In this well-documented, bilingual, and richly illustrated catalogue, published for the long-anticipated exhibition Reflected Beauty: Chinese Reverse Glass Paintings from the Mei Lin Collection at ... Show moreIn this well-documented, bilingual, and richly illustrated catalogue, published for the long-anticipated exhibition Reflected Beauty: Chinese Reverse Glass Paintings from the Mei Lin Collection at the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong (September 2021-January 2022), the authors give us a profound insight into the phenomenon of reverse painting on glass and mirror paintings, with a particular focus on those from the Mei Lin Collection assembled by the Sinologist, author, and translator Rupprecht Mayer and his wife Haitang Mayer-Liem. Composed of over one hundred works acquired in East Asia between 1968 and 2012, this is one of the world's most important collections of Chinese reverse glass paintings from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Show less
At the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese painter Zhou Peichun started mass-producing beautiful watercolour paintings depicting life in Beijing. Rosalien van der Poel writes about two of his... Show moreAt the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese painter Zhou Peichun started mass-producing beautiful watercolour paintings depicting life in Beijing. Rosalien van der Poel writes about two of his paintings that were recently restored by textile conservator Sjoukje Telleman.The colourful paintings discussed in this blog once decorated the walls of the Sinological Institute in the Leiden University Arsenaal Building. It is quite possible that they were acquired by J.J.L. Duyvendak (1889-1954), a Dutch Sinologist who worked as an interpreter at the Dutch embassy in Beijing from 1912 to 1918, before accepting a position at Leiden University in 1919. When the collections of the Sinological Institute were moved to the UBL Special Collections in 2016, the two paintings were re-evaluated and valued for their quality and authenticity. In 2021, they were restored and preserved by textile conservator Sjoukje Telleman. In this blog, I will seek to answer three questions: How did Zhou Peichun work? How historically accurate are the depicted scenes? And what is the value of this type of heritage for future generations? Show less
In the 19th century Chinese export paintings had a strong appeal to foreigners, who were in China because of maritime trade. Harbour views, like those of Macao, Bocca Tigris, Whampoa and Canton,... Show moreIn the 19th century Chinese export paintings had a strong appeal to foreigners, who were in China because of maritime trade. Harbour views, like those of Macao, Bocca Tigris, Whampoa and Canton, are still signifiers of the historical China trade in our time. This important category of Chinese export paintings must be analysed not just as simple representations, but also as commodities whose value and meaning were accrued through specific and economically forms of exchange. In some cases, we can trace the journeys of these artworks and detect their impact on patterns of consumption. In doing so, we will see that the paintings accrue value through the social processes of accumulation, possession, mechanisms of artistic circulation and cultural exchanges. By mapping a cultural biography of an iconic harbour view, this chapter shows that the value of this transcultural artwork lies in its movement and connected interpretations. Show less
Chinese export painting had a strong appeal to foreign powers active in China and neighbouring Asian countries in the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries. As a result, today, Chinese... Show moreChinese export painting had a strong appeal to foreign powers active in China and neighbouring Asian countries in the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries. As a result, today, Chinese export paintings can be found in eighteen public collections in the Netherlands. These collections have an historic, an artistic and a material value and are closely related tot the overseas historical China trade. These integrated economic relations produced, among other things, integrated art objects such as paintings, which, as a result of their representative and social functions, over time formed a special artistic phenomenon, an a shared cultural visual repertoire with its own (EurAsian) character.This article focuses on the social life of two cohdrent collections of reverse glass paintings from China in the collection of Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden.Having disentangled their provenance, Van der Poel draws some careful conclusions about the degree of importance and, consequently, the extent to which she notices any value accruement and value dwindle of these sets of artworks in their lenghty afterlife. It is clear that these commodified artworks with their cohesive values make this painting genre distinctive and a class in its own right. Show less
