Spittoon

July 2018

With a height of only eight centimeters, this spittoon is one of the miniatures. The object was not presented anywhere on the table or on the floor in front of the betel chewers, but was taken in the hand to spit in, in a way as civilized as possible. Hence the name hand spittoon. The silhouette of the object is similar to standard size spittoons, usually cast in brass. The broad flat neck was of course purely functional, the strength of the objects design was further in the volume of the convex belly and the ascending line of the foot. These balanced proportions are very well kept by the potter and give the object its beautiful shape. On the outside, this ceramic pendant of brass examples is decorated with red engobe in vertical stripes on the neck and in two horizontal rings on the shoulder. The origin of this object is known exactly, something that is an important addition to a museum object. Camille Eugène van Kappen, born 27 september 1856 in Batavia, later assistent-resident, donated this hand-spittoon to the forerunner of Delft Nusantara Museum in 1894 after his stay in the Dutch East Indies. Thanks to that gift, this fragile object was preserved for posterity, including the origin of Karawang in West-Java, also the production site. Because of that annotation, it is now the best documented spittoon in our collection.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 22.613

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