Carved in the round and mounted on a turned base. Some metal pins have been added to the helmet.

Some metal pins are missing from the helmet.

…; sale Michiel Oudaan (c. 1702-1766), Rotterdam (J. Bosch et al.), 3 November 1766, no. 22, 3 guilders and 16 stuivers, to Jan Snellen (1711-1787), Rotterdam;¹¹Copy RKD, R.J.A. te Rijdt, ‘Een ‘nieuw’ portret van een ‘nieuwe’ verzamelaar van kunst en naturaliën: Jan Snellen geportretteerd door Aert Schouman in 1746’, Oud Holland 111 (1997), pp. 22-53, esp. p. 34. by descent to Samuel Constant Snellen van Vollenhoven (1816-1880), The Hague; from whom acquired by the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1876; transferred to the museum, 1885

Object number: BK-NM-2927

Thanks to written sources and auction catalogues we know that the celebrated Rotterdam painter Adriaen van der Werff (1659-1722) occasionally tried his hand at carving and modelling in his spare time.²²F. Lammertse, ‘Four Letters from Adriaen van der Werff to the Antwerp Sculptor Jan Peter van Baurscheit’, Simiolus 34 (2009-10), pp. 119-41, esp. p. 124; T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ‘Het Koninklijk Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden en zijn betekenis voor het Rijksmuseum’, Bulletin van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 9 (1956), pp. 269-308, p. 280. For many years, this curious boxwood chess pawn, decorated with a skilfully carved caricature of a soldier, was the only tangible proof of his prowess. The garb of this jocular soldier, who is showing his teeth as he grins, consists of a helmet, cuirass and a scarf draped loosely over his shoulders. Several real metal pins have been hammered into the helmet. The catch of the hook securing the breastplate to the shoulder band of the cuirass is also made from metal, while the hook itself is meticulously carved from wood. The lower edge of the bust is concealed by a decorative palm leaf. The light colour of the wood indicates that this is a chess piece from the white side. The maker’s name is inscribed in old handwriting on the: Adriaen van der Werff fecit.

The soldier’s comical expression is somewhat reminiscent of that of the figures in two of Van der Werff’s early works: Drummer Boy (whereabouts unknown) and Night Scene with Children (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich).³³B. Gaehtgens, Adriaen van der Werff, 1659-1722, Munich 1987, nos. 7 and 9A. Tronies of this type do not occur in the artist’s later, more serious work. A group of caricature busts in terracotta and bronze associated with the Antwerp-Leiden sculptor Pieter Xaveri (c. 1647-1673) (cf. BK-1959-50-A; -B) might have been a source of inspiration for Van der Werff’s little carving.

The pawn was said to belong to an unfinished chess set.⁴⁴J.H. Molenbroek, Catalogus der tentoonstelling van voor Nederland belangrijke Oudheden en merkwaardigheden, in de Provincie Zuid-Holland voorhanden, of met betrekking tot die die provincie elders bewaard, gehouden te Delft, julij-augustus 1863, exh. cat. Delft 1863, no. 2220. The earliest provenance of the piece can be traced back to 3 November 1766, when the Rotterdam collector Jan Snellen purchased it for 3 guilders and 16 stuivers at the auction of the estate of his fellow citizen, the poet Michiel Oudaan (also Oudaen). The concomitant catalogue describes it as ‘A Bust of a Fool, carved from Boxwood, by A vander Werf’.⁵⁵Sale Michiel Oudaan, Rotterdam (J. Bosch et al.), 3 November 1766, no. 22: Een Borstbeeldje zijnde een Zotje, van Palmhout gesneeden, door A. vander Werf; R.J.A. te Rijdt, ‘Een “nieuw” portret van een “nieuwe” verzamelaar van kunst en naturaliën: Jan Snellen geportretteerd door Aert Schouman in 1746’, Oud Holland 111 (1997), pp. 22-53, esp. p. 34.

