special
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY Above, This beautiful illustration, titled Invitation Letter to a Jain Monk, dates back to 1795 and was made in Gujarat, India. Gift of Michael Abbott AO QC through the Art Gallery of South Australia Foundation 2013. MAP MAGNIFICENCE Right, Sourced from the Kerry Stokes Collection, this Dutch map of the Islands of Maluku - the fabled Spice Islands dates back to 1617. AGE OF THE GENTLEMAN Left, this Goan portrait of D. Francisco de Almeida dates back to the 16th Century. National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon.
More than 250 items are on show, ranging from Dutch East Indies company cannons, incredible Japanese and Indian tapestries, artefacts from the Batavia . . . and more. 22
PRIMOLIFE | november 2015
The spices brought (fairly or not) back from the Spice Islands (now part of Indonesia), India and other parts of the Orient weren't destined for the common folk of the time; spices were initially a luxury only for the gentryfolk and royalty, used either as condiments or for medicinal purposes. Western Australia is also inextricably linked to the great Age of Spices (15001800); the Batavia, wrecked on the Abrolhos Islands in 1629 and infamous for the subsequent massacre of 120 men, women and children, was the flagship of the Dutch East Indies Company, which ruled the spice trade for 200 years. The great Age of Spices, 1500 to 1800, didn't just alter European cuisine though; textiles, sculptures, porcelain and other works of art - and more importantly, ideas were also brought back to London, Lisbon and Paris and the other great European cities. It's this interaction of cultures that has primolife.com.au