WD2979

The Water Castle, Jogjakarta, Java. c.1815.

Probably by Captain G.P. Baker.

Inscribed on front in pencil in the hand of Captain G.P. Baker: ‘Water Palace from the SE Djocjocarta in the Centre of the Craton of the Sultan, taken by Storm 20 June 1812 by the forces under Mr Genl. Sir R.R. Gillespie KCB.’ Right: ‘2 Lanthorns erected of masonry in the water to admit light & air to a vaulted passage below.’ Left: ‘Projecting terrace or ledge of Do.’ Centre: ‘ Water’.

Pencil; 46.5 by 59 cm.

Note: An unsigned and undated drawing, probably by Captain G.P. Baker, of the most interesting of the buildings in the ‘kraton’ of Jogjakarta, ‘Taman Sari,’ the so-called Water Castle or Water Palace, which was built from 1758 on the orders of the first Sultan of Jogjakarta, Hamengkubuwana I (Mangkubumi). The main building, as depicted in the drawing, was a maze of inter-connecting apartments, and was constructed on an artificially formed island surrounded by fairly deep water. The design was strongly influenced by Western, or rather Dutch architecture of the period which probably accounts for the extraordinary achievement of its designer in connecting the building by a spacious gallery or passageway under the lake. The only part of this passageway visible above the water was a series of turrets or 'lanthorns', as Baker describes them in his drawing, which admitted light and air. The building attracted much notice during the British period in Java, especially after the ‘kraton’ of Jogjakarta was captured by British troops under the command of Major-General Robert Rollo Gillespie (1766-1814) on 20 June 1812. Baker took part in the capture of Jogjakarta as did Major William Thorn who later reproduced in his book, ‘Memoir of the Conquest of Java’ (London, 1815), the only other contemporaneous representation of it, an uncoloured aquatint by J. Jeakes. For Baker's collection of drawings in the Royal Asiatic Society, see R. Head, ‘Catalogue of paintings, drawings etc. ...’, London, 1991, pp.25-43.