A Dutch visit to the Qianlong emperor

If you are reading this story, odds are that you are sitting in a chair. The average Dutch person sits roughly nine hours a day.[cf] Sitting down is normal in contemporary life, just as it was in the 18th century, though less so. One Dutchman in the 18th century sat in a chair in his home in the United States, which was made in China and modeled after a European design. How did Van Braam Houckgeest, whose initials are carved out in wood, manage to obtain such a chair?

In honor of the Qianlong emperor’s sixtieth year on the throne, the Dutch East India Company, or Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), decided to send an embassy to the Qing court. This embassy arrived in 1795 and was the third of four VOC embassies to China. It consisted of a number of Dutchmen including the Dutch VOC merchant Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest (1739-1801), and the head of the embassy, Isaac Titsingh (1745-1812).

Maritime trade between Europe and China had expanded when the Portuguese started to sail east in the 16th century. The Dutch VOC, established in 1602, commercialized this trade further.[Duyvendak 1938, p.9] Over time, Chinese products became very popular in European circles, and the trade was very profitable. It was Van Braam Houckgeest himself who urged the Dutch VOC to send an embassy to the anniversary party of the Qianlong emperor.[Ibid] Van Braam Houckgeest had initially ended his career with the VOC in 1773, but after financial troubles, he decided to rejoin the trading company to work as the director of the VOC’s trading post in Canton in 1790.[Ibid]

It was during this period spent in China that Van Braam Houckgeest obtained the chair you see on your screen.