Mrs. Duff

In 1602, two VOC (Dutch East India Company) ships from Zeeland hijacked the Portuguese ship San Jago, which had arrived from Asia. The cargo consisted largely of Chinese porcelain, which was auctioned in the Dutch city of Middelburg. This was the first time that a large quantity of Chinese blue-white porcelain ended up in the Netherlands, which became known as kraak porcelain. This name was derived from the Portuguese name for the type of ships they used, including the captured San Jago: caracca, which the Dutch corrupted to ‘kraak’. This was the starting signal for the large-scale shipment of the coveted white gold to the Netherlands by the VOC. Many households in cities such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam were soon decorated with Chinese kraak plates, cups and bowls.

The Dutch elite wants to continue to distinguish themselves from the ‘ordinary citizens’ and therefore seeks an alternative when the novelty of kraak porcelain wears off. They do this by placing private orders with VOC sailors for special decorations and shapes. Officially, private trade in porcelain is prohibited, but despite many warnings from the company, it appears difficult in practice to completely banish this lucrative trade. This ceramic is known as Chine de commande, or ceramics by order. Popular among the elite are dinner services with the family crests on them. However, it can be even more exclusive, and Mrs. Duff is a great example of this. This porcelain statue was probably made in China around 1740 and transported to the Netherlands via the VOC. The woman is dressed in a pink dress with turquoise sleeves and an apron in the same colour. Over it she wears a cape in blue, a millstone collar and a white cap. The face and hands are enamelled in flesh colour and she has a light blush on her cheeks. What is special is that the cape and dress have Chinese decorations, of abstract clouds and archaic dragon medallions. In addition, the shape is somewhat reminiscent of the Chinese ‘blanc de Chine’ Guanyin sculptures. This makes this lady a beautiful combination of East and West. Only a few of these sculptures are known worldwide.

Sculpture of female figure, China, approx. 1735 - 1740, porcelain, h. 42,5 cm, on loan from private collection.

Mrs. Duff is probably a couple with a male variant, known as Mr. Duff. It has long been assumed that these figures were based on real people, namely VOC governor Diederik Durven and his wife Anna Catharina de Roo. Governor Durven served the VOC from 1729 - 1731 and was known in English as Governor Duff. We now know that they were not a Dutch couple, but a Jewish couple from Frankfurt.

A print from the book Neu-eröffnete Welt-Galleria (1703) shows a lady wearing exactly the same clothes as Mrs. Duff. The print was drawn by the Dutchman Caspar Luyken (1672 - 1708) for a German client. The book shows various types of costumes from around the world. During the eighteenth century, several of these types of books were published, in line with a fashion trend at that time for exotic things. The book was very likely the example for the Chinese potters in Jingedezhen. They made the model with great precision and applied the decoration, which shows how valuable this object must have been at that time.

Porcelain mania

A number of Mr. Duff's sculptures are in one collection. These figures were once owned by the British admiral John Byng and have original eighteenth-century labels on the back that say: 'Dutch Merchant'. So even then there was a misunderstanding about who these figures represented. Admiral Byng was a great collector of Chinese porcelain, his ship's cabin was full of plates, vases and sculptures. Byng met a tragic end. In 1756, a fleet under his command was sent out to keep the Spanish island of Mallorca out of French hands. This failed, causing the British to lose a valuable piece of land. Byng was held responsible for this and executed. After his death, a number of prints were published in which he is mocked: he is said to have been more interested in his beloved porcelain than in defeating the French. His porcelain mania was ultimately fatal to him.

Eline van den Berg, curator Asian ceramics at Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics.