plate BM-Franks.598

Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1756 (Dated.)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted,
Subjects:boat/ship
Dimensions:Diameter: 22.80 centimetres Height: 2.60 centimetres Weight: 0.35 kilograms

Description:
‘Famille rose’ plate commemorating the anchorage of a Dutch trading ship in Chinese waters. The central design depicts the broadside view of a Dutch East Indiaman under full sail in a calm turquoise sea. At the stern it flies the Dutch national flag (horizontally striped blue, white and red), at the prow the standard of Middelburg, and on top of the three masts the flag of the Dutch East India Company. The vessel has large holds for cargo and provisions. It also carries an armament comparable to a contemporary 18th century warship. The rim is edged in a delicate pink lace border and bears a cartouche inscribed in Dutch ‘CHRIST: SCHOONEMAN OPPR STUERMAN OP: T: SCHIP VRYBURG: TFR: REEDE WANPHO IN CHINA INT IAAR. 1756:’ which can be translated ‘Christ [ian] Schooneman, Chief Mate of the ship Vrijburg, in the roads off Whampoa in China in the year 1756’.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:The Dutch East Indiaman Vrijburg is recorded as having been in Canton in 1756 and this piece is one of a number of similar pieces which served as souvenirs of the ship’s voyage to China. Other similarly painted plates include one at the Zeeland Museum, Middelburg, Netherlands (Jorg, 1982, no.74). Similar plates are known, painted with the starboard view of the Vrijburg, also dated 1756, and inscribed with the name of the ship’s Captain, Jacob Rijzik. A large serving plate of this type is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and another in the Musee Guimet, Paris, France (Oriental Ceramics, 1981, vol. 7, col.pl. 49). Only plates are known with this decoration. Dutch ships such as the Vrijburg would have left their company base in Batavia in July or early August and sailed for four weeks north-eastwards via the Banka Straits. This trip was undertaken only once each year because of the prevailing tides and local weather conditions. At Macao, the entry fee to Whampoa was paid to Chinese customs officials and a local pilot was hired to guide the ships further in. At Whampoa the ships were anchored, as the Pearl River thereafter was too shallow for such large trading vessels. The supercargoes were taken in smaller boats the final 13 nautical miles to Canton’s quayside to conduct their business at the European trading stations (see BM Franks. 745+ and BM Franks. 746+).The Vrijburg was built in 1748, laid to rest in 1771 and her tonnage was 1150 tons (Hervouet and Bruneau, 1986, no.2.2). This type of East Indiaman would have measured over 140 feet from stern to sternpost. She was built for the Dutch East India Company’s Zealand Chamber of Commerce. A model of a similar Dutch East Indiaman, the “Zeven Provincien”, made in 1723 and one of the earliest models ot a merchant ship in existence, is in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London (no.1723 – 1/SLR 0418).