European Aristcrats’ Craze for Imari Porcelain @Huis Ten Bosch, Nagasaki

This is my Imari series #2.

Around the New Year’s, I was reflecting on where I went and what I did in year 2012.  My highlights of the year included my trip back to Kyushu and my visit to the Porcelain Museum in Huis Ten Bosch.

I must really like Imari porcelain (*o*)

Did you know –

You can see, in Nagasaki, Japan, how the European royalty and nobility used to decorate their palaces and mansions with Imari porcelain?

In Europe in the 17-18 centuries, there was a craze for the Asian art crafts among the aristocrats.

Obviously they wanted to show off their wealth and social status with Imari collection – like this room (gasp)!

This is a replica of the Porcelain Cabinet (room) of the Charlottenburg Palace which is the largest palace in Berlin, Germany.

The replica is in the Huis Ten Bosch (ハウステンポス), a very popular European theme park in Sasebo city, Nagasaki (長崎県佐世保市).

Mirrors are used effectively – common in the palaces and opera houses built in Europe in those days.

These are all Imari exported to Europe from Imari, Japan.

How many Imari did they own?!   Thousands!

How much money did they spend?!

Sorry, the photos are a little bit blurry.

This is a little blurry, too.

The lavishness is off the chart (*.*;)

There is an explanation on the wall (in Japanese only) about the Porcelain Cabinet in the Charlottenburg Palace, and Sophie Charlotte, the wife of King Friedrich I in Prussia.

Sophie loved Far East Asian porcelains.  The king built the Charlottenburg Palace for Sophie.

It says:  the first Prussian king, Friedrich I, built the Charlottenburg Palace (シャルロッテンブルグ宮殿) for his wife, Sofie, who loved the Far East Asian porcelain ware. This Charlottenburg Palace was just for summer.  It’s in Berlin, Germany. The porcelain cabinet (磁器の間) in the Charlottenburg Palace is the most luxurious of all the porcelain cabinets currently existing in the world. It represents the Baroque style in the early 18th century and the chinoiserie (シノアズリー：中国趣味) which was in fashion at that time (style of art reflecting Chinese artistic qualities adopted in European arts and crafts).

How opulent!

If you are an Imari fan and if you live closer to Japan than Germany, this place is a must-go for you.

I would like to go visit the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin sometime if I can, but for now I am happy with this replica room.

You may love it, or hate it – you can see the extreme concentration of wealth on a small number of people (which reminds me of the certain countries now).

This is the map in the document I found in the website of the city of Imari.

Who coined the name Ceramic Road (セラミックロード)?   (it’s an ocean route..)

I guess it’s meant to be the ocean version of the Silk Road.

It’s fun to think about the long journey the Imari porcelain had by sea from Imari to Europe by way of Indonesia, Singapore, India, and Cape Town, South Africa.

The replica is inside the Porcelain Museum which is at the far end of Huis Ten Bosch park. Since Imari kilns are very close to the Huis Ten Bosch, it makes sense that they added the Porcelain Museum to the Huis Ten Bosch.

So, how did I find about this place?

I was reading the textbook about the history of Imari I found in the Imari city’s website. The textbook was made by the board of eduction of Imari city for the elementary school teachers’ use (It’s a very good textbook but it’s in Japanese only. I hope it will be translated into other languages someday).

One of the pages had a photo of the replica of a European palace room lavishly decorated with Imari. And I was really surprised that the replica is in Huis Ten Bosch, Nagasaki.  So, I had to go visit Huis Ten Bosch when I came back to Japan last year.

Imari are for sale near the entrance of the Porcelain Museum.

They must come straight from the kilns in Imari.

Wind chimes, too.

Admission to the Porcelain Museum:  400 yen  (You have to pay it in addition to the initial admission fee 3,200 yen (or more) to enter the theme park. It is not exactly cheap.)

Related articles

• Imari Kiln Village, Kyushu, Japan – Where Imari porcelain came from (kyushujapan.com)
• Introductory Chapter of Pottery History (やきものの歴史入門編), Imari Pottery Study for Children（伊万里焼キッズサイト）by Imari city Education Committee (伊万里市教育委員会)
• Dru’s Misadventures – Huis Ten Bosch (Nagasaki)