Book Review and Online Talk: Yann Martineau, 'The Works of C. H. Eckhart for the Van Cappellen Foundation at Capelle aan den IJssel'
Dr Yann Martineau’s recently published book (which will be the subject of an online talk for WHS on Wednesday Oct 7th at 6.30pm) is the fourth in a series of short works drawing on his research into the Rotterdam furnishing company C. H. Eckhart.
In this richly detailed and generously illustrated publication Dr Martineau examines the work carried out at the Van Cappellen Foundation, a philanthropic project set up in 1892 by Anna Maria van Cappellen and her husband Johannes Nolen. Anna Maria, who was descended from a family of wealthy landowners, suffered from poor health and, finding herself unable to have children, decided that, after her death, the majority of her estate should be used to fund building a home for elderly people at Capelle aan den IJssel, near Rotterdam. She showed formidable foresight as she died tragically young, at 32, in 1893, and Johannes survived her by only two years. The work of carrying out the couple’s wishes fell to the architect Augustinus Nolen and the building opened to 14 residents in 1898.
Employing the inventories of C. H. Eckhart in his meticulous research, Dr Martineau details the many interior design features that the company was engaged to supply, from parquet flooring and panelling to tapestries and, of course, wallpaper.
Focussing on the Regents Room where the administrators gathered to conduct business, he describes the installation in 1898, above oak panelling, of Japanese ‘leather’ papers (actually made from embossed paper). Dr Martineau has managed to prove that the papers were supplied by the London wallpaper company Rottmann, Strome & Co, who became the leading importer of Japanese leather paper from 1883 onwards. He explains in helpful detail how the opening-up of trade with Japan led Japanese leather papers, which drew their inspiration from Islamic and Spanish gilded leathers, to gain popularity in well-to-do European homes and public buildings. Rottmann, seeing their potential, signed an exclusive six-year contract for their supply with the Japanese government in 1884.
The wallpaper features a design of flowers, butterflies and, intriguingly, subtly concealed bonsai pruning scissors, with their traditional looped handles, lending a distinctly Japanese aesthetic to the pattern. This memento mori appealed to the regents as a symbol of Anna Maria’s short life and fitted in seamlessly with the architect’s Old Dutch neo-Renaissance room design.
Despite its popularity at the turn of the twentieth century, both in middle-class homes and public buildings, post-war renovations and changes in fashion meant that few good examples of Japanese leather papers survive. Dr Martineau, however, was so captivated by the paper that he embarked on a voyage of discovery to learn more. Trawling though Dutch archives he found invoices and photographs which eventually led him to find the design 63263 paper in Budapest and Copenhagen as well.
Dr Martineau describes his research with authority and a real passion for his subject, not least in relaying the excitement of the idea of wallpaper as the bearer of hidden histories.
Do join the talk on October 7th to learn more.
Lucy Ellis
