Groote Koninklijke Bazar

Description

The Groote Koninklijke Bazar was a department store for Asian wares in The Hague. Owner Dirk Boer (1803-1877) began selling goods in 1825 and opened a store on the Zeestraat in 1843. The store sold Asian items, especially from Japan, China, Persia and the Ottoman Empire, as well as from Indonesia. The buyers were private individuals, including King William 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 archives of the Groote Koninklijke Bazar have been preserved. There are loose records in various archives. The Hague Municipal Archives has some photographs of the interior of the store, showing many objects. The Wereldmuseum Leiden archive contains correspondence with the Groote Koninklijke Bazar regarding purchases.

Resources

• NL-HaNA 2.09.46
  When public and later private limited companies were formed, approval of the articles of association by the Ministry of Justice was required. The content of the files could range from a single opinion to a pack of documents, consisting of articles of incorporation, appeals, opinions, royal decrees and correspondence. —
• 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 series of trade files. —
• Baird, Christina en Helen Backx-Palsgraaf. “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 interest in China and Japan in the Netherlands in the 1830s. — https://doi.org/10.1093/jhc/fhy052
• — https://hdl.handle.net/21.12102/D8714D03F83A4D7D990316AC9A09CB77
• 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
• 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. —
• NL-HlmNHA 476 811
  Declarations for goods and services, 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
• Stadsarchief Rotterdam / Collectie Th. Haanebrink en Alex de Haas 4062
  Poster of the Koninklijke Bazar from 1926. — https://hdl.handle.net/21.12133/8F98F272DE4045309EA6FA218A2664FC
• Wap, J.J.F. De Koninklijke Bazar van den Heer D. Boer aan de Scheveningsche Zeestraat te 's Gravenhage. 's Gravenhage: Belinfante, 1854.
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• 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. —