Bartmann Jugs in Japan: Finds and Imitations in the 17th–19th Century

This article asks how Bartmann jugs—Rhineland stoneware vessels featuring a bearded male face, known in Japan as hige tokkuri—circulated within Early Modern Japanese society beyond the restricted Dutch factory sites. It seeks to map their distribution across domestic archaeological sites and to distinguish between original imports and later Japanese imitations. The work treats these objects not merely as exotic curiosities but as material evidence of daily life and cultural adaptation during the period of Dutch–Japanese encounter.

The author argues that these jugs were likely not imported as commercial trade commodities but served as everyday utensils for Dutch factory personnel and passed beyond the confines of Dejima. While most existing examples in Japan are asserted to be products of Frechen from the early 17th century, the study expands the known geographical footprint of these artifacts. It moves beyond the traditional focus on Hirado, Dejima, and Koyasan to include new excavation data from Osaka and Sakai. The paper suggests that fragments found in Nagasaki, specifically at the Manzai-machi and Kōzen-machi sites, indicate that town elders and officials possessed these vessels. It is considered highly probable that the jugs also circulated in Edo, even though no excavated examples have been reported there yet, given the presence of other Western artifacts like wine bottles and clay pipes in the city.

The evidence rests on a systematic re-examination of excavation reports and museum collections, cross-referenced with European typological studies by Sebastiaan Ostkamp and Wil Snip and by Christoph Keller. The author identifies specific fragments, such as one from the Hirado Kawachi site, as among the oldest known in Japan, dating to the first half of the 17th century. Fragments from the Dejima Dutch Factory site are analyzed for their production dates; those with cobalt applied to the eye area are likely from 1610–1640. The study also scrutinizes Japanese imitations, noting that a furidashi (sweets container) attributed to the Kyoto potter Aoki Mokubei was likely produced after the master’s active period, based on discrepancies in the kiln seal. Similarly, two Bartmann jugs held by the Tokyo National Museum with ‘Sanyō’ seals are considered faithful reproductions of 17th-century Frechen jugs, likely used as sake flasks rather than tea ceremony utensils.

The connection to the Dutch trade is central to the article’s findings. The jugs arrived in Japan via the Dutch East India Company (VOC), transported from the Netherlands after being shipped from their production sites in the Rhineland. The work highlights how these objects came to be seen as ‘Nanban objects’ in modern Japan. It is plausible that during the modern Christian-Nanban boom, the bearded face on the jug was misidentified as Jesus Christ, leading to their circulation as Christian relics. The article notes that the Eikokuji Christian Relics Museum in Nagoya, which displays materials related to the Nanban trade, holds a jug that is likely a domestic imitation from the Taishō to early Shōwa periods. The imitations reflect a broader trend where Western forms were adapted and reinterpreted within Japanese cultural contexts, including the production of ‘Kyō-Aranda’ in Kyoto to imitate Dutch tin-glazed earthenware.

The work covers excavated fragments from Hirado, Dejima, Nagasaki, Osaka, Sakai, and Koyasan, alongside a detailed look at imitations from the late Edo to modern periods. It leaves aside a comprehensive investigation of the jugs’ secondary use and of documentary sources that might confirm their use in tea ceremonies, noting that such research requires future study. The article is particularly useful for readers interested in the specific archaeological footprint of Western wares brought by the Dutch in Osaka and Sakai, as well as those seeking to understand how Western forms were adapted in late Edo and modern Japan. It provides a nuanced view of the transition from imported utility to domestic imitation and myth.

This is a journal article published in the Research Bulletin of Seinan Gakuin University Museum in 2026, spanning 16 pages. Written in Japanese, it synthesizes primary excavation data with secondary European research to update the historical record of these distinctive vessels.

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Related articles on Nanban.pt

• The Fan Without Its Ribs: Dejima and the Three Acres That Held the West, 1634–1859
• The Company: How the VOC Conquered an Ocean and Inherited an Island
• Nagasaki: How a Handful of Fishermen’s Huts Became the Trade Capital of the World
• The Year on the Gable: Hirado, the Matsuura Lords, and the Century of the Open Door, 1543–1641

Reviewed by Nanban.pt editorial, 2026-10-06.

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