FURNITURE WITH LOW-RELIEF CARVING, 1650-1680

In 1646 ebony is mentioned for the first time as a wood for furniture in the Batavian in- ventories. Ebony had already played an im- portant role right from the very beginnings of the V.O.C. Originally it was obtained from Mauri- tius but, later, about 1644, also from Buru, one of the islands in the Moluccas.

Rumphius says that it was discovered there in 1641 but that, because of intensive felling, even before 1670 no big old trees were to be found there anymore. 1) There was an enormous interest in a source of new supplies because the demand for ebony in Europe was growing. "Kunstkabi- netten" from the beginning of the 17th century were completely veneered with ebony and Hol- lands cushion-cupboards (kussen-kasten) from the second half of this century also required a great deal of this sort of wood.

The Dagh-Register is interesting as it describes a new source in 1644:2)

"During a return voyage from Menado some twenty miles from Ternate (they) had discovered an island that was well-covered with ebony, and from there in a short time a whole ship's cargo should be able to be got and from the same sent two chairs as samples. Noted that the island lay about twenty miles north-westwards of Ternate". "Int weerom comen van Menado omtrenl twin-. tich mijlen van Ternaten hadden (ze) een eylant gevonden dat seer plantayt met ebbenhouwt be~ wassen was, ende van daer in cort een gansche ; scheepsladingh te becomen soude sijn ende vant selve twee stoelen tot monsters sont. Noteert dat eylant ongeveer 20 mijlen N. W. waert van Terna- te".

From this it can be assumed that the two chairs mentioned were probably made on the ship and that no one thought it strange that a few .. chairs should be put together straightaway from this costly wood.

The supply from the Moluccas was so great that, by 1657, there had already been discussion in the Council of The Indies (Raad van Indie) about the discontinuance of the fortress on Mau- ritius, the more so because, at that time, on this island one had to penetrate further and further into the hinterland in order to find the trees. Un- der such circumstances the transport of the timber to the ships became too difficult.

Possession of uninhabited Mauritius was taken once more in 1663. That same year the first samples of ebony from the Coromandel Coast appeared on the market. These were traded to Persia with a hefty profit for the V.O.C.3) It was only in 1665 that rumours began to fly that in Sri Lanka, near Trincomalee, a lot of ebony could be obtained from the forest. 4,5)

In The Netherlands ebony chairs we~e not completely unknown because, in 1612, the Sultan of Turkey had received two ebony chairs as a gift from the States General. 6) The appearance of these chairs is not described. It was usual to up- holster the back and the seat, which is no simple undertaking with an ebony chair because of the hardness of the wood and its tendency to split. Another type of Dutch chair of the period is the so-called Haarlem chair with a double row of bal- usters in the back and a plank seat. This type, which was developed from Italian prototypes, lent itself better to manufacture from ebony.

In the National Museum of Ethnology in Leyden there is a low chair which, according to tradition, came from the Sultan of Solor who presented it to the ruler of Tebukan about 1650.7) This chair which is almost identical to the one in PI. 1, has a back which is ornamented with flowers and narrow leaves in low-relief. Another chair (PI. 2) in the Ashmolean Museum at Ox- ford, was presented to Elias Ashmole by Charles II of England in the 17th century probably from the supply of furniture that came into his possession through his marriage to the Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, in 1661. This chair has the same sort of decoration on the back as has the low chair of the Sultan of Solor. There are more remarkable similarities. The background of the carving is not smooth but consists of small circles with a diameter of about 1 mm. This pattern must have been hammered on with a hollow pipe. This method was used both in India and Indonesia to deal with the background to a Scene that had been either chased or engraved onto metal. The shallow carving on the chairs also more readily calls to mind decoration on metal rather than on wood.

In The Netherlands folding chairs with a single or double row of balusters in the back are to be found. These chairs are carved and the back- ground correspondingly worked with a nail or something similar (PI. 67, PI. 68). The stems of the plants on the cresting rail of the back grow from the centre underneath and 05pt; give the impression of all being part of one plant (PI. 1, PI. 2). This contrasts to the plant motifs in half-relief on the later ebony furniture from Indonesia. This cresting of a chair is completely in accordance with the custom in India. In the Manasara, a centuries old Sanscrit text, a tre~ is mentioned as being placed, as a decorative element, as the crest on the back of a chair. 8) This tree was embellished with different flowers in all sorts of colours and, in the branches, monkeys, gods and demi-gods disported them- selves.

The contours of the cresting rail and the back of the chair as a whole are almost the same on the two chairs. One difference is the twisting of legs and stretchers of the chairs mentioned above.

