Pieter Cnoll, Cornelia van Nijenrode, their daughters and Servants,
by Jacob Coeman, 1665
132cm × 191cm
Items of silver were produced in Batavia for the Dutch East India Company/VOC and there was a history of silver filigree production in the area. William Marsden in 1784 History of Sumatra included an extensive description of gold and silver filigree work carried out in Sumatra, observing that: “there being no manufacture in that part of the world, or elsewhere, that has been more admired and celebrated than the fine gold and silver filigree of Sumatra. This indeed is the work of the Malayan inhabitants. The local Chinese also make silver filigree which looks elegant, but wants likewise the extraordinary delicacy of the Malayan work.”
Sumatra was an important market for Indian-made textiles imported by the VOC. Pepper and gold were two of the goods that the VOC received in payment, as was filigree work, all of which would have been shipped on via Batavia.
Sumatra was an important market for Indian-made textiles imported by the VOC. Pepper and gold were two of the goods that the VOC received in payment, as was filigree work, all of which would have been shipped on via Batavia.
Internal compartments
Photo credit: Michael Backman
Betel box lid, feet and key hole, 1700
Photo credit: Michael Backman
The Michael Backman of London auction catalogue suggested the first betel box was probably made in India. Usually filigree items were credited to Goa in India, for the European market, especially when C17th India items featured zig-zag filigreed borders. But it was possible that silver filigree of this type was originally made in the Dutch East Indies and traded there by the VOC.
The VOC’s main role was to bring spices from Asia to Europe. Soon the VOC also established a series of intra-Asia trade networks so that items could be purchased in one part of Asia then sold in another for profit. There were 1,059 ships employed by the VOC which routinely took part in trade within Asia in the C17th. Other intra-Asia trade included luxury goods, textiles, timber and Chinese porcelain.
The very large (22cm long, 16cm wide, 10cm high), heavy (1,675g) silver filigree lidded box (c1700) was originally intended to serve as a betel box, for use perhaps by a senior Dutch colonial official. It came from a private collection in London. The sides and hinged cover were of silver filigree, a combination of broader, flatter wires and thinner, twisted wires. The base was of sheet silver, as were the internal dividing inserts.
The original silver lock remained, as did the original internal silver chains that connected the lid to the base when it was opened. The key hole was covered with an engraved escutcheon in the form of a crowned double-headed eagle, a symbol associated with the royal house of Mysore in India and also with the Russian royal family. In fact a lot of the silver filigree produced in Asia founds its way to Russia via the trading activities of the Dutch East India Co.
Note the solid cast silver handles on both sides. And the four elaborate spherical feet composed of lappet panels-decorative folds of silver filigree. The original silver sheet dividing the compartments were still inside; usually they were long gone, having been melted down over the eons. This box, heavier and larger than other examples, was a museum-quality piece.
The Michael Backman of London auction catalogue suggested the first betel box was probably made in India. Usually filigree items were credited to Goa in India, for the European market, especially when C17th India items featured zig-zag filigreed borders. But it was possible that silver filigree of this type was originally made in the Dutch East Indies and traded there by the VOC.
The VOC’s main role was to bring spices from Asia to Europe. Soon the VOC also established a series of intra-Asia trade networks so that items could be purchased in one part of Asia then sold in another for profit. There were 1,059 ships employed by the VOC which routinely took part in trade within Asia in the C17th. Other intra-Asia trade included luxury goods, textiles, timber and Chinese porcelain.
The very large (22cm long, 16cm wide, 10cm high), heavy (1,675g) silver filigree lidded box (c1700) was originally intended to serve as a betel box, for use perhaps by a senior Dutch colonial official. It came from a private collection in London. The sides and hinged cover were of silver filigree, a combination of broader, flatter wires and thinner, twisted wires. The base was of sheet silver, as were the internal dividing inserts.
The original silver lock remained, as did the original internal silver chains that connected the lid to the base when it was opened. The key hole was covered with an engraved escutcheon in the form of a crowned double-headed eagle, a symbol associated with the royal house of Mysore in India and also with the Russian royal family. In fact a lot of the silver filigree produced in Asia founds its way to Russia via the trading activities of the Dutch East India Co.