The Asian Art Society in the Netherlands: A Centennial CelebrationTHE ASIAN Art Society in the Netherlands (VVAK) was founded on June 29th, 1918 by a handful of men, who were keen to stimulate... Show moreThe Asian Art Society in the Netherlands: A Centennial CelebrationTHE ASIAN Art Society in the Netherlands (VVAK) was founded on June 29th, 1918 by a handful of men, who were keen to stimulate interest in art from Asia and to bring together art lovers in that field.[i] Ten years later, the organisation decided to start its own museum, which opened in 1932. Now—100 years after its foundation—the objects assembled by the Asian Art Society form the mainstay of the Rijksmuseum’s Asian art collection, and its members form a large group of dedicated enthusiasts.[i] P. Lunsingh Scheurleer, “Asian Art in the Rijksmuseum”, in Asian Art (Rijksmuseum collection book), Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 2014, pp. 8-23; M. Draak, “Chronicle of the Vereniging van Vrienden der Aziatische Kunst”, in P. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ed., Asiatic Art in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1985, pp. 9-27; M. Fitski, “Japanese Art in the Westendorp-Osieck Collection”, Arts of Asia, Vol. 38, no. 4, July-August 2008 issue, pp. 48-57. Show less
Chinese export paintings in Dutch public collections. A shared cultural visual repertoireThe collections of seventeen museums, archives and libraries in the Netherlands include a large number of... Show moreChinese export paintings in Dutch public collections. A shared cultural visual repertoireThe collections of seventeen museums, archives and libraries in the Netherlands include a large number of Chinese export paintings,many of which have finally been unveiled thanks to the new publication Made for Trade - Made in China. Chinese export pointings in Dutch collections: art ond commodity. Existing research on the corpus deals mostly with the transfer of stylistic aspects; Western and Chinese painting conventions; literary sources; historical models; socio-cultural and aesthetic differences; dating and iconographical issues; and technical analyses regarding conservation of pigments and paper. ln contrast, Made for trade puts a new focus on these paintings: to see them as meaningful information carriers of an unknown culture that derive their legitimacy from the historical China trade, and to draw upon current theoretical approaches for treatment of these transnational works of art in future museum practices and strategies. Made for trade follows the entire trajectory of this specifìc transcultural painting genre, from the production two centuries ago to the current position. At work in this trajectory are mechanisms between people, institutions and the paintings, which increase or, indeed, diminish the appreciation of this time- and place-specifìc art. Show less
East and West meet in Chinese export artChina played an important role for the Netherlands in the ‘overseas world’ as long ago as the seventeenth century. According to Tristan Mostert and Jan van... Show moreEast and West meet in Chinese export artChina played an important role for the Netherlands in the ‘overseas world’ as long ago as the seventeenth century. According to Tristan Mostert and Jan van Campen, authors of a book on Sino-Dutch relations since 1600, entitled Zijden Draad. China en Nederland sinds 1600, ‘no country or region appealed more to the imagination and never before had expectations of wealth and trading opportunities run so high’.[1] Like their American, British and other European contemporaries, the Dutch all came back from their commercial adventures in China or their years spent in the Netherlands East Indies, for example, with Chinese art objects specially made for export. These were generally luxury goods produced to order from materials unknown in Europe at the time. The decorations, colours, and excellent craftsmanship with which these ‘exotic’ luxury goods were made drew great admiration and aroused people’s curiosity about their country of origin, in what was at the time the almost impossibly distant China. Besides westerners’ fascination with Chinese export art, according to the deputy director of the Guangdong Museum, this transcultural exchanged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries also prompted a dialogue between Cantonese and European culture. ‘The encounter and dialogue brought a new form of civilization and created a new fashion, forming a new taste of culture, bringing a curiosity of the civilization of mankind.’[2][1] Mostert & Van Campen 2015, 19.[2] Preface to exhibition catalogue Chinese export fine art in the Qing Dynasty from Guangdong Museum 2013, 008. Show less
