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Porcelain
Porcelain collecting has a long tradition, not only in China and Japan, but also in the Middle East and Europe. Due to the massive supply of Chinese and Japanese porcelain through the United East India Company (V.O.C.), it could be found all over the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The popularity of porcelain is reflected in the historic interior of the Fraeylemaborg. For example, on the imposing 17th-century pillowcases in the Great Hall are two porcelain cabinet sets. The baluster-shaped lidded vases and tall vases were made in China in the Ch’ien Lung period (about 1750).
Tableware
The Van der Hoop family had two important dinner sets. The 130-piece Volkstedt dinner service is (partly) on the dining room table. The elegant service, made in the 18th century in Thuringen, Germany, is decorated with flowers. Only one plate of the second set is present. You can see it in the displaycabinet: a plate with a square field, depicting two ladies with a parasol. The design is by Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759) and was commissioned by the V.O.C. in China. The brass handle was added later.
Although “the parasol ladies” proved to be a very popular design, it is rare to find a complete dinner service with this pattern. At one time, the Fraeylemaborg did have such a complete service. The family took great care of it: it was only used on special occasions and the staff received a bonus if nothing was broken during the dishes.
Collection
The service was sold with the rest of the contents of the Fraeylemaborg in 1971. The Volkstedt dinnerware and the Pronk plate were acquired later and brought back for display. Both are part of the Jan Menze van Diepen collection. Van Diepen (1905-1994) was a Groningen collector who assembled one of the largest private porcelain collections in the Netherlands. See more of his collection in the Gele Kamer
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