De Chineesche Spaarpot 

• 1939 
• Mervada, J. (Mertens, Jos) 
• Drawing 
• Historical item 

6870327

Drawings / paintings

De Chineesche Spaarpot

44 x 32 cm

1939

Original political cartoon on card in pen/brush and ink, 1939, published in De Indische Post, shows an arm with a union jack sleeve and a hand placing a coin into the Chinese ‘piggy bank’. In March 1939 the British government decided to guarantee a new loan to the central government of China (‘De Britsche regeering is besloten aan de Chineesche centrale regeering een nieuw crediet te verleenen....’) to the amount of £5 million to assist in the establishment of a Currency Stabilization Fund to support the Chinese dollar and indirectly the government of Chiang Kai-shek. China and Japan had been at war (the Second Sino-Japanese War) since July 1937 but Chiang, despite losing great swathes of territory to the Japanese, refused to capitulate. Although the general policy toward Japan of the Chamberlain government in Britain was still one of appeasement, guaranteeing this loan was seen as obstructing further Japanese progress in their efforts to take more control over the Chinese economy, and as a form of retaliation for Japanese aggression in China - and in the cartoonist’s view John Bull does know what he is doing (‘John Bull weet wel wat ie doet...’). Card size 44 x 32 cm, image size 40 x 28 cm, signed lower right with captions in pencil in upper and lower borders. Written in pencil on verso is ‘After use please return to Geo van Dam, Leidscheweg 184, Voorschoten’. Mertens was a strong draughts player, as was van Dam, and the two were clearly known to each other. The cartoon has been folded into four at some point, otherwise in good condition.