Note the solid cast silver handles on both sides. And the four elaborate spherical feet composed of lappet panels-decorative folds of silver filigree. The original silver sheet dividing the compartments were still inside; usually they were long gone, having been melted down over the eons. This box, heavier and larger than other examples, was a museum-quality piece.
detail of the filigree work
betel box c1760
Photo credit: Michael Backman
This second amazing silver box from Dutch colonial Batavia-Jakarta had panels of fine, dense silver filigree within borders of flat silver ribs and fine silver beads. At the centre of the hinged lid, see the flower or star which appeared to be based on the star anise, a spice used widely in cooking: Indonesian, Malaysian & Chinese. The rest of the filigree comprised tight curls, inside very fine filigree silver work
The box had four spherical feet and an elegant twist handle on each side. The lid was supported by an internal silver chain on each side of the box while the base of the box was of hammered sheet silver. The original lock and key were still in place.
The second betel box was used by both the aristocratic Javanese and senior Dutch colonial administrators and their wives during the C18th. It did not have internal dividers that were commonly found in betel boxes of the type of that era, so perhaps it also functioned as a jewellery box.
The fashion for elegant betel objects saw the Batavian governor-general Jacob Mossel issue a decree in 1754 stating that only the wives and widows of the governor-general, director-general, members of the Council of the Indies and the Justice Council president were permitted to use gold or silver betel boxes adorned with precious stones. Classy!! One box came from the royal estate of Dutch Queen Juliana and presumably was presented to the Dutch royal family when the Dutch East VOC ruled Batavia. There were no maker’s marks but there were Dutch import marks to the lid and base.
The filigree work on this box suggests that it came from an artisan who came from the Padang area on Sumatra’s west coast. Such filigree work was known in Batavia at the time as Westcust werk. Note the floral silver rivet heads used on the front of this box.
Many thanks to Parnassus for his Chinese examples of filigree.
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22 comments:
Darling Hels,
These really are treasure boxes of delight!
Such fine scrollwork, the delicacy of the workmanship is truly remarkable. It never ceases to amaze how artisans can produce such wonderful objets d'art and how these skills are passed down and developed through the ages. If only we can keep enough collectors to commission their works, otherwise the dying out of these skills will continue at an ever increasing rate.
Helen
Mother of pearl, brass, ivory, tortoise shell or any other material can make filigree work, but gold and silver are the most delicate. The artists must have gone blind doing the work.
Jane and Lance
that is so true. Even in a part of the world where decorated boxes made from silver or base metals were very popular, the art world had moved on by the mid-late 19th century. Unless the market somehow grows, filigree work will go from something all metal artists could do, to a specialist branch of silver art and in the future it may be something no-one remembers.
It is still popular in India, but I wonder where else in the world. Portugal? Balkans?
Deb
In creating filigree work, the artist creates thin silver wires which are coiled to form whatever shapes are desired, and then very carefully soldered together. It won't make the artist blind, but it is an art form that demands endless patience and care.
Hello Hels, That filigree box is truly a tour de force. I do wonder about those interior partitions being so plain--it seems that they could have been ornamented, at least with a line scribed around the edges.
Incidentally, betel nuts are still used in Taiwan, although not as much as when I first arrived. For habitual users, the teeth are horribly stained a reddish-brown color, and spitting out the chewed leaves a mess all over the streets. As with so many "vice" related collectibles such as snuff or opium, the beautiful antiques they left behind belie the coarseness and danger of the original habit!
--Jim
Parnassus
Thank you so much for the initial reference. I read antique catalogues, but I didn't know the auction house of Michael Backman.
I saw heaps of photos of betel chewers on-line and thought they looked a bit tragic :( But obviously no-one cared, so the impact of the chewing must have been pleasurable enough to make up for the downsides. I would say exactly the same about smokers who risked lung cancer every time they wanted a nicotine high.
But the basic users could have put the betel nuts in their jean pockets; the truly beautiful sterling silver antiques were only meant for very wealthy people or people in top positions in the state.
The Dutch East Indies were home to several opium regies, or stores, usually run by Chinese as in the Philippine Islands. At about 1893 the Dutch had developed deep misgivings and begun to shift production to coca--the geography being so similar to the Andes. By WWI, Javanese coca had nearly crowded South American products out of the market. Oddly, Coca-Cola was a replacement for coca wine after local laws banned its alcohol component as an addictive narcotic according to the pseudoscience of the time. The small amount of cocaine stayed, making the soda about as stimulating as coffee and no more habit-forming. If betel chewing ever catches on in America you can safely wager peasants with torches and pitchforks will demand it be banned.
