Engraved and carved in relief.

Good.

…; ? with BK-NM-251, inherited by Margareta Maria Konsé, Amsterdam; by whom donated to the Koninklijk Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden, The Hague, 1827;¹¹Note RMA. King William I is named as the consigner, evidently the portrait medallions were placed in his care. transferred to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1875; transferred to the museum 1885

Object number: BK-NM-250

Frankfurt-born Johannes Christian Konsé (1700-1758) became a burgher of Amsterdam in 1729. He was not only a goldsmith, engraver, stamp cutter and diamond setter, but also worked with mother-of-pearl, as is apparent from some seven signed items.²²For Konsé’s work as a mother-of-pearl engraver, see W.H. van Seters, ‘Parelmoerkunstenaars in de 18de eeuw: Het werk van J.B. Barckhuysen, J.C. Konsé en C. la Motte’, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 17 (1966), pp. 247-63, esp. p. 259 and J.C.A. Schokkenbroek, ‘Een Duitse graveur in Amsterdam “J.C. Konse (1700-1758) en zijn plaquette voor de V.O.C.”’, Amstelodamum 90 (2003), pp. 3-14. These comprise five portrait medallions and two larger reliefs with scenes from the commercial world, one showing the various stages of salt extraction (BK-1996-1) and the other, Dutch trade with China.³³J.C.A. Schokkenbroek, ‘Een Duitse graveur in Amsterdam “J.C. Konse (1700-1758) en zijn plaquette voor de V.O.C.”’, Amstelodamum 90 (2003), pp. 3-14, esp. fig. 5. Together with Jan Bernard Barckhuysen (c. 1684-1760) and Cornelis la Motte (1749-1804), Konsé is considered to be one of the foremost mother-of-pearl carvers working in the Netherlands in the eighteenth century.

This medallion with the likeness of Prince William IV (1711-1751) is signed on the back by Konsé and dated 1756, making it a posthumous portrait of the stadholder. In 1827 the plaquette was donated to the Koninklijk Kabinet van Zeldzaamheden, together with a comparable medallion portrait dating from 1757 of William IV’s son and successor, Prince William V (BK-NM-251). The portraits of the two stadtholders present the subjects facing each other and it is likely that they formed pendants. The donor of the portraits was Margareta Maria Konsé, who, in view of her unusual family name, must have been a descendant of the artist, perhaps a daughter or granddaughter.

The portrait medallion is not unique. An identical mother-of-pearl piece can be found in the Stadhuismuseum in Zierikzee. It is also dated 1756, bears William IV’s portrait, though in mirror image, and has no inscription on the side.⁴⁴C. Postma and W.H. Keikes, Gemeentemuseum Zierikzee, coll. cat. Zierikzee 1970, fig. 1. See RKD images, no. 167229. A third version was sold in 1927.⁵⁵ Sale Berlin (Cassirer-Helbing), 26 April 1927, no. 845. Of the William V portrait only one version is known.

Bieke van der Mark, 2025

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 416 (the images of the pendants were mixed up), with earlier literature; J.C.A. Schokkenbroek, ‘Een Duitse graveur in Amsterdam “J.C. Konse (1700-1758) en zijn plaquette voor de V.O.C.”’, Amstelodamum 90 (2003), pp. 3-14, esp. p. 10, figs. 10, 11 (the images of the pendants were mixed up)

B. van der Mark, 2025, 'Johannes Christiaan Konsé, Portrait Medallion of Prince William IV of Orange-Nassau (1711-1751), Amsterdam, 1756', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20035853