Zanzibar Plates: Maastricht and Other Ceramics on the East African Coast by Villoo and Pheroze Nowrojee. Published in 2017 by Manqa Books, Nairobi; email: manqa@outlook.com; website: www.manqa.net. Pp: 95. Price: Not mentioned.
"Though they appeared first on rural hearths, they ended up on banqueting tables in palaces. Though they were designs for peasants, they ended up being commissioned by kings. Though they were conceived for cheap use in the local countryside, they ended up valued on distant shores. Consciously designed for a local, low-income market, they unintendedly became symbols of prestige and social celebration for elite ruling classes in far-off lands,” state the authors Villoo and Pheroze Nowrojee of Nairobi in the concluding chapter of their book Zanzibar Plates: Maastricht and Other Ceramics on the East African Coast. The book is expected to be launched in early 2019 at the Fort Jesus Museum in Mombasa that has a respectable collection. The Nowrojees themselves have a valuable collection of around 200 plates.
The three-page Conclusion succinctly presents the preceding 80 pages of detailed information on the Holland/England/France/Germany produced ceramic dishes and bowls. They came to be known as Zanzibar plates because they were widely imported from the East African coast, principally Zanzibar that had adopted the policy of centralizing all imports and exports through her own warehouses. (A semi-autonomous region of Tanzania, the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean lies 25-50 km off the coast of the mainland.) A novice in the subject may struggle to keep pace with the details provided in the earlier pages but the continuum falls into place on reading the Conclusion.
Pheroze and Villoo Nowrojee: discerning eye for Zanzibar plates
The beautiful visuals of the earthenware in the book attest that "These plates are not of the precision of porcelain either in form or design. Instead they revel in the broad brush stroke, the uncaring bleed over outlines, the indelicate heaviness... Bright purple flowers and leaves in a deep green rim a serving dish. Blue buds and grey stalks decorate a big plate. Stylized lotuses in red, black and green circle a bowl… The fine mosaic of fired clay, aged brown surfaces, and the patina of use all add to making each item an extremely desirable collectible… They are objects that give enormous pleasure, happily rekindling expectations of orange colored halva with shelled almonds for tea and old-time hospitality for company on many a dining table today,” the reader learns.
Found today in many countries of the Indian Ocean from Madagascar, Yemen, India and Indonesia, to the antique shops of Zanzibar, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, these Zanzibar plates may still be seen in the former palaces of the Nizam of Hyderabad in India and of the Sultan of Zanzibar, now preserved as museums.
Centuries before Zanzibar plates came to be valued in East Africa, evidence of Sassanian-Islamic ware from Persia was found in Kilwa on the eastern coast of present day Tanzania and other places in 10th century CE. The practice in East Africa of embedding ceramics in masonry is believed to be a Persian influence. By the 14th century CE fine Chinese porcelain known for its intrinsic beauty became cherished luxury items acquired by the affluent households as objects of status. They were displayed as decorations in wall niches or ceilings, placed at the bottom of water cisterns for the survival of fish, or served a protective purpose, being regarded as mediums that absorb the ‘evil eye.’ Archeologists were able to gauge the prosperity of a site from the ratio of imported to local ware. A majority of the curios inset in mosque walls, tombs and pillars were unfortunately looted by vandals in the 19th century. Apparently coarser, more utilitarian and affordable pottery from China was in use in East Africa from a much earlier period.
Once British and Dutch rivals consolidated rule over subject lands and influence in the Indian Ocean around 1800, they dictated the source and direction of trade. Their own products dominated the markets while imports from China routed via India were restricted. Chinaware as an indicator of affluence was replaced by oil paintings, prints, photographs and furniture. Further, when Chinese factories were destroyed in the early and mid 19th century by internal rebellions and civil war, European ‘china’ invaded the markets with factory produced and mechanically decorated products imitating Chinese designs and motifs imperfectly. German copies of Chinese ware and English copies of German ware competed in the market for shares of the expensive porcelain and utilitarian blue and white cheaper produce. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and arrival of steamships with which the sailing vessels could not compete, European goods became more easily accessible in East Africa. Pottery from the cheaper kilns of Europe — France, Germany, Belgium and Holland — reached the shores of Zanzibar and came to be identified as Zanzibar plates.
The authors have laboriously provided a seven-page Bibliography that may help those hooked onto this subject. However an index listing the seven chapters would have been more helpful to the lay reader. Likewise almost every page of text has footnotes citing the source. The uninitiated though would have better appreciated an explanation of certain terms like "Maastricht ceramics” which one only comprehends halfway through the book when reaching the chapter titled "The manufacturers.”
In the Netherlands, the principal manufacturers of the plates were Petrus Regout and Company of Maastricht, founded in 1836. They introduced large scale production of earthenware in mechanized factories using steam engines and adopted their world famous trademark of a sphinx couchant on a plinth. In 1899 the company was renamed Sphinx. Its main competitor, also from Maastricht, was the Société Céramique. Post World War (WW) I, the industry started to decline and after WW II the two companies merged. From 1969 their production of earthen pottery was discontinued.