Contrary to what was assumed prior to the rediscovery of that early provenance,⁶⁶D.P. Snoep et al., Adriaen van der Werff: Kralingen 1659-1722 Rotterdam, exh. cat. Rotterdam (Historisch Museum) 1973, no. 46; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 354. it is highly unlikely that the pawn belonged in the ‘Chess set with excellent Figures carved from boxwood and ebony, by Sir A. van der Werf’ auctioned in 1827.⁷⁷Sale Abraham Gevers, Rotterdam (Muller de la Faille), 24 July 1827, no. 55: Schaakspel met uitmuntende van palm- en ebbenhout gesnedene Figuren, door den Ridder A. van der Werf. It was purchased for 200 guilders by B. Abraham, who offered it, unsuccessfully, to Ewyck van de Kasteele, the director of the Koninklijk Kabinet voor Zeldzaamheden in The Hague (T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ‘Het Koninklijk Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden en zijn betekenis voor het Rijksmuseum’, Bulletin van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Oudheidkundige Bond 9 (1956), pp. 269-308, col. 278). At the same auction, a terracotta bust by Van der Werff, portraying his patron Johann Wilhelm II, Elector Palatine, was sold under no. 66: Een levensgroot Bust op een voetstuk, zijnde het portret van den Keurvorst van de Paltz, geboetseerd door den ridder A. van der Werf. This set had always been in the possession of the artist’s family, and logically complete, since no mention was made of missing pieces in the sales catalogue. Consequently, Van der Werff will have carved two chess sets (at least), one of which he did not finish.

Adriaen van der Werff’s friend, Johan van Gool, the artist’s biographer, mentioned in his book the Nieuwe Schouburg (1750-51) that the painter had injured one of his fingers so badly when carving chess pieces dat die alyd styf gebleven is (that it always remained stiff).⁸⁸Johan van Gool, De nieuwe schouburg der Nederlantsche kunstschilders en schilderessen, The Hague 1750-51, vol. 2, pp. 377-78. The injury may have occurred when he was carving the chess set of which the Amsterdam pawn was a piece. It would explain why the artist never finished the set.⁹⁹R.J.A. te Rijdt, ‘Een “nieuw” portret van een “nieuwe” verzamelaar van kunst en naturaliën: Jan Snellen geportretteerd door Aert Schouman in 1746’, Oud Holland 111 (1997), pp. 22-53, esp. p. 35.

The Art Gallery of Ontario (Thomson Collection) has three other chess pawns with caricatures of soldiers made by Adriaen van der Werff. Ken Thomson bought one of them in 1964 from the London dealer Hermann Baer, who described it as ‘most certainly by Hubert Gerhard’.¹⁰¹⁰Toronto, The Art Gallery of Ontario (Thomson Collection), inv. no. AGOID.29354. Note to file by consulting curator of the Thomson Collection, Christina Corsiglia, 14 April 2008. The other two were acquired in 1994 at a sale in London.¹¹¹¹Toronto, The Art Gallery of Ontario (Thomson Collection), inv. nos. AGOID.29494 and 29495. Sale London (Sotheby’s), 7 July 1994, no. 115, as ‘attributed to Adriaen van der Werff’. When purchased, all three pawns came with similar, nineteenth-century, fluted pillars. Although these are obviously not authentic, they do indicate that all three once belonged to the same collection and in all probability to the same chess set. In view of their greater height, this must have been a different set than the current pawn. It was presumably the one described above: the set sold in 1827 by Van der Werff’s descendants.

Bieke van der Mark, 2025

…; J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 354, with earlier literature; B. Gaehtgens, Adriaen van der Werff, 1659-1722, Munich 1987, no. 154; R.J.A. te Rijdt, ‘Een “nieuw” portret van een “nieuwe” verzamelaar van kunst en naturaliën: Jan Snellen geportretteerd door Aert Schouman in 1746’, Oud Holland 111 (1997), pp. 22-53, esp. pp. 34-35; F. Lammertse, ‘Four Letters from Adriaen van der Werff to the Antwerp Sculptor Jan Peter van Baurscheit’, Simiolus 34 (2009-10), pp. 119-41, esp. p. 124

B. van der Mark, 2025, 'Adriaen van der Werff, Bust of a Soldier, Pawn from a Chess-Set, Rotterdam, c. 1678 - c. 1722', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200116044