94

Th. H. LUNSINCTH SCHEURLEER

Brass Chandeliers and Wax Candles for Japan

Tlre complex c fshrirtes and temples at Nikko illjapan incorporates a shrine with the tomb of Tokn?lcrrr?a
leyasu, whose renrains were taken there in 1617 alld whose tomb was reconsecrated ill1 6,3 6at-terradicali
alterations had been made to the place by his ?rar?dsorrlemitsrr.I emi tsuis also brrried there in a shrine built
lry him in 1653 (Note 1). Nikko rapidly becarne a holy place and is today one ol-the most
visited tourist centres injapall. It also houses a numher o f ?importarrt ?i fmade
ts to the Sho?lrrrrin the 17th
century by the Dutch East India Company: itnl)ositi,?prodiicts ofanisterdatit brasst-Ouiiditi,?7, all displayed
close tcyether at the Yorneirron ?ate.
The choiceot- i - was a problem that cropped up eaclr year whell the Ivead4the Corrrparry irrJnparr had
to rwakea state jorrrrre? to wait orr the S hogu nin Yedo (Note 2) a ndgreat care and attt,titioii was lavished
on these?i ftsof brassobjects,all of which were rrrcndein the critical years betu,(,eii 1636 and 1644, when the
Portuguese were expelled and tlre Dutch obtained the morropolyof trade u)ithj(7p(7iiat 1W slrirna(Note 3).
Mention ofg!ftS.f(1Tthe Emperor (2fJapan is made in tlve East India Corrrpany's records of 1634, tlve
Amsterdam Chamber heing empowered to provide siiitablegilts on the advice fthree rneryamiliar with
that part gf'the world (Notes 5-8). By the spring of 1636 a lar?e brass chandelier with 30 branches had
arrived in Japan and François Caron was able to exhibit it to the Lord (2fHirado.f(Jr lris approi,al. The
latterselected it as tlvemost importaiitg?ft to be made to theSlro?urr tha t yea (Note 9), rcq(irditil?it as ellen
beirrgsiiit(ible.t?)i- Nikko(Note 10). Af ter it had been seen ciiidadmired by rnrrnerorrsI)roiiiiiiciitj(il)aiicsc
(Note 11), a specialllooden stand was rnadejor itsi)reseiitt7tioli(it was said to u?ei?lr 796pounds, Note 12)
and each part was marked with a Japanese character, so that it could lre assembled and dismantled by tlve
Japanese (Note 13). On the day of ?tlreaudience, 3 May 1 6 36,all went rvell a rrd thecha ndelierr,vns allotted
a place in one o f ?theterrrplesatNikko (Notes 14, 16).
The Drrtch Inay rvell have been aware of the recorrsecratiorrof Ieyasu's tomb in 1636 tiiidl)ossibly elli,is,7-
ged tlre ultimate destination of tlre chandelier whera the order was placed. There was certaillly precedent
,for such a timelygUt: ill 1613 the Company had presented a brass chandelier executed byHans Ro?iers of
Amsterdam, in a richly carved wooden lantern desi?rred by Helldrick de Keyser, to Siiltaii Achmed
Turkey, presiittiably.l'or the Blrre Mosgrre in Constantinople commissioned by him, which was completed
that year.
The ch(iiidelier_l-()rthe Shoqiii,i now stands in a specially constructed octagonal building 1, 2). It
comprises a cerltralstem composc?dol'clemeiits (2f¡;asej(mn and ending in a glohe with aj/llial a lid three
rows each of ten branches in the-form ofS-scrolls ending in dolplrirrs' heads.The marked downwards crrrve
of the branches is so di f erent f ronvthe upturned brarlclres_favorrredby Hcrns Rogiers that the chandelier
cannot be by lriwr.
That it must be the work ol-oiie ol'the yorlrl?er?eneratiorr of brass -/0 -iiiider-? is corrfirrned by its close
resemblance to the next preserut-forJaparr, which we knowfrom a record of-lOMarclr 1638 to have been
made byJoost Gerritsz. (Note 10). Gerritsz. tlris time supplied two lar?e carrdelabra and 24 wall sconces,
UJfÚch) along witlt allother challdelier, had arrived in Batallia lry 30 JUlle 1639 (Note 21). Van Diemell,
the Governor General, thought it desirable that not more than one carrdelabrr.rmand 12 sconcesshould
be sent to japan as part of the? ft for 1640, alotig with two chests (d-wax candles, For thejtrst time air
assistant uJa,s seYitalong to assemble and clean the pieces.ThisgUtmet with tlae sarne srrccess as the previorus
oiie, beitig sent to Nikko immediately on arrival (Note 21-25).
There the candelabrr-rrnstands in the open air (Figs. 3-4). The top part is similar ill composition to tlve
1636 chandelier, except that the branches now point upwards and tlve top is croumed by an extra
carrdlelvolder,ma ki Ilg 31ill all. The stem consists ofsix twisted colnrnnswith Tuscan capitals, supported by
a base cornposed t?oliite-?with auricular omamellt. Caroii riqhtly rcqarded this as a reqal object,
unthinkable in the Netherlands and expressly meant as a ?ift for jorei?rr courts. In,fact the second
candelabrum was evervtually presented to Shah jahan) but the stoq its preserrtation clearly
demonstrates that brass was not considered arnappropriate royal metal in India (Note 26), in cot,itrastto
Japan where there was more titider-?t,indiii,?, and appreciation of the ivorkit?q of tioti-pi-ecioiismetals.
The tmelve scortceseach with two arms are also preserved at Nikko, where th u?y a mou ru? nted onthe mall orr i
either side of the Yorneinon ?ate 6-9). The plates are ill the form of ?cartouches with auricular onza-
ment, while the scrolled branches a?ain jeature dolphins' heads and, irnaddition, counter scrollsin tlve forrn
of an ti?i?-oldit?qleaJon a stem. No comparable pieces are knomrvand they undoubtedly belorr? the
most beairtifitl products (dJoost Gerritsz.
 95