Examining the grooves in Ashmole

's

cha

ir

closely two spirals can be counted

(

Fig

.

2a

).

Th

e

Indonesian chair has one spiral with a

c

o

rd

carved into it and less tu

r

ns per unit of leng

th

(Fig. 1)

.

This lastmentioned t

wis

t

occurs

frequently in France

,

Ital

y

and Spai

n,

but

was

also not unknown in The Ne

th

erlan

d

s

.

If the chairs under discussion are compared with the one in Plate 4, the correspondence of the carving and the contours is immediately obvious. This chair was bought in England which makes it probable that the chair is either of Indian or Singhalese provenance.

When the chair was dismantled, Tamil letters were discovered on the tenons of the back rails (PI. 5). Looked at from the front these read @= ru on the left and GV = la on the right. These let- ters had also been carved into the tenons of the stretchers between the legs, at least as far as these are still available. The perfect state of the back makes it plausible that these letters are not a later addition. Tamil is spoken in south-eastern India (Tamil Nadu) and in the north of Sri Lanka. Ta- mil is also spoken in some other areas of Sri Lan- ka. Therefore the chair with the Tamil inscription will probably have been made in one of these areas. Later it will become obvious that the Coro- mandel Coast is the most likely place. In Plate 6 the top and bottom rails from the back of an- other, identical chair and from the low chair in Plate 1 have been put next to each other for com- parison.

The similarity between the lowest rails (A2 and B2) is striking. In the centre there is the ju-i or cloud motif that was used on Chinese porcelain, especially during the Wan Li period (1573-1619). Although the S-shaped scrolls have been effected differently, they show a strong similarity in form.

This type of back rail occurs on both high and low chairs as well as on armchairs that have been found on lava and in the Moluccas. In the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam, there is a similar sort of small armchair with low- relief carving which was purchased between 1872 and 1877 and came from a small Protestant church on Banda. This serves to underline the enormous dispersion area of this sort of chair, from India to the Moluccas no less.

The spread was probably the result of the many transfers of V.O.C. personnel between the various company stations in Asia. However, this does not explain why so many chairs and other pieces of furniture are to be found in Indonesia and so relatively few in England. Admittedly Ba- tavia was an important centre of production, but many pieces of furniture were undoubtedly manufactured elsewhere. The inventories (Inv. 3) and various descriptions of journeys indicate that the" coast", i.e. the Coromandel Coast of India (Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh), harboured an important industry for the production of ebony and kaliatur (Pterocarpus santalinum) fur- niture.

F. Valentijn en O.E. Rumphius both mention the fact that furniture with carvings of figures and foliage was made on the Coromandel Coast. Valentijn, who might well have made use of a

manuscript of Rumphius, writes the following on this topic:9)

"Th

e

re

a

re also here (North Coromandel with Pulicat, Masulipatnam and Bimlipatnam as the

mo

st imp

o

rtant centres) carpenters who carve un- c

ommo

nly fine day beds, settees, Tables, Chairs

and Bedsteads of ebony wood, Caliatoer wood etc.: very skilfully wrought with all manner of flowers, animals, etc.: for little money, and with few tools",

"Ookzijn' er Timmerlieden die ongemeene frae- je rust-banken, zit-banken, Tafels, Stoelen, en Ledekanten van ebben-hout, Caliatoer-hout &c;: zeer konstig met allerley bloemen, dieren, &c;: voor gering geld, en met weynig gereedschap uythouwen",

Rumphius expresses himself in similar words:

From 17t century inventories (Inv. 2, Inv. 4) can be gleaned that there were many pieces of furniture made from kaliatur wood. Kaliatur was exported in great quantities from the Coroman- del Coast. Herbert de Jager, merchant in the service of the V.O.C., wrote the following to G.E. Rumphius in 1689:11)

"(Red Sanders or kaliatour), which these days one can acquire in great quantity in the northern part of the Coromandel Coast; and from the which also all manner of beautiful household fur- niture of chairs, and settees is made"

"The Choromandel Coast is especially richly en- dowed with (ebony) from which the Natives make all manner of curious work, such as chairs, settees, and small tables, the same being artfully carved with foliage and sculpture, and so skilfully and with such limited tools, also for such a low price, that it doth amaze.

"In C

e

yl

o

n around Trinkenamale, they have t

he

s

e

trees (Diospyros species) also very great and i

n pro

fusi

o

n, however the people there do not

mak

e

a

s much use of it as on the Coast".

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