Leiden University’s new Asian Libraryln 2014, Leiden University decided to build a new Asian Library to bring together under one roof all of the collections of the various Leiden University... Show moreLeiden University’s new Asian Libraryln 2014, Leiden University decided to build a new Asian Library to bring together under one roof all of the collections of the various Leiden University libraries on China, Japan, Korea, India and Indonesia. Also included are the Heritage Collection of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in Amsterdam and the library of the Leiden-based Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV).After three years of planning and construction, Leiden University's new Asian Library is ready.Bringing together various important collections on Asia, the Asian Library holds the largest collection on Indonesia worldwide, and some of the foremost collections on South and Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Korea.Grand Opening on 14 September 2017To mark the achievement, Leiden University is celebrating the whole of 2017 as the 'Leiden Asia Year'. Working together with other Asia-oriented institutes in Leiden as well as with the Leiden municipality, so far the agenda of the Leiden Asia Year has already featured over 70 events, with a further 40 still scheduled to take place, including the library's Grand Opening. Students and scholars will not have to wait until September, as the Asian Library was opened for the public on March 31. Show less
The starting point for this study is that for a large part of their existence, the paintings belonging to this genre have primarily been seen as export articles without intrinsic artistic value.... Show moreThe starting point for this study is that for a large part of their existence, the paintings belonging to this genre have primarily been seen as export articles without intrinsic artistic value. This fact, and the fact that they cannot be unequivocally classified, explains why this genre has, for a long time, not received the attention it deserves. The label ‘exportware’, though, does not exclude that these paintings can also be approached as ‘art’. They have an historic, an artistic, and a material value, which, as a result of their representative and social functions, over time formed an artistic phenomenon in its own right, and a shared cultural visual repertoire with its own (Eurasian) character. In order to draw conclusions about the appreciation of the extensive and historically valuable eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Chinese export paintings in Dutch public collections, this multidisciplinary research follows the entire trajectory of this specific transcultural painting genre in sixteen museums, from the production two centuries ago to the current position. At work in this trajectory are mechanisms between people, institutions and the paintings, which increase or, indeed, diminish the appreciation of this time- and place-specific art. Show less
The Chinese export paintings collection of the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden includes ten winter views in Tartary painted on canvas. That these ten paintings have never before been studied... Show moreThe Chinese export paintings collection of the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden includes ten winter views in Tartary painted on canvas. That these ten paintings have never before been studied as a group has inspired the present author to conduct research into their origins, the findings of which are presented in this article.Seven of the ‘winter views in Tartary' in the Leiden museum were made on commission for the Hague lawyer and collector Jean Theodore Royer (1737-1807) and are dated to before 1807. While assembling his Chinese collection, Royer was assisted by Ulrich Gualtherus Hemmingson (1741-99), who worked for the VOC in Canton from 1765 to 1790. Hemmingson or his intermediaries purchased items directly from the workshops in Canton. Part of the Royer Collection was also purchased in the Netherlands, where a huge variety of Asian objects was available. While it is not known how Royer came to acquire the ‘winter views', that he also wanted a set of winter landscapes for his Chinese research collection is undisputed. In 1816, six of the paintings were rehoused in the Royal Cabinet of Rarities, where the director, Reinier Pieter van de Kasteele (1767-1845), titled them ‘Six winter views in Tartary painted on canvas'. The seventh view was added later. The Guide to Viewing the Royal Cabinet of Rarities (Handleiding tot de bezigtiging van het Koninklijk Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden) provides a schematic and geographical classification of the Cabinet (van de Kasteele, 1824). Here, too, the six winter landscapes are specifically mentioned. In 1883, the paintings were relocated to the National Ethnographic Museum, now the National Museum of Ethnology, in Leiden. The other three paintings were acquired, probably between 1824 and 1860, from the collection of the Royal Cabinet of Rarities, established in 1816 by King Willem I (1772-1843), on the basis of the Royer Bequest of 1814, which included 3,000 Chinese and Japanese objects. Show less
