This is a small selection of some of the artefacts from the Batavia
We hope in the near future to add more items to this page
Ceramics
Early in the 16th century, potters in what is now Belgium and Germany created a new form of ceramic art. They had discovered that by throwing common salt into the kiln during the process of firing, their stoneware pots achieved a lustrous, hard, transparent glaze. This technique of ‘saltglazing’ was previously unknown and came to be a characteristic feature of stonewares from the Rheinland pottery districts of northern Europe. Stoneware vessels manufactured according to this new method were extremely durable and functional. They ranged in design from simple utilitarian wares to highly artistic, delicately worked jugs and vases. Although it is difficult to give an exact date for the earliest manufacture of this type of stoneware, its rise to popularity appears to be associated with the increased demand for beer-drinking vessels in the second half of the 16th century. The addition of hops to the coarse malt liquor drunk by the ‘lower classes’ had made the resultant ale acceptable to all ranks of society. As a result, there was a demand for more attractive drinking vessels to replace the common earthenware pitchers, glass goblets and metal tankards. The costs associated with firing and the purchase of salt (then a dear commodity) made the manufacture of saltglaze stonewares an expensive undertaking. In order to sell their wares at a remunerative price, potters tried to attract the better class of customer. The design and ornamentation of the wares thus became an important marketing feature. Many potters employed their own artists and mould makers whose jobs were to design and prepare the moulded reliefs and embellishments that would adorn the finished products. Others relied on the advice of merchants who, from their personal knowledge of current tastes, would often submit their own designs for manufacture. One such merchant was Jan Allers, whose name appears on stoneware jugs and sherds recovered from the Batavia (1629). By far the largest collection of ceramics recovered from the Dutch shipwrecks Batavia (1629), Vergulde Draeck (1656) and Zeewijk (1727) consists of Rheinish saltglaze stonewares. Identified as coming from potteries in Frechen, Raeren, Siegberg and the Westerwald the various jugs and pots reflect the local and regional variations in pottery styles during the 17th and 18th century. Examples of these wares may be viewed in the displays at the Shipwreck Galleries.Stoneware blue and grey wares Westerwald
These ceramics are characterised by a generally strong, uniformly blue-grey stoneware, decorated with impressed and sprigged work. The body is grey with a tinge of blue, caused by the volatilization, in the kiln, of the cobalt used in the decoration. Usually the sprigging is picked out in cobalt blue. In some cases the stoneware is degraded, indicating that the object has been incompletely fired. In these instances, the salt glaze is flaked and crazed. In some examples, the glaze has puddled to give an 'orange peel' effect, whereas in other cases the glaze has fused totally with the body. A number of the bases show evidence of the square of refractory clay that the pot was placed on during firing. Evidence indicates that they may have been stacked in the kiln base-to-neck, with the clay square separating them. Handles have sometimes one or more pin pricks at the top near the junction with the neck. This may be to facilitate the fitting of a hinged pewter lid, or a technique to prevent cracking or bursting of the body at the join between the handle and the body, during the firing process. BAT 2358 is an interesting, complete, blue and grey, biconical jug with pewter lid and repaired pewter handle.
The jug, similar to BAT 2303, has a rouletted heart and wheel decoration on some of the lower vertical panels, together with two horizontal bands below the mid-cordon and a band on the shoulder of the cordon. The mid-body cordon is more wedged shaped in profile than BAT 2303, resembling the more ornate style of jug, notably von Bock (1971: No. 479). The neck has a frieze of faces alternating with four-leafed clover, similar to von Kohnemann (1982: 267 [lower left]). The lid is a plain dome with no decorative knob, and is attached to a repaired pewter handle. Obviously at some point in the life of the jug, the ceramic handle was broken and it was repaired with a pewter one, indicating that the jug was valuable enough to effect a repair. The pewterer's touch-mark is the Arms of the City of Amsterdam flanked with a 'V' on either side. Another pewter addition is a small, bead-like spot on the side of the neck that passes through the body of the neck of the jug. Possibly this is either a repair of a flaw in the neck of the jug, or a volume mark. The capacity to the lower point on the mark is 675 ml, to the upper point 693 ml, and the total capacity to the brim 739 ml. This is slightly larger than the Netherlands pint which equalled 0.6 litre. BAT 2303 is a well-made, blue and grey, biconical jug with a pewter lid. The jug has a pronounced foot, narrow-panelled decoration on lower body with alternating plain, cobalt-blue and rouletted heart–wheel decoration. The upper body has ornate paneling with stamped decorations blocked out in cobalt blue, and a neck frieze with flower and masks, similar to von Kohnemann (1982: 260). The pewter lid has an ornately decorated top. Its attachment has a long tang running along the handle and a pewterer's touch-mark with crown over the letters 'BH'. (Similar to von Bock, 1971: No.486.)
