Crown for the King of Ardra
Also titled Kroon voor de koning van Ardra
c. 1664
- Medium
- copper (metal), velvet (fabric weave), glass
- Classification
- crown
- Dimensions
- height 28 cm x diameter 18 cm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
About this work
This crown was intended as a diplomatic gift to the king of Ardra (a kingdom in West Africa) to promote trade in enslaved Africans. The nature and extent of human trafficking and slavery in West Africa changed with the arrival of the Dutch West India Company (WIC). Besides the fact that people were now being shipped to other continents, the colonial system made the status of enslaved people inheritable and linked to skin colour.
