Three Chinese export armorial ‘Schreuder’ porcelain dishes for the Dutch market

Qing-dynasty, Qianlong period, circa 1735-1740
 

Diam. 23 cm each
D. 4 cm (deep dish) & D. 3 cm (flat dishes)

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The coat of arms on the dishes was found on the will of Clara Geertruijda de la Haye (1729-1769) in Batavia (Jakarta) in 1767. However, the De la Haye family usually took another coat of arms, recorded in Batavia in 1759. Clara was the fourth wife of Johan Schreuder (1704-1769), director of Suratte (Surat) from 1740 till 1749, governor and director of Sri Lanka from 1756 till 1761 and Councillor of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia till his death in 1769. Together they had nine children, four of whom died young and were buried in Colombo.

 

This same coat-of-arms, though with a different crest, was found on the tombstone in Colombo of three of their children; Susanna Engelberta Schreuder (bpt. Suratte 20 April 1743 - d. Colombo 29 March 1760), Huybert Joan Schreuder (Colombo 4 February 1759 - 29 May 1759) and a daughter who died soon after birth. Therefore, it seems likely that this coat-of-arms with the three fleurs-de-lis belonged to Johan Schreuder. It is interesting to note that this coat-of-arms is depicted in the same way on a sawasa Japanese lacquered copper beaker in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.