November 9, 2011

Checkmate


"Folk Art brings joy and therefore has to be seen. It's like a free bird, descending next to us, bringing us a little miracle."
- Hil Bottema


In my previous post "What kind of Boerenbont are you?" I found out that the new Boerenbont collection has an interesting pattern in it. The Gingham pattern was brought to Europe in the 17th century. That the word Gingham is based on ging-gang, or genggang, which means "striped" in the Malay language spoken in places such as Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is believed to have originated.

Reading in the book "Volkskunst der lage landen" last night I came across a description of a typical Hindeloopen interior back in the day. A fabric is used to decorate the windows & mantelpiece, it's called "Oost-Indisch bont" (East-Indian bold)...

Under cap made of Oost-Indisch bont, Hindeloopen

Well you'll never guess, it is the Gingham pattern and its even used in the Hindeloopen traditional clothing. I was reading that the Hindeloopen style of decorating furniture and all sorts of object (their Folk Art) changed a lot from the 17th till the 19th century. It is thought that Hindeloopen style was influenced by the East India Company. The VOC had a storage place there. They brought object like porcelain with them from their journeys. From India and very likely Indonesia the VOC imported fabrics like the chintz and the Oost-Indisch bont. How the paintings by the Hindeloopen are influenced by the fabrics or porcelain I don't know, but I'm planning to find out.

Chintz ('sitsen') is a floral motif cotton fabric imported from India by the VOC. At the Tropenmuseum they have a very nice example of it on display.

In 1675 the Dutch East India Compony (VOC) began importing brightly coloured chintz ("sitsen") from India. In the Netherlands they started to make imitations. This jacket ("jakje") is from the around 1817 closed cotton print factory "Overtooms welvaren" in Amsterdam.

More about Hindeloopen in the blogpost "Traditional Dutch".
More about Boerenbont & Gingham in "What kind of Boerenbont are you?".

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