of Asian Ceramics from the Anders Collection.

Ends 4th January 2026

The Groningen Museum,
Museumeiland 1, 9711 ME Groningen
Netherlands.

https://www.groningermuseum.nl/en/art/exhibitions/draken-en-demonen-5000-jaar-aziatische-keramiek-uit-de-collectie-anders

“During the Chinese year of the Dragon, the museum invites visitors for a journey through 5,000 years of Asian ceramics. The exhibition covers various aspects of the ceramic culture of China and Japan, from 3000 BC to the beginning of the twentieth century. Dragons & Demons – 5000 years Asian Ceramics from the Collection Andersshows a special selection of ceramics from the collection of George Anders and Netty Boecher. Each object tells something about the world of experience, daily habits and rituals and the urge to decorate in Asian cultures. Visitors take a journey through about 400 beautiful objects collected by the couple. The exhibition Dragons & Demons will be on display at the Groninger Museum from Saturday 8 June.

The exhibition tells various stories based on a wide range of themes. Some objects are grouped based on their function, such as drinking tea, burning incense and worshiping ancestors. Animals also receive special attention, ranging from real animals, such as lions, chickens and fish, to mythical creatures like the Chinese dragon and phoenix. In addition, more spiritual and philosophical subjects are addressed, including the role and significance of Chinese gods in society and reflections on the cosmos. Chinese stories and legends are also an important part of the exhibition. An example is the story of the Eight Immortals. Dragons & Demons are some unique and extremely rare objects to see.

The exhibition offers a unique opportunity that visitors can touch ceramic fragments from the seventeenth or eighteenth century. By feeling the material, visitors can better understand and appreciate the texture, shape and fineness of the various objects and their decoration techniques. This gives Dragons & Demons an extra dimension and makes it a more sensory experience.

To show that ceramics are still relevant in everyday life, special tea drink events are organized. Tea drinks are made using the original Chinese method. For an optimal experience, the same type of tea is used as can be seen in the exhibition.

Luxembourger George Anders and Swiss Netty Bocher, who lived in Haren for many years, were enthusiastic collectors of Chinese and Japanese ceramics. He was a professor of Humane Genetics and she was a biologist. Together they built in-depth knowledge by visiting museums worldwide and building an extensive library. For example, they collected more than 1,400 pieces through auctions, ranging from very early to contemporary Asian ceramics. The Foundation for Asian Art and Arts, founded by the couple, together with the Groninger Museum takes care of the collection after their death and regularly purchases new pieces. The intention is that in the future the collection Anders will be merged with that of the museum, resulting in the largest and most varied collection in the Netherlands.

The exhibition was curated by Prof. – Dr. – Dr. Christiaan Jörg, former curator of the museum, and junior curator Asian Ceramics Lecong Zhou.

Dragons & Demons – 5000 Years of Asian Ceramics from the Anders Collection can be seen from Saturday 8 June in the Starck Pavilion.

Recently Published Reference Books :

Four Centuries of Blue and White

The Frelinghuysen Collection of Chinese & Japanese Export Porcelain

by Becky Macguire

https://www.paulholberton.com/product-page/four-centuries-of-blue-and-white

This beautifully illustrated and scholarly book presents the Frelinghuysen collection of Chinese and Japanese export porcelain. It is the first major publication to consider Chinese and Japanese blue and white together.

This extraordinary collection, assembled carefully over fifty years, features an exceptionally wide array of Asian blue and white porcelain – that most ubiquitous and influential of all ceramics. Ranging from Chinese pieces specially made for Portuguese traders in the 16th century to late 19th century commissions for the Thai royal court, the collection also includes numerous Chinese classics from the era of the European trading companies and a notable selection of Japanese export porcelain. In its vast scope it speaks of the diverse impulses and historical forces that propelled the trade in Asian porcelain and provides a lens through which to view the interaction of East and West from the early modern age to the dawn of the 20th century.

More than 300 pieces from the collection are illustrated and discussed in full and another 250 are illustrated in a compendium, all divided into thematic chapters that reflect the many ways Chinese and Japanese porcelain has been traded, collected and lived with around the world. Essays by William R. Sargent, former Curator of Asian Export Art at the Peabody Essex Museum, and noted armorial porcelain authority Angela Howard, precede the thirteen chapters, which include Faith, Identity, For the Table, To European Design and Made in Japan. Great rarities are featured alongside small, amusing pieces and the many export porcelains made to elevate the practices of daily life.

