Prayer Nut with Original Case and Pouch

Prayer Nut with Original Case and Pouch

BK-1981-1

• coat of arms, above and below the hinge and clasp, carved: the family coats of arms of Evert (‘Eewert’) Jansz van Bleiswijk (three shot pellets), and his wife, Erkenraad van Groenewegen (three pea pods)
• inscription, encircling the scene of the Carrying of the Cross in the bottom half-sphere of the nut’s interior, carved: ‘jugu[m] en[im] meum suave est et onus meu[m] leve’
• inscription, encircling the scene of the Crucifixion in the upper half-sphere of the nut’s interior, carved: ‘tuam cruce[m] adoram[us] d[omi]ne tua[m] gloriosa[m] recolim[u]s passio[n]e[m] q[ui] pas[sus] esp[ro] n[obi]s m[iserere] n[obis]’
• inscription, on the upper ‘pole’ of the nut’s exterior (around a star), carved: ‘eewert ian z' va[n] bleiswick’
• inscription, on the lower ‘pole’ of the nut’s exterior (around a star), carved: ‘jhes us nazeren[u]s rex iudeoru[m]’

Scholten, Frits, 'Joost van Cranevelt's prayer nut', Simiolus 36 (2012), nr. 3/4, p. 123-141.

• sculptor: workshop of Adam Dircksz, Northern Netherlands
• sculptor: workshop of Adam Dircksz, Delft (possibly)

c. 1500 - in or before 1531

• height 95 mm x depth 20 mm
• diameter 46 mm

purchase 1981

Public domain

Commissioned by Evert Jansz van Bleiswijck (1460-1531) and his wife Erkenraad van Groenewegen (1466-1544), Delft, c. 1500-31;{As stated on the object (name and coats of arms). The subsequent provenance is probable, but unconfirmed, up to the time the prayer nut comes into the possession of Mr Dirk (`Theodorus´) van Bleyswijck (1655-1700), and again unconfirmed, until it entered into possession of Marcellus Emants (1854-1923). For the Van Bleiswijck genealogy, see H.K. Nagtegaal, `Het Delftse geslacht Van Bleyswijck´, _Ons Voorgeslacht, Maandblad van de Zuidhollandse Vereniging voor Genealogie_ 63 (2008), no. 603, pp. 261-95.} ? their son Dirck Evertsz van Bleiswijck (1495-1563), Delft, married to Maria Jacobsdr Fijck; ? their son Adriaen Dircksz Fijck van Bleyswijck (1555-1612), Delft, married to Claasje Hugedr van der Dussen (1559-1631); their son Dirk Adriaansz van Bleyswijck (1577-1631), Delft, married to Liesbeth Damensdr van der Graft (1583-1662); their son Hugo Dircksz van Bleyswijck (1615-1663), married to Maria Adriaensdr Beijes (1617-1675), Schiedam; their son Mr Dirk (`Theodorus´) van Bleyswijck (1655-1700), Schiedam, married to Emmerentia van der Staal (1652-1692);{A late 17th-century annotation in The Hague, Hoge Raad van Adel, Familiearchief Van Slingelandt, inv. no. 438 (unpaged), states that Mr Dirk (`Theodorus´) van Bleyswijck was the owner of the prayer nut: _in een houten appel daer de passie of het lyden van Christus / konstigh in is gesneeden en van onse voorouders / van vader tot soon altyt is gerecommandeert dat dese / appel altyt aen geslacht most blyven alsoo se seer langh / in het geslacht van Bleyswijck is geweest en op eenigen / honderden_ [jaren] _altyt is geaestimeert geweest sy is tegenwoor= / digh berustende onder den heer Diederik van Bleys= / wyck Burgemeester der Stadt Schiedam en / hoogheemraedt van Schielandt buyten op den appel / staen gesneden dese twee wapenen_ [a drawing of the two escutcheons follows].} ? Dr Abraham Cornelisz van Bleyswijck (1686-1761), Delft, married to Maria Gribius; ? their son Pieter Abrahamsz van Bleiswijk (1724-1790), pensionary in Delft and between 1772 and 1787 Grand pensionary of Holland in The Hague;{He was married to Geertruida Antonia van Bleiswijk, in what was to remain a childless union. Perhaps this explains how the prayer nut eventually left the family, thereafter entering the Emants family´s possession. In that case, the piece would have been handed down from Pieter Abrahamsz van Bleiswijk, as Leeuwenberg proffered, to Guiljelmus (`Guilliam´) Balthasar Emants (1737-?), who succeeded the former as pensionary of Delft in 1772. J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, _Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum_, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 127.} ? Guiljelmus (`Guilliam´) Balthasar Emants (1737-?), who succeeded Pieter Abrahamsz van Bleiswijck as pensionary of Delft in 1772;{J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, _Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum_, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 127.} ? his son Marcellus Emants (1778-1854), The Hague, married to Henriette Isabella van der Feen (1786-1864); ? their son Guilliam Balthasar Emants (1818-1870), The Hague, married to Anna Elisabeth Petronella Verwey Mejan (1824-1908); their son, the author Marcellus Emants (1848-1923), Baden (Switzerland), married to Jenny Emma Gertrude Kühn (1877-1956); their daughter Eva Clara Jenny (`Lilith´) Emants (1909-1985), The Hague, 1956; from whom, on loan to the museum, 1959-81; from whom,{According to the museum´s inventory book, acquired from `the heirs of Marcellus Emants in Velp´.} fl. 55,000, to the museum, 1981

• Scholten, Frits, 'Joost van Cranevelt's prayer nut', Simiolus 36 (2012), nr. 3/4, p. 123-141.
• Art Gallery of Ontario. (2016, 25 november). The Boxwood Project. Geraadpleegd van http://boxwood.ago.ca/object/crucifixion-carrying-cross-0
• Ch. A. Mesenzeva, 'Spätgotische Miniaturschnitzereien in der Ermitage in Leningrad', Pantheon 36 (1978), p. 34.
• J. Leeuwenberg, 'De gebedsnoot van Eewert Jansz van Bleiswick en andere werken van Adam Dirksz', Miscellanea Jozef Duverger, Gent 1968, p. 614-624.

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/20014984