Chinese batavian ware tea cup and saucer

Hi folks

Found this interesting chinese tea cup and saucer today with a odd Brown glaze

It's got damage but was only £1.50

Showed it to an antiques guy I know in town and he says it was batavian ware and could be 18th century

Interested to know what you guys think

Any thoughts appreciated

 

Yes, it is Batavia ware, Chinese Export ware for Southeast Asia. Batavia is one of the old names for Jakarta, Java, where most of this ware was exported to.

Not Batavian though, that would suggest Dutch ware from the Roman era. The Batavians were a Dutch tribe who fought against the Romans. They came to be a symbol of Dutch freedom from the Spanish etc.
That is why the Dutch East India Company (VOC) named their capital Batavia, thwarting Spanish and Portuguese colonisers meant no money would go to Spain, and the Spanish would have trouble funding the war against the new Dutch Republic.
Of course the local Sundanese didn't think of Batavia as a term of freedom at all.

We don't call this Chinese Export ware Batavia though, we call it capucijner, after the capuchin monks who wear brown.

 

Great info thanks aj

Was this type of ware ever reproduced later, or could it be that old ?

 

It could be 18th century, but @Ce BCA can probably tell us more about it. I have one which is Daoguang, so first half of the 19th century. It was revived during that period.

Here is a Gotheborg page:
https://gotheborg.com/glossary/bataviabrown.shtml

 

Looks right to me, well found!

 

Great find.

 

Thanks Aj cebe and John I value each of your opinions

I've always wanted to find something chinese that was a bit older than late 19c

Interesting to know that things don't have to necessarily look that old to be so

 

Look at the Japanese saucer I posted the other day - 300 years old.

 

Strangely enough John, seeing yours the other day had an effect on me buying mine !

The way the red internal border has been applied made me think of yours

Also the surprisingly strong colours

 

That's why forums like this are so useful. So much stuff to see.