Titia on vase

On February 13, 1786, Titia Bergsma was born in Leeuwarden. She would become the first Western woman to visit Japan. Her portrait is depicted on countless Japanese prints and objects. This includes this vase that collector Nanne Ottema bought in 1933 from the East Asian Trading Company. Titia is dressed in a wide, long skirt and a fitted coat with long sleeves. She has a bonnet on her head. The Japanese painter also clearly enjoyed depicting her husband, with a hat and beard. Such an exotic couple was not often seen.

In 1815, Titia married Jan Cock Blomhoff. Blomhoff had recently returned from Japan, where he was warehouse manager in Deshima. This is an artificial island in the Bay of Nagasaki, where the Netherlands is the only Western country to trade with Japan. On 6 March 1816, Titia and Jan had a son, Johannes, and shortly afterwards they left for Batavia. Soon after their arrival, Blomhoff was appointed as chief of Deshima. They decided to make the journey to Japan together, with their young son and their nanny Petronella. This was very unusual: Western women were not allowed in Japan. On 16 July 1817, the governor of Nagasaki nevertheless granted the ladies permission to go ashore, apparently because Titia's son was ill. However, the shogun, the political leader of Japan, refused to grant them a residence permit. Titia, Johannes and Petronella had to return. Titia wrote a petition, but to no avail. On December 4, 1817, Jan Cock Blomhoff is forced to put his wife and child on the ship that will take them back to the Netherlands. He will never see Titia again. She dies in 1821, reportedly of grief.

Bottle with Titia Bergsma Arita, Japan, approx. 1850, porcelain, h. 29.5 cm, on loan from Ottema-Kingma Stichting.

Just like the first elephant that had arrived in Japan a few years earlier, Titia’s appearance caused quite a stir in Japan. She is recognizable in images by her curls (very striking in Japan, where curly hair is almost non-existent) and her necklace of blood coral. In portraits of Europeans, Japanese painters and ceramicists often fail to depict European eyes well. Titia’s are also almond-shaped in many images. In this vase, the artist has made a serious attempt to depict her husband Jan Cock Blomhoff in a style that the Japanese consider typically European: round eyes, a large nose and facial hair. His clothing and that of his son Johannes are also exotic to the Japanese: a blue jacket and white trousers. Blomhoff is also wearing a European hat. It is striking that Titia’s husband is depicted twice on the vase, in different sizes. Once with a parasol or umbrella (both were used in Japan) and once with a dog leash in his hand. Son Johannes is shyly hidden behind his mother’s wide skirt. The (Japanese) dog is playfully frolicking around.

Titia Bergsma

The presence of Titia Bergsma caused quite a stir in Japan. The court interfered in her case and even sent court painters to Deshima to immortalize her. She has continued to play a role in Japanese art and is still often depicted on art and utensils today. It is estimated that she has been depicted on approximately four million objects since 1817. She has thus become a real souvenir decoration for the Japanese market. Every year, Japanese people still come to Leeuwarden to see Titia's birthplace. They usually also visit the Princessehof to see this vase.

Eva Ströber, former curator Asian ceramics at Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics, with thanks to Aafke Koole.