With its strict adherence to blue and white porcelain, the collection intensifies our focus on forms, patterns and designs, gathering together wares that are often considered only separately for study while also covering areas of little recent scholarship, such as the Thai market material. The specialized reader will find references to the latest research while the more general reader will appreciate a comprehensive overview of Asian export porcelain. There has not been a significant survey of either Chinese or Japanese blue and white since the 1990s, and they have never been considered together in a major publication.

One of of number of pieces illustrated in this book that come from Robert McPherson Antiques :

A rare Kangxi blue and white porcelain ‘ship’ dish c.1690-1720. This large Kangxi dish depicts a Western sailing ship, perhaps a V.O.C. (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) trading vessel off the Chinese coast. This early depiction of Western ship is unusual in that the center of the dish is devoted entirely to one ship. Earlier depictions, such as those from the ‘Swatow’ kilns in Fujian, show European trading vessels as part of a complex design. Clearly this depiction is for a Westerner connected with trade in China and although rare they do occasionally show up in Dutch collections (see references). The border is of fish among aquatic plants and boys among scrolling lotus, the base has a ‘fu’ (happiness) mark.

Condition : In good condition, there are several rim shallow chips mainly confined to the back rim. Approximately 1/3 of the rim has been very lightly polished, it is very difficult to see but we have photographed it. Some fritting.

Size : Diameter : 26.5 cm (10 1/2 inches)

Sold Archive Number ; 25205

References : Two Kangxi porcelain ship dishes of this design are in the Shanghai Museum, they are illustrated in : Traces of Trade, Chinese Export Porcelain Donated by Henk B. Niewenhuys (various authors, 2009. ISBN 978-7-80725-790-5) Items 92 and 93, illustrated on the front cover and pages 192-195.

“Sky Blue, Winter Green, Moon White: Five Hundred Years of Excellence at the Yaozhau Kilns” (Hardback).

Regina Krahl – Published June 2023.

Sky Blue, Winter Green, Moon White: Five Hundred Years of Excellence at the Yaozhau Kilns (Hardback)

Regina Krahl (author)

This Shang Shan Tang collection is one of the rare assemblages of Chinese ceramics specialising in Yaozhou wares. With over a hundred examples, it is very likely the largest repository of its kind; covering an extremely wide range of Yaozhou artefacts of outstanding quality, including both classic types and highly rare specimens, it is uniquely suited to illustrate the kilns’ history. This catalogue covers extremely rare black and white and celadon-green wares samples of Tongchuan kilns made Yaozhou wares from the Tang dynasty and Five Dynasties. This catalogue also includes a magnificent and wide range of Song’s pieces such as the most iconic dishes and bowls with carved nature motifs and combed details, which feature peony and other flower patterns, ducks, fish and conch shells among lotus or waves; and with similar molded designs of flowers, boys among flowers, or fish among waves. This catalogue is one of the most important reference books for Yaozhou wares and is a must for collectors and connoisseurs of Yaozhou wares to own it.
Text in English and Chinese.

Publisher: CA Book Publishing

ISBN: 9789887608905

Number of pages: 228

Weight: 1917 g

Dimensions: 330 x 256 mm

Publication of the Catalogue Raisonné of Chinese Porcelain in the Frits Lugt Collection.

By Christiaan Jörg.

When Frits Lugt (1884-1970) and his wife Jacoba Klever (1888-1969) decided to present their collections in the Hôtel Turgot in Paris, Chinese porcelain ranked among their priorities. They intended to give the French public an impression of Dutch Golden Age interiors and a porcelain cabinet had traditionally been part of Dutch material culture.Frits Lugt started assembling his Chinese porcelain collection when he lived in the Netherlands. After the Second World War, the couple settled in Paris, and Lugt continued his acquisitions from dealers or at auctions, in France and England.

Dish, Jingdezhen Kangxi, dated 1672

Porcelain. – 27,4cm (diam. of the rim)
Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris, inv. 6658

He bought a variety of pieces, either made for export or for domestic Chinese use. The result, permanently exhibited in the Fondation Custodia, is a small but exquisite collection of high-quality Chinese porcelain, ranging mainly from the 16^th to the 18^th centuries. It reflects the Dutch preference for Kraak, Transitional and Kangxi porcelain, but a few unusual or even unique non-export porcelains are also on display. Almost all of these pieces are decorated in underglaze cobalt blue. Three Japanese works are included to complete the collection.