Hank
I am interested to read that the passion for coca, most popular in South America, was also a plant regularly used in the Dutch East Indies. So we have to ask why owners of coca would spend good money on a well locked silver or other box:
1. the plant was illegal, so the owner wanted to keep it out of sight
2. the plant was expensive, so the owner wanted to prevent theft. Or
3. the owners wanted to display their classiness via silver art objects.
I knew nothing about betel nuts until reading The Betel Nut Tree Mystery, set in Singapore between the wars. A novel to be sure but fascinating.
Joseph
Genomics of Cultivated Palms (2012) reported that Betel nut palm is the fourth most abused substance in the world after nicotine, alcohol and caffeine, as well as a main cause of oral cancers. It is interesting that we in Australia might learn about betel nuts only through fiction.
They are quite beautiful and delicate and I doubt they are dipped in a domestic silver cleaning solution or cleaned with Silvo. I have seen them in museums but I did not know their purpose, so thank you once again.
Andrew
anyone who could afford sterling silver art objects would simply ask their staff to do the cleaning work.
For the rest of us, use ceramic or glass bowls to avoid unwanted chemical reactions. Fill with water and add baking soda, 1.5 tablespoons of soda for each gallon (sic). Bring to boil and put the tarnished silver inside for 15 seconds, remove and cool down. Or use Silvo :)
It's ironic that those dangerous products led to the most beautiful objects being made. In the UK, the South Indian population can often be seen chewing betel nuts or tobacco which has caused an alarmingly high rate of mouth cancers despite warnings from their fellow Asian doctors.
The original Coca Cola bottles contained an addition of opium, which is also rather ironic.
CLICK HERE for Bazza’s hopelessly habit-forming Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
bazza
we have to assume, with products that have long term dangers, that _otherwise normal adults_ would only consume them if they brought great pleasure in the short term. I assume consumers know that WHO links betel nut use to cancer of the mouth and oesophagus, tooth rot and cardiovascular disease. As much as I adore 17th and 18th century silver and gold work, nothing can disguise the dangers.
Hi Hels - there's such exquisite workmanship coming out of the east ... gorgeous. Also you've some interesting comments on life in that era ... with the remains carrying on today - all the best Hilary
Hilary
I have always been passionate about silver decorative arts, particularly from Huguenot silver artists in France and then in Britain, South Africa and every place the Huguenots emigrated to. Since I couldn't ever afford those objects, I only _wrote_ about the expensive silver objects and limited myself to _buying_ cheaper objects. But yes, I do know a great deal about the workmanship and creativity of late C17th and C18th European silver.
Silver art from India and the Dutch East Indies are a new and wonderful world for me :)
Miljarden mannen en vrouwen over de hele wereld kijken elke dag naar YouTube-video's. De overgrote meerderheid van deze mensen vertrouwt echter meer op Google als het gaat om het zoeken naar nauwkeurige en authentieke informatie. YouTube heeft zelfs een slechte reputatie wat betreft betrouwbaarheid. Dit komt door de voorliefde van dit platform voor toewijding in plaats van kwaliteit. Steeds meer video's die canards en valse informatie verspreiden, tasten tegenwoordig de reputatie van dit platform aan. Het wordt hoog tijd dat for more information YouTube Klantenservice Nederlandkennis neemt van deze tekortkoming. Zoals we weten, leidde de video over valse informatie tot ziekenhuisopname van veel mensen. De maker van deze video is een genezer die zichzelf ruimtebisschop noemt.
Angel
do you believe the posts are spreading canards and false information, and are tarnishing the reputation of this platform these days? I sincerely hope not.
Thanks for this article. It's very useful for me.
Portal
excellent. Are you also a collector?
Sublime filigreed silver antique boxes from India are exquisite pieces of craftsmanship that reflect the rich artistic heritage of the country.
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joispa
rich national heritage, yes indeed. And sublime personal artistic skill.
In Portugal, filigree dated back to 2000 BC but filigree jewellery appeared during the Muslim rule of the Peninsula in C8th AD. I wonder where the Indians learned their skills.
See Portuguese Filigree - Portuguese Jewels
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