References.
Bock, G. von, 1971, Kunstgewerbemuseum der Stadt Köln, Steinzeug. Katalogue des Kunstgewerbemuseum, Köln, Band 4. Kunstgewerbemuseum, Köln. Kohnemann, M., 1982, Auflagen auf Rarener steinzeug. Förerung des Töpfereimuseums, Raren.Beardman Jugs
Typical Frechen wares are the famous bartmann krug or beardman jugs—referred to by the English as ‘Bellarmine’ jugs, after the Catholic theologian Cardinal Bellarmine who wrote a treatise on the Protestant religion. Jugs BAT 327 and BAT 2240 are almost identical; each has three medallions of the box-cross-corn-rose type, the same beardman mask and twisted handles. Many medallions depict the Arms of Dutch and German cities/provinces—Amsterdam, Holland, Gelderland, Köln—or Duchies, e.g. the Duchy of Jülich-Cleve-Berg (with variations). A large number of beardman jug sherds were found on the Batavia site—a total of 88 kg, representing about 117 complete jugs (based on a very rough estimate of 750 g per jug); most of the material has come from the inside reef area. One of the more interesting ceramic jugs in the collection, in the Siegburg style, is BAT 326, which has a medallion bearing the name IAN ALLERS on a ribbon, below which is a rampant unicorn supporting a shield charged with a bugle horn. This is the emblem of the City of Hoorn. An almost identical illustration is found on the cover of Willem Ysbrantsz. Bontekoe's Memorable Description of the East Indian Voyage 1618–25 printed at Hoorn by Isaac Willemsz. for Jan Jansz. Dentel, bookseller in the East Street in Biestkins, in 1646.
The whole illustration of the unicorn and the horn may be a pun on the name of the city. The connection between Jan (Ian) Allers is obscure. Jan Allers was a skipper and merchant from the town of Nijmegen, exporting Raeren pottery (Raeren is a small town in Belgium near Aachen famous for pottery) (Linon, 1963; van Loo, 1984). A similar medallion is illustrated in Linon (1963: 25), who states that the Arms have no connection with Nijmegen. Van Loo (1984) has illustrated a number of identical medallions on beardman jugs including some from the Museum of London, excavated from Moorgate Street in 1912, and from Thames Street in 1923. A similar medallion is found in the Westfries Museum, Hoorn. Other medallions with the same motif include a broken jug from the Musée Communal des Beaux Artes and a shenkkan from the Westfries Museum, Hoorn. Linon (1963), van Loo (1984) and Hellebrandt (1977) illustrate the Arms of Jan Allers, which do not resemble the medallion on BAT 326. Another example (von Bock, 1971: No. 367) on a brown jug with a reeded neck from Raeren has a unicorn supporting a globe. Allers is discussed by von Falke (1908), van Loo (1984) and Gobels (1971).
(For references see Green, J.N., 1989, The AVOC Retourschip Batavia wrecked Western Australia 1629. Excavation report and artefact catalogue. BAR International Series 489, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.)
Surgeon's Equipment
Numerous small, jars, known in the Netherlands as zalfpotten, belong to a group that includes majolica albarelli, or ointment jars. They have a red body, similar to domestic redwares, and a brown lead glaze on the inside. Similar jars were found in the Amsterdam City excavations (Baart, 1977), and they are traditionally associated with the apothecary. On the Batavia site, the jars were found in association with a number of majolica albarelli and are thought to be part of the surgeon's chest. Analysis of material remaining in a large majolica albarello revealed that it was red mercuric oxide, a chemical commonly associated with 17th-century medicine and used as a topical antiseptic, particularly for ulcers (Woodall, 1617). The bodies of the albarelli are yellowish-buff, and the decoration, in blue, orange, yellow and green, is painted over a white tin-glaze. This material is typical of Netherlands majolica of the early part of the 17th century.