Among the German manufacturers, the most renowned was Villeroy and Boch. The prominent French manufacturer Utzschneider and Company was founded in 1770. The well-known British manufacturers were Worcester and Adams, Spode, and Lowestoft and Crown Derby.
The early wares of the European producers were meant as cheap products for the local markets in the Indian Ocean. Whilst the imitation of Chinese motifs like the willow pattern and landscape designs were a common feature, the popular blue came to be replaced by pink and light green. As a variation of peasant floral designs in purples, mauves and greens, the Dutch ware had patterns in gold leaf instead of paint. When commissioned by the sultans, they were engraved with the family’s initials and passed on as heirlooms. Since the markets were largely Muslim ruled, the crescent moon and star started featuring in many designs as also calligraphic and geometric designs. The calligraphy was of a religious nature; commercial nature; for a state purpose or for a decorative purpose.
On the reverse of some of the plates, the manufacturer’s name came to be replaced by a diamond shaped mark that incorporated the first year of manufacture, the month and date, the parcel number and the letters Rd to indicate the design was registered with the London Patent Office to dissuade piracy. Along with the name and place of manufacture there occasionally appeared the name of the agent, Peera Dewji (Dewjee) being a leading agent in Zanzibar. It was the duty of the agent to determine the size of the market and to discern and convey the design preferences of customers in those markets.
Large-scale production and sale of Zanzibar plates came to an end in the early 20th century although they were occasionally sold on the roadside in Mombasa and continued to remain in use in households for the next 50 years. Thereafter they have served as favored objects for interior decoration and occasionally on the exterior of a house.
As remind the authors, "A major part of our understanding of our region and ourselves in it comes from our understanding of our art treasures. Such art, common also to others, makes us therefore more aware of our shared history…”
Picking up plates
"The number of plates and bowls in my collection presently is about 200…We had been picking them up as attractive additions to our dinner table since the mid-1960s. I have been serving food in them from those days and still do so today. And so do our children on their dinner tables whether with grandchildren or guests. The food tastes better!” stated Villoo Nowrojee in response to Parsiana’s queries.
With the book being dedicated to Sadiq Ghalia who had a collection of over 3,500 items, and Chris and Teresa Orme-Smith whose collection of plates, bowls and dishes numbered around 400, Villoo also drew our attention to the extensive bibliography that facilitated their research for Zanzibar Plates.
"The Dutch plates are not just found in the East African region but are common to all the countries around the Indian Ocean. I found one recently being sold on a street in Goa. They can also be found in Bombay, though less now than before, and Parsiana readers should not be surprised to be served a meal even now from such a dish in Parsi homes. These Dutch and other plates are generally not fine ware, in contrast to, say, Chinese or Meissen porcelain, and though not especially valued or valuable, are attractive in their own fashion; enough, for even the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad to display these plates from the collections of the Nizams,” she added.
The first plates that Villoo purchased around 50 years ago were priced at KShs 300 (Rs 217) each. Today they are valued at 10 times the amount and would sell at between KShs 3,000-5,000 (Rs 2,165-3,608). "Much depends on designs, condition and origin. Some manufacturer’s products might be available less frequently and may have scarcity value in a particular region. In India, fine designs in good condition are likely to sell at Rs 5,000 to 8,000 per item. Plates with calligraphy have a much higher value as do the occasional commemorative plates,” clarified Villoo.
"Over the years the history of these plates and their connections with East Africa and the Indian Ocean (not properly documented) came to fascinate us resulting in this book. It was time to pull our many and dispersed notes and views together and share the result with all. It was a fun project for us and a welcome respite from the other books recently written or edited by us which carried many political overtones!”
A leading human rights lawyer who has been an influential part of the political and social movements for constitutional and social change in Kenya, Pheroze has authored five books in the last decade: Pio Gama Pinto: Patriot for Social Justice; A Vote for Kenya: The Elections and the Constitution; A Kenyan Journey; Conserving the Intangible; and Dukawalla and Other Stories. Villoo has taught in schools in Kenya, Tanzania, UK and USA and served as order librarian at the Library of Congress Field Office and worked in the Africana section of the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University. She was editor of Childwatch, the newsletter of the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect, Caucus, the newsletter for the Education Centre for Women in Democracy and A Select Bibliography of Asian African Writing.
The Nowrojee family has long had connections with East Africa. Pheroze was born in Nairobi as was his father. His grandfather came to Kenya in 1900 to join his great-grand-uncle who had come four years earlier. Bombay born Villoo has been living in Kenya and East Africa since 1960. Pheroze and Villoo’s two children, Anahita Sia and Elchi were born in Nairobi, while their eldest Binaifer was born in London.
Endeavoring to create a wider appreciation for objets d’art, the Nowrojees reveal, "Our interest in the arts has been lifelong. We have been collectors of Indian miniatures (when smaller, good non-museum quality pieces were still available at accessible prices in Bombay and London!), bits of modern Indian art and modern East African art. Almost all our pieces are now on the walls of the homes of our children!”