The embassy of 1640 again had a.l? ioii ra b leoutcorne (Note 2 7), but thefiltnre o f theDutch inJapall was
still uncertain and there was thus every reason to send the Shogun another `worthygift' (Note 28). In 1642
there arrived in Batavia a large and costly lantern with a chandelier inside it, surpassing all the prci,,iotis
gUts and wei?hit?q in all 4523 pounds. In a letter of 9 May 1643 Van Diemen pronounced it ready_for
dispatch to Ja pa n (Note 29). It was packed in eiqht chests ar2d accompanied this time by a bras.ifourlder)
ClaesJonasz. cd Amsterdam, who was to assemble and clean it. On arrival inJapan it was again admired
and the advice was given that it should be sent by sea to Osaka and then overland to Yedo to avoid the
danger of shipwreck between Osaka and Yedo. (Note 34). This was done and the present proved
particularly timely helping to smooth over a critical incident at that momertt (Note 35, 36).
The lantern, which now stands under a rool*stipported byJour columns, is about three metres high
i o- 1 8)and octagonalirlJ(mn with pilasters with Tuscan capitals and twisted columns at the corners.
The bottem part hasconsoles of auricularornament with pallels of foliateornament between them and this
theme is repeated at the top, where there are also eight cartouches with auricular ornament and the
Tokugawa arms and a smalllalltern with foliate ornament and vases. This can certainly be regarded
as a completely unique piece. It reveals that the Amsterdam Chamber f tlly understood how much depen-
ded on the successof thisgift, which cost 16,053guilders (Note 38). It, too, must obiioi4sly be the work of
Joost Gerritsz.
Gerritsz. was born in Amsterdam in 1598 and married in 1618 (Note 41). In 1641, at the precise point
when the East India Company commission had been completed, he bought Hans Rogiers' old house on
Nienwend?l2 (Note 42). In 1642 he was,given an important cornmission for f f teen or more chandeliers.for
the Oude Kerk. They no longer exist, but from some of Emavtuel de Witte's paintings (e.g. Fig. 1 9,Note
43) they appear to have been very similar to tlve 1636 chandelier. He also madej-oiir brass arches for the
baptistry in the chrrrch (likewise visible in the paintings), two lecterns and a banister forthe pulpit. The lat-
ter, which bears the rnark J.G.G., is still extant (Figs. 20-24), its riclz decoration shol4)it?qthe familiar
auricular ornament. Gerritsz. died in 1652 and u?as
un foldir-t? lea f mot f and elements clearly derived f rorn
buried in the Oude Kerk, of which he was a deacon (Notes 45, 46).
Gerritsz.' 1636 chandelier exhibits the refinement of detail and harmony oj-form characteristic of the
classic Dtitch brass chandelier of the 17th century, cf the 30-branched example in 's Hertogenbosch
Cathedral made by Otto Drvi f in Amsterdam in 1663-4 and the chandelier of 1 664 by Elias Eliasz.
Vliet in the Amsterdam Historical Museum (Note 48). The basicform continues on into the 18th century
(Note 49), but it may be asked whether it existed bej-ore1636 and whether Gerritsz. rni?ht not have been
responsible .forits development. Though no definite answer can be Riven,it certainly seems unlikely thatt
Hans Rogiers will have gone over to this new type at the end of his life (he died in 1638).
Gerritsz.' use of ornament deserves attention. Some of that on the panels on the Nikko larttern is
rernirtisc-entc??'theornament en?raiin,?-I (Y'Hansjansseti (Note 50), but other areas show mot?f?clearly
derived frorrvauricular r oriia nient
and the latter also predominates in Gerritsz.' hi?hly characteristic plastic
ornamellt. The Nikko lantern is certair2lyhis most important piece and the ortly thirt? it can be compared
with is the choir screen of 1645 in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, which we know,from a print to have
been desi?ned by johamles Lutma 25-28, Note 51). The screertltas recently been discoveredto bearr
the initials S.D, a nd J,K,,which must be those (?f'thebrass.fàunders who executed it. We can surely assumed
that a similar collaboration between designer and bras-?j?)t4iider will have obtained in the case oj'the Nikko
lanterrt, for Gerritsz. will scarcely have had the knowle4qe of architecture and des(gn required to produce
such a sophisticated composition. The name ol'tlze designer is not recorded, but in view of the auricular
ornament Lutma certainly seems a likely candidate. Moreover, one of the des(gnsby him o f whichetchirt?s
were made by his son Jacob shows a door knocker (Fig. 5), clearly meant to be executed in brass, which
features on the left a scroll soclose to the consolesat the base of the lantern as to suggestthat they must also
have been designed by Lutma. If Lutrna did, indeed, work with Cerritsz. or2this commission,tltis would
explain why he should later have beengillen thatjè)f ' tlte choir screen)the most important brass object' ever
made in Amsterdam.
Further research will undoubtedly reveal more about Joost Gerritsz., who was clearly one ol-the most
important brassfounders in Amsterdam. That not everyorLewas equally impressed by his achievements,
however, is revealed by an epigram byJan Vos on j. G., who chose to make, instead ()J-acrucUlx)a brass
!amp. to burrt bEfore (the idol' ol-the Emperor ol'japai,i (Note 53).