Folding Screen with Dutch ships

anonymous, c. 1685 - c. 1700

Depicted on this folding screen is the arrival of Dutch ships, and in the centre a hunting scene with Dutchmen in the leading role. They are depicted somewhat comically. In addition to European firearms, they bear some peculiar hunting gear. Everything suggests that the depiction sprouted from the artisan’s imagination to cater to the Chinese public’s curiosity about the ever so strange Europe.

  • Artwork typefurniture, kamerscherm
  • Object numberBK-1959-99
  • Dimensionsheight 321 cm x depth 2 cm, width 624 cm, width 53 cm
  • Physical characteristicsCoromandel lacquer

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • Folding screen of Coromandel lacquer with a scene of Dutch ships, with Dutch people in the hills
    • Folding Screen with Dutch ships

  • Object type

  • Object number

    BK-1959-99

  • Description

    Twaalfbladig kamerscherm van Coromandellak. Aan de ene kant een voorstelling van vogels, bloemen, bomen, rotsen en lotusvijver rond een Phoenixenpaar op gouden grond. Bovenaan rechthoekige panelen met landschappen; onderaan en opzij bronzen vazen en rituele objecten op donkerbruine grond. Onderaan een uitsparing in de vorm van een scepterhoofd. Aan de andere kant een bos- en rotslandschap aan de kust op bruine grond met Europese schepen en Hollandse en oosterse figuren. Bovenaan waaiervormige bloempanelen.

Creation

  • Creation

    lacquerer: anonymous, Zuid-China

  • Dating

    c. 1685 - c. 1700

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    Coromandel lacquer

  • Dimensions

    • height 321 cm x depth 2 cm
    • width 624 cm
    • width 53 cm

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Purchased with the support of the Stichting Jubileumfonds Rijksmuseum

  • Acquisition

    purchase 1959

  • Copyright

    Public domain

Documentation

    • K.I. Choi, Japan and Design in Early Chinese Export Art, uit: The magazine antiques : a monthly magazine for collectors and others, 158, 2000, 3, pagina 336-345
    • cat.tent. Chinese Art, Londen 1935-1936, nr. 1780 (met afb.)
    • Gina M.R.E. Kamm, 'New prespectives about Coromandel lacquer screens depicting Dutch VOC delegations while hunting and in tribute procession', Aziatische Kunst 50/1 (2020), pp. 55-60.
    • Klaas Ruitenbeek, 'Westerlingen in de achttiende-eeuwse Chinese kunst', Aziatische Kunst 20/4 (1990), pp. 10-22.
    • Lianming Wang, 'When the barbarians came by sea: hunting and alienism in entangled Sino-Japanese visual cultures, 1550–1750', World Art, 2024, Received 5 June, accepted 23 July 2024. pp. 1-33, https://doi.org/10.1080/21500894.2024.2385417.
    • Connaissance des Arts, nr. 20, october 1953, pp. 18-23
    • Lianming Wang, 'Picturing Dutch Tropes on Lacquer Screens: Maritime Encounters, Inter-Artisanal Networks, and the Pro-Nomadic Turn in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Art' Taida Journal of Art History 60 (2026), pp. 185-278, https://doi.org/10.6541/TJAH.202603_(60).0003.

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