Hendrik Willem and Sientje Mesdag mainly collected what they considered beautiful, which was more than just paintings. They also collected ceramics by the Hague designer Theo Colenbrander and applied art from Asia.
Overflowing
The Mesdag’s house was filled with paintings, but also with pottery, porcelain, bronze and copper objects. The house was decorated in an ultra-modern style, prompting one friend to describe it as ‘an art museum in its own right’.
Matte gold and Japanese lacquer red
The Mesdags commissioned Theo Colenbrander to decorate their home. He designed an interior with walls of matte gold and a decorative border in purple and pale green. The carpets on the floor were in ‘light, cheerful floral colours’. Painting the staircase – which visitors always marvelled at – in Japan lacquer red was probably Colenbrander’s idea. This red was his favourite colour.
Cabinets full of ceramics
The Mesdags were enthusiastic collectors of ceramics, and the cabinets in their house were full of unique examples of the potter’s art. In the cabinet on the right, you can see work made at the Haagsche Plateelbakkerij Rozenburg (The Hague’s Pottery Works Rozenburg). Hendrik Willem and Sientje even had shares in Rozenburg. They loved the work of Theo Colenbrander, who worked there as a designer.
Front salon next to Mesdag’s studio, c. 1915
Side room in the Mesdag’s house, c. 1915
Back room on the first floor, next to Mesdag's studio, c. 1915
Theo Colenbrander, 'Peacock' garniture, 1888
Eccentric objects
Theo Colenbrander made quite excentric objects embellished with extravagant and colourful decorations. Colenbrander gave his creations fanciful names, such as torenpul (beaker vase) or tulbandvaas (turban vase). These names were often playful references to architecture or to Asia. This five-part cupboard set was made for display on top of a cabinet and is embellished with peacock feathers.
Theo Colenbrander, Plate with star-shaped decoration, 1888
True devotees
The pottery of Colenbrander was only for sale at Plateelbakkerij Rozenburg. But there was not much demand for his precious designs, and after four years the factory stopped selling it. The Mesdags therefore had little competition and bought about 165 from Colenbranders in a short time. In 1888 they even bought his ceramics with dozens of pieces at the same time, probably especially for their new museum.
'[We] admire the vases, cups and dishes designed by Mr COLENBRANDER for their great originality and novelty, for their colours – now delicate, now dazzling – and for the imagination and beauty that make these works a new phenomenon in the history of faience.'
C. Bisschop, J. Bosboom, J. Israëls and H.W. Mesdag, in a letter of recommendation for the Haagsche Plateelbakkerij Rozenburg, December 1886
New technique
The Rozenburg Pottery Works pioneered a new technique, whereby several colours were fired together under a single layer of shiny glaze. This produced wonderfully intense colours full of contrast. Occasionally, however, this new method caused the colours to bleed into each other slightly.
Ahead of their time
The Mesdags were far ahead of their time in their love of Colenbrander’s ceramics. Their contemporaries often did not know what to make of the striking colours, shapes and decorations. Colenbrander was aware of this, and said that he was designing for
‘the people who will live 30 years from now.’
Detail of Theo Colenbrander's 'Peacock' beaker vase
Theo Colenbrander, 'Cabbage' plate, 1886
Theo Colenbrander, 'Green pattern' turban vase, 1888
Japanese art
The Mesdags also collected many Japanese objects; porcelain and bronze in particular. These had become popular among collectors after Japan opened its doors to the West in 1854. It became fashionable for collectors to combine Asian objects with contemporary paintings, which is exactly what the Mesdags did.
Cranes
These two large bronze cranes were real eyecatchers in the Mesdag collection. Because cranes always stay with the same partner, the bird symbolises a happy marriage and a long life in Japan. We can tell that these cranes were made for export because the legs can be unscrewed from the body, making them easier to transport.
onbekend/unknown, Lidded vase decorated with scenes from the story of the Heike, 1899
Japanese vase
Philip Zilcken wrote the first catalogue for Museum Mesdag in 1905. He asked a staff member at the Japanese embassy to help him identify the Japanese objects in the collection. One of these was this large vase depicting scenes from an old Japanese fable.
‘the true man of taste appreciates every manifestation of beauty’.
Philip Zilcken on Mesdag, in Museum Mesdag, Catalogue of paintings, drawings, etchings and art objects, 1905
West Asia
Like East Asia, West Asia held great appeal for art lovers in Europe. Hendrik Willem and Sientje were also fascinated by this region, and bought objects from the areas we now know as Syria and Iran. The richly decorated objects from these countries became popular in the Netherlands thanks to the World Fair, held in Amsterdam in 1883.
Devil’s head
Many of the objects in the Mesdag collection have unusual histories or tales attached to them. Take, for example, this staff with a devil’s-head top, known as a gorz in Persian. The staff was once a part of dervish ritual equipment. The Mesdags do not appear to have known much about the original significance of this type of ritual object, and were probably primarily interested in its aesthetic value.
onbekend/unknown, Ritual Staff of a Dervish, 0
Tiles from Damascus
In 1887, Hendrik Willem Mesdag bought four ancient, brightly coloured tiles from Damascus, then part of the Ottoman Empire. The tiles were part of a large acquisition for which Mesdag was supposed to pay 1,058 guilders, an enormous sum. Mesdag, however, gave the seller a drawing and a painting that he had made in part exchange for his purchases, and ultimately had to pay only 58 guilders. Hendrik Willem’s good business sense certainly came in very useful sometimes.
Unknown, Tile with floral decoration, Damascus, 17th century
Unknown, Tile with floral decoration, Damascus, 17th century
Unknown, Tile with floral decoration, Damascus, 17th century
Unknown, Tile with floral decoration, Damascus, 17th century
Peacock
The longer you look at this peacock, the more you will discover: the eyes inlaid with turquoise, the decoration on its tail and neck, and the little tulips on its head. Objects like this were loved by collectors, and could be bought in art galleries, also in The Hague. That is how this incense burner from Qajar Iran (a Persian dynasty that governed present-day Iran) came into the Mesdags’ possession.
Peacock, Qajar Iran, 19th century
A special collection
The Mesdags not only gathered work from friends and leading French artists. They also bought a lot of Asian art, which was in fashion. But Hendrik Willem and Sientje mainly gathered what they considered beautiful. Also the work of Theo Colenbrander, who was not that popular at all.