A large bronze apothecary mortar (BAT 457) had a inscription AMOR VINCIT OMNIA ANNO 1625; a smaller one, BAT 562, was broken, and although the inscription was the same as the other, the date could not be identified. This style and type of mortar is commonly found on VOC ships; two were found on the Vergulde Draeck (GT 6 and GT 74), and both were similar in size to the two Batavia mortars, possibly indicating that they were standard sizes. The larger of the Vergulde Draeck mortars was dated 1654 and had AVOC (Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC) cast into the decoration, indicating that the mortar was especially made for that Chamber of the Company. Two barbers’ bowls both had hanging rings and were about the same size and shape. They were possibly designed to fit one inside the other. It is assumed that these bowls could have been for shaving or for bleeding and had the typical cut-out neck, for shaving, or for the crook of the elbow for bleeding.
Armanents and gunnery equipment
Three patch-boxes were found on the Batavia site—BAT 3103, BAT 3113 and BAT 3131. The boxes are similar although different in size. BAT 3131, the most complete example, has a hinged lid decorated with stamped flowers and a small decoration in the form of a pointing hand; the finger points to the hook catch which retains the lid. On the section along which the lid is attached is a line of writing which is indecipherable.
The end of the box is open, which suggests that the box was attached possibly to a leather strap. Inside the box were a number of wool twill patches (BAT 3131). Eight bronze pike ferrules were recovered from the site. They are about 90 mm long by about 25 mm in diameter, hollow on the inside (inside diameter 18 mm) with a knob at one end. These objects were identified from a picture painted by Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613–70) entitled ‘Corporaalschap van Kapitein Roelof Bricker’, painted in 1639 and located in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum.
Trade items
These objects are thought to be manillas, originally a slave token or unit of money. They are known to have been used as tokens in the late 18th and 19th centuries in West Africa. Their presence on the Batavia cannot be explained. They do resemble examples of manillas, although the West African examples have a different treatment on the ends, being trumpet shaped, without ornamentation; and, they are also larger. In some cases, they were large enough to wear. It is difficult to explain what a VOC ship of the early 17th century would be doing with West African slave tokens; VOC ships did visit the West African coast, and there is mention that the Batavia did visit Sierra Leone (although it is not certain that the ship stopped there). The numbers found on the site suggests that they were not merely curios collected by the crew. On the other hand, they are not recorded on other VOC shipwrecks, nor are they mentioned in the requisition lists of the time. It is possible that they are not slave tokens at all, but have some other purpose. The ornate and intricate treatment of the end suggests a decorative function, since it resembles an animal's foot.
Navigational equipment
Only one astrolabe (BAT 3720) survived in good condition. It was found embedded in a very large iron concretion that almost certainly was the reason for its good state of preservation. Only the astrolabe and gimbal support survive and there was no trace found of the alidade or locking nut. The astrolabe was slightly bent, indicating that it must have received a considerable blow at the time of the wreck to bend such thick bronze. The astrolabe is of the type with the counter-weight at the top (National Maritime Museum Type 1b, Stimson, 1988). There is a diamond-shaped pattern of four fleur-de-lis and the date 1628 above. The scale is marked 0°-90°-0° and 90°-0°-90° in one degree intervals. The upper reverse side is stamped twice with the AVOC mark and with an inscribed 'X' of uncertain meaning. It is similar to the Skokloster Castle astrolabes Nos 2 and 3 (Anderson, 1972; Svensson, 1942; and Waters, 1966), although the scales, the inscriptions and the gimbal moulding are different. It is likely that this, together with BAT 394, Skokloster Nos 1, 2 and 3, the Vergulde Draeck and the Isle of Wight astrolabes (Stimson, 1988) are all Dutch: they have the same basic shape; they have the same diameter of 250–253 mm; and all have Dutch associations. There were 25.7 mm in an Amsterdam duim, so it is likely that these astrolabes were standardized by the Dutch, or possibly the VOC, with a ten Amsterdam duim in diameter.
Beardman Jug Westerwald jug fragments Westerwald jug repaired Majolica apothecaries' jar Westerwald jug with pewter repaired handle Beardman jug Beardman jug Small earthenware jars Possible patch box for musket Pike ferrules Siegburg jug Possibly slave tokens Astrolabe VOC mark on astrolabe Bronze mortar Barber surgeon's bowls Apothecaries' jars
This page was prepared by Jemma Green on Wednesday,
19 July 1995 as part of a holiday job.
(Edited August 2005 by Myra Stanbury.)
