Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

‘Fine and Curious’: the beginnings of the European export trade

Although Japan had long traded with its Asian neighbours, the first European traders to reach Japan were Portuguese merchants in the mid-1500s, seeking precious metals and exotic luxury goods, such as lacquer.

Within a century, however, the Dutch East India Company had come to dominate the Europe-Asia trade. The Company bought spices, silk, cotton and Chinese porcelain. When civil war in China disrupted Chinese porcelain production in the 1640s, Dutch merchants looked to Japan instead, for porcelain that was ‘fine and curious’.

Arita porcelain with underglaze blue decoration

Bottle with wisteria (EA2003.67)   Bottle in the Chinese 'transitional style' with figures in a landscape (EA2003.15.a)   Bottle in the Chinese 'transitional style' with figures and bottle-brush trees (EA2003.15.b)

Plate with Dutch East India Company monogram (EA1976.53)   Ewer in the style of Near Eastern metalwork (EA1978.696)   Albarello in the form of Delft ware (EA2002.22)

Jar with figures in a landscape (EA1978.701)   Mustard pot of Delft form (EA1978.821)   Bottle with stylized snowflakes (EA1978.767)

Ewer with European mounts (EA2007.1)   Jug of European form (EA1999.45)

Cruet jug for oil (EA1978.717)   Ewer for soy sauce (EA1978.718)

Export lacquer and Arita porcelain

Nanban-style lacquered coffer (EA1985.53)   Kendi with moulded decoration (EA1978.1094)   Mug of European form with dragons, flowers, and birds (EA2001.7)

Jar with Chinese lid and Dutch mounts (EA1978.533)   Dish with peonies (EA1993.397)

Underglaze blue and early enamelled porcelain

The first Japanese porcelains to be exported to Europe were imitations of popular blue-and-white Chinese styles. These included the ‘Transitional’ style, with tree-filled landscapes and tall figures, and the ‘Kraak’ style, with panelled decoration around a central design. Colourful enamelled wares, unlike anything made in China, were also in great demand in Europe from the very beginning of the export trade.