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Box of the Dutch West India Company
Also titled Doos van de West-Indische Compagnie
Jean Saint (Saint-Lô, ca. –na 1)
1749
- Medium
- tortoise shell, gold (metal), velvet (fabric weave), gouderts
- Classification
- box
- Dimensions
- height 5.8 cm x length 18 cm x width 11.9 cm x weight 614 g
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
About this work
Stadholder William IV received this box in 1749 as the new administrator of the Dutch West India Company (WIC). The decorations on the box refer to the WIC’s activities: trade in gold, ivory, and people. To the left of the man with the elephant tusk is a European. He is giving money to another man who is pointing to two adults and a child. This is one of the few known depictions of the slave trade.
