Amsterdam as the Centre of World Trade

Pieter Isaacsz., c. 1604 - c. 1607

This painted harpsichord lid is literally bursting with ambition. Depicted at the left is Amsterdam, personified by the City Maid. The world lies at her feet: in the distance is the African Cape of Good Hope, at the left Asia with the Indonesian archipelago, and at the right America. In the meantime, the Dutch sail en masse to these regions, conquer them, and conduct trade there. In this way the Spanish foe is thwarted, as is inscribed in Latin on the stone at the right.

  • Artwork typepainting, keyboard instrument, musical instrument, stringed instrument, harpsichord, harpsichord lid
  • Object numberSK-A-4947
  • Dimensionsheight 79.4 cm x width 165 cm x thickness 3 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on panel

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Pieter Isaacsz., 1599

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Jupiter als satyr met Antiope

Pieter Isaacsz., 1579 - 1625

Jupiter als satyr met Antiope

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • Amsterdam as the Centre of World Trade
    • Painting on a harpsichord lid with an Allegory of Amsterdam as the center of world trade

  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-4947

  • Description

    Klavecimbeldeksel waarop links in beeld de personificatie van de stad Amsterdam (de Amsterdamse stedenmaagd), gezeten op een troon met aan haar voeten een riviergod. Links van haar de god Neptunus. Ze reikt met haar linkerhand naar een globe. In het verschiet schepen in een baai en een gezicht op een Aziatisch landschap. Boven de troon houden putti het stadswapen van Amsterdam op.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    inscription: ‘Exclusam hesperia perituram Hispane putasti Me? Frustra: nam cura Dei mihi pandit ad Afros Primo iter, atque Indos, et qua patet extima China Quaque etiam priscis non cognitus Orbis in Orbe. Perge favere Deus, daque his agnoscere Christum’

Creation

  • Creation

    • painter: Pieter Isaacsz., Amsterdam
    • musical instrument maker: Ruckers, Firma, Antwerp

  • Dating

    c. 1604 - c. 1607

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on panel

  • Dimensions

    height 79.4 cm x width 165 cm x thickness 3 cm

Explanatory note

  • In 1604 reisde Jan Pietersz. Sweelinck naar Antwerpen om deze stadsklavecimbel voor het stadhuis van Amsterdam te laten maken.

This work is about

  • Person

  • Subject

  • Place

  • Period

    1600 - 1610

Exhibitions

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Purchased with the support of the Rijksmuseum Fonds

  • Acquisition

    purchase 1999-06

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; private collection, England;{Note RMA.}…; from the dealer Simon C. Dickinson, London, fl. 186,611, to the museum, with support from the Rijksmuseumfonds, 1999

  • Remarks

    Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

Documentation

    • John Koster, 'History and construction of the harpsichord', The Cambridge Companion to the Harpsichord, edited by Mark Kroll, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019, p. 2–30: 12
    • John Koster, 'Trasposition and Tuning from Sclick ti Sweelinck', The Organ Yearbook 41 (2012), p. 59-90: 59-60, afb. 1
    • N. de Roever, 'Drie Amsterdamse schilders', Oud Holland 3 (1885), p. 176-177
    • Erik Spaans, 'A harpsichord lid becomes a museum piece', cat. TEFAF Maastricht, p. 24-27 met afb
    • Hessel Miedema, 'The city harpsichord of Amsterdam', Sweelinck studies: Proceedings of the International Sweelinck Symposium, Utrecht, 1999, Utrecht: Stichting Muziekhistorische Uitvoeringspraktijk, 2002, p. 225-247, afb. 1, details: afb. 3, 4, 6, 8, afb. 18 (achterzijde)
    • M. M. Mochizuki, 'Deciphering the Dutch in Deshima', Boundaries and their Meanings in the History of the Netherlands, Leiden 2009, p. 63, noot 1, p. 64, afb. 1
    • John Koster, 'The musical uses of Ruckers harpsichords in their own time', The golden age of Flemish harpsichord making: A study of MIM's Ruckers instruments, Brussel: Musical Instruments Museum, 2017, p. 51–69: 59-60, afb. 9
    • Zoe Mercer-Golden, Katharine Waldron, 'Figures in a Landscape. Flemish Panel Painting attributed to Valckenborch', The Courtauld Institute of Art, May 2017, p. 17, 21, 41-42, afb. 21, 47
    • Jaarverslag Rijksmuseum 1999, p. 52-53 met afb
    • Robert E. Gerhardt, 'Rediscovered: Michiel van Musscher's 'lost' "Portrait of Nicolaas Witsen", Oud Holland 128, nr. 2/3 (2015), p. 139-146: 146
    • Harm Stevens, 'Uitgelijnd: Klavecimbeldeksel met een allegorie op Amsterdam als centrum van de wereldhandel', Kunstkrant 2 (2001), p. 18-19 met afb
    • 'Recent acquisitions at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam', The Burlington Magazine 142, nr. 1172 (Nov., 2000), p. 729-736: 732, afb. X
    • K. Zandvliet, 'Pieter Isaacz Allegory of Amsterdam as the centre of world trade', Annual report: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (1999), p. 52-53 met afb

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