Lost in Translation ExoticisminEarly Modern Holland Claudiaswan Whilecontent andlanguageformacertain unityinthe original,like afruit andits skin,the languageofthe translationenvelopsits con- tent likearoyal robe with amplefolds.For it signifiesamoreexalted languagethan itsown andthusremains unsuited to itscontent, overpowering andalien. Walter Benjamin, 1923 “All thecuriosities onecould wish for” TheEarly Modern Era, also knownasthe “Age of Discovery,” sawthe introduction to Europe of an arrayofforeign goods— spices,botanical andzoologicalspecimens, coffee andtea, porcelainand otherartifacts,precioustextiles, ethnographic goods, andother curiousitems—ingreater quantities and varietythaneverbefore. Most of theseexoticwares arrived by wayoftrade networks andwereeagerly acquired and exchanged by merchants, consumers, scholars, nobility,and artistsalike.The influxofforeign goodsmadeits mark on andoff thestage,athomeand in semi-public institutions;like- wise,pictures, poems, andavariety of publications across the continentoffer evidence of widespread interestinexotica.1 1The literatureisvast. See,for example,Lach1965–77;Pollig1987; Sievernich/ Budde 1989;Bergvelt/Kistenmaker1992; Jardine1996; Seipel 2000;Jackson/ Jaffer 2004. 100 buch_persien_DE_EN_produktion_RZ_2_Revision.indd 100 02.09.13 13:01 Fig. 45 BoëtiusAdamsz. Bolswert (ca. 1580–1633), ByrsaAmsterodamensis,1609,etching and engraving, 43.2 ×60.5cm(Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum,RP-P-OB-67.487) TheDutch Republic played aprominent role on theglobal Theopeningin1611ofthe Amsterdamexchange, mod- stageinthe seventeenth century; thenorthernNetherlands eled on London’s RoyalExchangeand Antwerp’sBourse, were suffused with foreignwares.Exotica from theEasthad fortifiedthe city’s role as ahub of tradeconnected to allparts traveled overlandfor centuriesbythe timethe DutchEast of theglobe,principallybywater.The Beursitself, designed IndiaCompany,the VerenigdeOost-Indische Compagnie by City Architect Hendrick de Keyser,was situated on the (VOC), foundedin1602, andthe West IndiaCompany damfor whichthe city is named, with direct access to the (WIC), foundedin1621, securedtrade routes formerly con- water by whichsomanygoods were conveyed to it forsale trolledbythe Spanishand thePortuguese, bringing theDutch andpurchase.The earliest images of theexchange, prints to prominence as global merchants, andthe capital of the publishedinordertocelebrate itsexistence,showabustling DutchRepublic,Amsterdam, to prominence as theEuropean mass of meninthe interiorcourtyard,where tradewas con- port of entryfor so many spectacular andprofitable newcom- ducted. Theseimagesfeature meninturbans and entari, modities.Fromthe earlyseventeenth century, Dutchand for- agents from theMiddleEast, mingling with theDutch and eign authorsalike celebrated Amsterdamasahub of com- otherEuropean-dressedmerchants(fig. 45). By wayofprac- merceinwonders andforeign or exotic goods. René Des- ticesinstitutionalized by theVOC andWIC at andaround cartes,who livedinAmsterdamduringthe third andfourth theAmsterdamexchange, seventeenth-century Holland decadesofthe century, marveled at thecopiousgoods aboundedinexotica.3 exchanged in thecity. He wrotetohis friend theessayistJean From theperspectiveofits artistic legacy,the exoticismof LouisGuezdeBalzacofthe pleasure seventeenth-century Dutchvisualculture is notimmediately àvoirvenir icydes vaisseaux, quinousapportentabon- evident. By andlarge,Early Modern Dutchart continuesto dammenttoutceque produisent desIndes,&toutcequ’il be celebrated andstudied forthe imageofseventeenth-century yaderareenl’Europe…Quelautre lieu pouroit-on choisiraureste du monde, où toutes lescommoditezdela vie, &toutesles curiositez quipeuvent etre souhaitées, soientsifaciles àtrouverqu’en celluy-ci?2 3See, interalia, Aillyetal. 1944–50, vol. 2(1947): Beschouwingen over de Opkomst en denBloei desHandels in de GoudenEeuw,pp. 65–120;Jonker/Sluyterman2000, 2Charles Adam andPaulTannery,eds., OeuvresdeDescartes, 11 vols.(Paris, esp. Chapter I, “The UnfoldingofaCommercialWorld Empire,1550–1650,” 1897), vol. 4, Correspondance, no.33, pp.202–4,May 15,1631. pp.14–71;and Lesger 2006. 