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Surviving records indicate that 18th
century townhouses, especially those of the more prosperous
burghers, were well furnished with paintings, mirrors, carpets,
curtains, gold and silver objects. Porcelain from China and
Japan was much in evidence, as well as Dutch Delftware. Pewter
was used extensively, particularly in the early part of the
century, but very little has survived. Copper and brass kitchenware
and other domestic articles were the rule. Furniture was made
out of the indigenous woods, especially stinkwood, as well as
from imported woods. Batavia, in Java, being the headquarters
of the Dutch East India Company, and the Cape being the important
halfway house, it was natural that eastern
woods, furniture and goods would be brought to the Cape. It
is possible that other colonial furniture such as Portuguese
and French could have reached the Cape.
Most of the interior woodwork, the doors and shutters, are made
of deal. The jambs and posts of the doors as well as the floors
and beams are made of teak. Four rooms downstairs, namely the dining
and drawing rooms, entrance and lower halls are tiled with red quarry
imported from Batavia.
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