In deze tweetalige publicatie worden de reizen van Arnoud H. Klokke, die hij maakte tussen 1950 en 1952 vanuit het centrale ziekenhuis in Kuala Kupuas in het zuiden van Midden-Kalimantan in beeld... Show moreIn deze tweetalige publicatie worden de reizen van Arnoud H. Klokke, die hij maakte tussen 1950 en 1952 vanuit het centrale ziekenhuis in Kuala Kupuas in het zuiden van Midden-Kalimantan in beeld gebracht en beschreven.Met medewerking van Francine Brinkgreve, Rebke Klokke en Dr Marko Mahin. Show less
Article (Chapter) in proceedings of the First Rombouts Graduate Conference Globalization and Glocalization in China, at Leiden University, held in Leiden on 6 and 7 September 2011.This article... Show moreArticle (Chapter) in proceedings of the First Rombouts Graduate Conference Globalization and Glocalization in China, at Leiden University, held in Leiden on 6 and 7 September 2011.This article offers a closer examination of Chinese export harbour views and, in doing so, reveals that waterfronts and ports - essential places in the transcontinental movement of commodities - were a significant topic of Chinese export paintings. This article discusses the material (these paintings) as commodities and it touches briefly upon some theoretical approaches which seem useful to open up these works of art. Show less
Een boekbespreking over een boek met prachtige afbeeldingen van de Bertholet-collectie Chinese erotische kunst. Het rijk gedocumenteerde boek is in twee delen te splitsen, een thematisch historisch... Show moreEen boekbespreking over een boek met prachtige afbeeldingen van de Bertholet-collectie Chinese erotische kunst. Het rijk gedocumenteerde boek is in twee delen te splitsen, een thematisch historisch overzicht en een rangschikking naar medium. In beide delen wordt het onderwerp erotiek en de rol van de vrouw in de CHinese maatschappij van meerdere kanten belicht, zowel in de tekst als in het kwalitatief hoogwaardige beeldmateriaal. Show less
Onderzoek naar de herkomst van tien zeldzame Chinese exportwinterlandschappen in Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde in Leiden. Daarnaast worden de tien eind-18e, begin-19e-eeuwse hybride Chinese... Show moreOnderzoek naar de herkomst van tien zeldzame Chinese exportwinterlandschappen in Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde in Leiden. Daarnaast worden de tien eind-18e, begin-19e-eeuwse hybride Chinese olieverfschilderingen nader beschouwd vanuit iconografisch oogpunt, compositie, technische toepassingen en materiaalgebruik, en plaatst de auteur de schilderingen in een historisch kader.De schilderingen zijn afkomstig uit het Koninklijk Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden (3 stuks) en uit de Chinese collectie van de 18e-eeuwse Haagse jurist en verzamelaar J.Th. Royer (7 stuks) en verblijven sinds 1883 in de collectie van het Leidse museum. Show less
Article on the 2nd international conference on 'Canton and Nagasaki compared', examining the beginning and the end of Dutch, Chinese and Japanese relations, 29 November-4 December 2009.Impression... Show moreArticle on the 2nd international conference on 'Canton and Nagasaki compared', examining the beginning and the end of Dutch, Chinese and Japanese relations, 29 November-4 December 2009.Impression of all given papers clustered round ten central themes as- The beginning of the system- Gvernment and trade- Links between Canton and Nagasaki- Trade and institutions- Merchants and people at port cities- The end of the system- Export of arts- Towards modernity- Views from the west- Challenges to the system Show less
This article presents a brief overview of research results deriving from the investigation of a group of 18th and 19th century export oil paintings from China in the collection of the National... Show moreThis article presents a brief overview of research results deriving from the investigation of a group of 18th and 19th century export oil paintings from China in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnology n Leiden. The oils were compared with a group of reverse glass paintings in the same collection, moreover in part depicting identical scenes. Furthermore, are the look-a-likes in the Guangzhou Museum related to the Leiden ones. To which extent do the Leiden pictures differ from the Guangzhou ones with the same subjects. The article provide some findings about dating and technical styles. Show less