101 buch_persien_DE_EN_produktion_RZ_2_Revision.indd 101 02.09.13 12:44 Fig. 46 Claes Jansz.Visscher (1587–1652) and Pieter Bast (1570–1605), ProfileViewofAmsterdam, 1611,etching andengraving withletterpress containing woodcutvignettes,25.6×115.4 cm (Amsterdam,Rijksmuseum,RP-P-AO-20-22-1) Dutchsociety andlifeitoffers.4 Dutchart tends,thatis, to be fact that AmsterdamsupersededAntwerp as theEuropean understood as ahermeticreflectionofDutch societyand life hub of so much of it;the fact that thesea-goingvessels made onto itself.Considerthe vast quantities of pictures—prints, thetrade andthatthe goodscelebratedinstill-lifepaintings drawings,and paintings alike—that celebratethe places and were thefruitsofthatsametrade—are often enoughcited in landscapes andindividualsand belongingsand sea-goingves- passing, primarilytoaccount forthe personal wealth that sels andcustoms as well as costumes of theyoung republic in enabledsomanyDutch individualstoinvestinthe pictures formation(see, forexample,fig.47) At thesametimeitisan that becamesolegionand so emblematicofEarly Modern incontrovertible andimportant fact that Dutchtrade acquired naturalism.Recentart-historicalscholarship hasbegun to call global dimensions in theseventeenth century, andthatthe attention to therelationshipbetween Dutchglobaltrade and Dutchwereactivelyengaged in tradeand sometimes coloniza- Dutchpainting.5 Building on thisliterature, thisessay aims to tion in theBaltic, theAmericas,Africa, theLevant, South exoticizethe conventional imageofDutch culture—andto Asia,and theEastIndies. Thefacts of global Dutchtrade—the accountfor therole of exoticainthe making of theDutch Republic. ExoticasuchasPersian or Turkishclothing,textiles, and 4Thisisatruismofthe study of Dutchseventeenth-century domestic paintings. arms,Brazilian featherwork, birdsofparadise, lacquerware, Althoughtheyare notunderstoodasliteral,unmediatedrepresentations of thehomesphere, they areconsulted andappreciated forthe orderlyand homogeneous impressiontheymake. See,for example,Westermann 2001band Fock 2001. 5Especially, forexample,BergerHochstrasser2007and Brook2008. 102 buch_persien_DE_EN_produktion_RZ_2_Revision.indd 102 02.09.13 12:45 products carved of ivory, lustrousshells, tulips,porcelain, tradehub.“Thewidelyrenownedcapital of tradeofthe entire bezoar stones, coconutsand othercompelling, rare,and costly world, Amsterdam,”isdepictedasanew Antwerp; invoking itemsbroughtfromthe East Indies,Central Asia andthe Demosthenes’sdescription of Athens,the text callsthe city the Levant,and theNew Worldtothe West populate Early “sun andsoul” of allofEurope. People from allparts of the Modern Dutchmaterialand artistic culture, althoughthe role worldfeelcompelled to “sendorpresent in person theirprice- of exoticainthe formationand identity of theyoung republic less warestoAmsterdam, as if to aworld-renownedempress.” is notoften remarked.Muchofthe discourse—pictorial and Thepresentationofgifts to themaidofAmsterdampictured textualaccountsalike—ofencounterswithforeign landsand above thetextembodies thisdynamic. Thepersonification of people naturalizes theaccumulationbythe Dutchofthe prod- theglobalentrepôtsitsatopathrone of poles, thepiles on ucts andother goodsobtainable in thoseexoticlocales.Thisis whichthe city is builtinthe morass it occupies. Sheholdsa nicely illustratedbyaportraitofthe city of Amsterdamren- ship in one hand andthe crestofthe city in theother,asshe deredina1611printthatcombinesaprofile view of thecity receives delegationsof“allthe principalpeoples of theworld.” andits harbor with alengthy explanatory text andindividual Thetextsuggestswhere trademight be improvedand revels vignettesoflandmarks of thecity(fig. 46).6 Thetextisa in itemizingthe fruits of whereitisbooming.The litany of paeantoacitystill in formation, characterized as aglobal goodsfromthe East Indies includes:“silk,preciousgems, pepper,ginger, cinnamon,cassia, nutmeg, andother spices alongwithcountless herbsand roots…sentfromJavato 6Bakkeretal. 2007,fig. I. Amsterdam.”Itis“so greatthatone canhardlyarticulateitor 103 buch_persien_DE_EN_produktion_RZ_2_Revision.indd 103 02.09.13 12:45 describe it credibly.” This verbal cornucopia extends to century, includingthe establishmentofthe DutchEastIndia importsfromAfricaand Brazil as well Madeiraand elsewhere Companyin1602. Untilhis deathbydecapitationinthe Bin- in Spainand theMediterranean andTurkey: “silk, damask, nenhof in TheHague in 1619,helived very well,inamassive velvets, Caffaand othersuchartfullywovencloths…fine home in theheart of TheHague.7 bombazine, glassdrinking cups,Venetianmirrors,bezoars Shortly after VanOldenbarneveltwas executed,ahouse- etc. come here from Turkey,Italy,and othersouthernlands.” hold inventorywas drawnuprecording thecontents of his (The turbaned manatthe farleftofthe composition[no.18] is grandhome.8 Theinventory features numerous very fine identified in thekey to theimage as Persian. Althoughthere is examples of conventional Dutchfurnishings—manypaintings no mentioninthe text of Persiangoods,the keyspecifies that andmaps, chests forlinensand otherhousehold goods, tables the“Tartar [no. 17]and thePersian with aladen camelbring andchairs, amirrorinanebony frame, silver,moresilver, gemstones, oriental pearls,the medicinalbezoar stone,many andbooks.Italsoencompasses numerousforeign goods. In silks, balsam oil, andincense.”)The list also includes tin and addition to a“smallbox containing