The directors of the Fondation Custodia who succeeded Frits Lugt have added a number of porcelains to the collection. Ger Luijten acquired some items that he deemed missing, for example a complete garniture and a large Kangxi jar, plus an astonishing piece of Chine de commande: a trompe-l’œil plaque which imitates with extraordinary fidelity a framed Dutch print or drawing.

It was also Ger Luijten who set up the project for a catalogue raisonné of the Fondation Custodia’s collection of Chinese porcelain. This was to replace the small publication of 1981, illustrated mainly in black and white and written by Daan Lunsingh Scheurleer. This update was both necessary and possible thanks to the important scientific progress made in recent decades.

Cabinet for porcelain, Dining room of Hôtel Turgot, Paris

Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris.

In this new catalogue, written by Christiaan J.A. Jörg, Dutch specialist on Chinese and Japanese porcelain, each of the 125 pieces is described in detail and placed in a scholarly context. Special attention is paid to iconography, inscriptions, and marks. A longer, informative essay elaborates on the history of the collection and shorter essays introduce each of the six sections into which the catalogue is chronologically divided. Every object has been photographed and reproduced from multiple angles, including the base that often reveals a lot of information about their manufacture.

Catalogue

Christiaan J.A. Jörg
Chinese and Japanese Porcelain in the Frits Lugt Collection
Paris, Fondation Custodia, 2023
272 pages, c. 430colour illustrations
28 × 25cm, hardcover, in English
ISBN 9 782958 323431
45,00 €
https://www.fondationcustodia.fr/Publication-of-the-catalogue-raisonne-of-Chinese-porcelain-in-the-Frits-Lugt

Leaping The Dragon Gate.

By Teresa Canepa, Katharine Butler.

An Excellent Book a must for anyone interested in Transitional Porcelain.

The Sir Michael Butler Collection Of Seventeenth Century Chinese Porcelain

A catalog raisonné of the world’s most complete collection of seventeenth-century Chinese porcelain.

With six hundred stunning full-colour illustrations, this book celebrates the most important collection of seventeenth-century Chinese porcelain in the world, assembled by the distinguished British diplomat Sir Michael Butler (1927–2013). Butler’s lavish collection covers most types of porcelain produced at Jingdezhen, in Jiangxi province, during the seventeenth century.

This comprehensive volume features nearly all of the pieces in the collection, presented in sections featuring the main categories of porcelains in the collection: Late Ming, High Transitional, Shunzhi, Early Kangxi, Mid-Late Kangxi, Monochromes, and Famille Verte, as well as disputed pieces. An introduction by Katharine Butler tells the fascinating story of the circumstances that encouraged her father to acquire, collect, and passionately study Chinese porcelain of the seventeenth century; how he found rare pieces with dates, interesting inscriptions, seal marks, or narrative scenes; and how the collection and his scholarly publications came to be internationally renowned.

544 pages | 600 color plates | 9 3/4 x 11 3/4

Chinese and English Text.

Brushpots: A Collector’s View

By Sam Marsh.

The Chinese title of this book reads “The Profound Reflection of Brushpots: A Collector’s Enlightenment” literally, citing reference to the book Imperial Profound & Reflective Encyclopedia commissioned by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, and The Collected Works of Long Ying, published during the reign of Emperor Wanli, Ming Dynasty. The word “Profound” was chosen meticulously to highlight the breadth and variety of the brush pots collected, and the proposition of their illustrations. The author’s intent to make this book an encyclopedia of brush pots was fairly explicit. On the other hand, “reflection” comes from a mirror, which shows how you look and who you are. It represented the collector’s experience in soul-searching and self-reflection during his journey of art appreciation.

Text in English and Chinese.

Publisher: CA Book Publishing
ISBN: 9789887440895
Number of pages: 288
Weight: 1626 g
Dimensions: 282 x 239 mm

Small China, Early Chinese Miniatures.

By Koos de Jong

Small China

Small China presents Chinese miniatures from 5,000 BC up to the 15th century. The pocket size representations of supernatural beings, people, animals, or everyday objects are virtually uncharted in East Asian crafts – even in China, these objects in jade, bronze, ivory, and porcelain are little known. Koos de Jong explores their arcane meanings and traces their production and the market for such treasures, which, contrary to official secular and religious art, include those devoted to taboo subjects such as erotica or humour. The miniatures had many different functions, from insignia, fetishes and devotional objects to burial gifts or toys. They could express good wishes or even serve as bribes. A rare glimpse into the everyday life of ordinary people and into Chinese handicrafts from thousands of years ago.