Groote Koninklijke Bazar

The Groote Koninklijke Bazar (Big Royal Bazar) was a department store in The Hague. Dirk Boer, the owner of the company, started trading in Asian arts from 1825. In 1843, he opened his store at the Zeestraat.

Description

The Groote Koninklijke Bazar was a department store for Asian wares in The Hague. Its owner Dirk Boer (1803-1877) began selling goods in 1825 and opened a store on Zeestraat in 1843. The store sold Asian items, mainly from Japan, China, Persia and the Ottoman Empire, as well as from the Dutch East Indies. The buyers were private individuals, including King Willem II, as well as museums, such as the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities and the then Rijks Ethnografisch Museum. After Boer's death, the business continued under new owners.

Provenance research

It is not known whether the business records of Groote Koninklijke Bazar have been preserved. Separate archive documents are held in various archives. The Municipal Archives of The Hague has some photographs of the store’s interior showing many objects. The Wereldmuseum Leiden archive contains correspondence with Groote Koninklijke Bazar regarding purchases.

Resources

• Baird, Christina and Backx-Palsgraaf, Helen. “Viewing Japan and China through Dirk Boer’s Panorama, 1835–1838.” Journal of the History of Collections 32, Issue 1 (March 2020): 119–128.
  This article discusses Dirk Boer's activities that predate the Groote Koninklijke Bazar and highlights a Chinese/Japanese panorama as an illustration of the interest in China and Japan that existed in the Netherlands in the 1830s. — https://doi.org/10.1093/jhc/fhy052
• Boer, Dirk. Kabinet van Japansche, Chineesche en Oostersche zeldzaamheden, antiquiteiten en rariteiten ter bezigtiging opengesteld te Scheveningen: voorafgegaan van eene schets der zeden en gewoonten der Japanners, en gevolgd door eene beschrijving van dit Kabinet. 's Gravenhage, 1841.
  Description of the Royal Bazar by Dirk Boer. — https://search.worldcat.org/title/67826958
• NL-HaNA 2.09.46
  When public and later private limited companies were formed, their articles of association required approval by the Ministry of Justice. The content of the files could range from a single opinion to a pack of documents comprising articles of association, appeals, opinions, royal decrees and correspondence. — https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/archief/2.09.46/invnr/%40index
• — https://doi.org/10.1093/jhc/fhy052
• NL-HaNA 3.17.13.03
  Documents from the Business Register (Chambers of Commerce) of the province of South Holland. Business name: Koninklijke Bazar voorheen D. Boer en Zonen NV, Groote. File number HA-000014 /1. Includes a set of commercial files. — https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/archief/3.17.13.03/invnr/%401
• Dam, Peter van. “The Royal Bazar of Dirk Boer: early Japonism in The Hague around 1840.” Andon 7 no. 25 (1987): 16–19.
  Article about Dirk Boer's store from the Journal of Japanese Art. — https://rkd.nl/library/89731
• Stadsarchief Rotterdam / Collectie Th. Haanebrink en Alex de Haas 4062
  Poster of the Koninklijke Bazar from 1926. — https://hdl.handle.net/21.12133/8F98F272DE4045309EA6FA218A2664FC
• — https://hdl.handle.net/21.12102/D8714D03F83A4D7D990316AC9A09CB77
• NL-HlmNHA 476 811
  Declarations of goods and services supplied, 1813, 1824-1831. The Royal Cabinet of Curiosities purchased items from Dirk Boer, which are mentioned in this archive. — https://hdl.handle.net/21.12102/567C414E21CB4FC48C35085331D8A768
• Wap, J.J.F. De Koninklijke Bazar van den Heer D. Boer aan de Scheveningsche Zeestraat te 's Gravenhage. 's Gravenhage: Belinfante, 1854.
  — https://search.worldcat.org/title/67736999
• Keblusek, Marika. Japansch Magazijn: Japanse kunst en cultuur in 19de-eeuws Den Haag. Leiden: Hotei, 2000.
  Book about a previous store owned by Dirk Boer. — https://search.worldcat.org/title/902181455?oclcNum=902181455