Modelled, fired and polychromed (terracotta). Carved and polychromed (frame). The frame’s reverse is closed off with wooden planks.

The frame has sustained woodworm damage.

Commissioned by the City of Amsterdam, c. 1650-52;¹¹B. van der Mark, ‘Model for the Escutcheon of Burgomaster Banningh Cocq (1605-1655), Lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam, in the Vierschaar of the Amsterdam Town Hall (now Royal Palace) at Dam Square’, in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam 2024. …; from Ilpenstein Castle, Ilpendam to the dealer Van Gelder, The Hague, c. 1872;²²Possibly mentioned in the sale catalogue C.H. de Graeff (Ilpendam), 7 October 1872, as no. 51: ‘1 Wapenschilderij’. No. 54: ‘2 Wapenschilderijen’ could then be identified as the two other remaining escutcheons, representing the coat of arms of ‘C. de Graef’. For the dealer Van Gelder, see C. Stolwijk, Uit de schilderswereld: Nederlandse kunstschilders in de tweede helft van de negentiende eeuw, Leiden 1998, p. 310. from whom acquired by the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1874; transferred to the museum, 1885

Object number: BK-NM-175

The Antwerp sculptor Artus Quellinus I (1609-1668) worked from circa 1650 to 1665 on the sculptural decoration of the former Amsterdam town hall (the present-day Royal Palace at Dam Square), then under construction. A large number of the many terracotta studies and models that he and his assistants made for this monumental structure have been preserved,³³About this ensemble, see H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59. among them the present terracotta middle section of the present escutcheon. This terracotta relief functioned as the scale model for the marble coat of arms of Frans Banningh Cocq (1605-1655) (fig. a) in the upper zone of the walls of the building’s tribunal, the Vierschaar.⁴⁴H.P. Moelker, De heerlijkheid Purmerland en Ilpendam, Purmerend 1978, pp. 146-47, is the first to have made mention of this fact. Some later authors overlook the board’s identification as a model for the coat of arms in the Vierschaar, cf. H. Vreeken, ‘Quellinus’ boetseersels voor het zeventiende-eeuwse stadhuis op de Dam’, in M. Jonker et al., In beeld gebracht: Beeldhouwkunst uit de collectie van het Amsterdams Historisch Museum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1995, pp. 38-59; F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, pp. 56-57. In addition to Banningh Cocq’s coat of arms, this room houses the marble coats of arms of those who held the office of burgomaster in the period 1650 to 1652, the years encompassing most of the Vierschaar’s construction and interior decoration.⁵⁵Wagenaar claims the coat of arms belong to the (former-)burgomasters who were in office and still alive in the year 1658, but this is incorrect, since the arms of Cornelis Witsen and Jan van de Poll, who were both appointed burgomaster that year, are missing. Johan Wagenaar, Amsterdam, in zyne opkomst, aanwas, geschiedenissen, voorregten…, vol. 2, Amsterdam 1765, p. 9. Represented in this imposing hall are the coats of arms of a total of eight burgomasters: Banningh Cocq, Anthony Oetgens van Waveren, Franc van der Meer, Cornelis de Graeff, Gerard Schaep, Nicolaas Corver, Cornelis Bicker and Johan Huydecoper.⁶⁶From the 15th century on, Amsterdam was governed by four burgomasters, one of whom was chosen president. New elections were held each year. In the period 1650-52, Wouter Valckenier (burgomaster in 1644, 1647, 1648 and 1650), Cornelis Boom (burgomaster in 1651) and Willem Cornelisz Backer (burgomaster in 1639, 1642, 1645, 1647 and 1651) also held the post but were not represented in the Vierschaar. This likely stems from the fact that all three were already deceased prior to the room’s completion. Each escutcheon is mounted on a tree trunk with foliate work. Besides the present model for Frans Banningh Cocq’s coat of arms, two additional terracotta models survive intact, both representing the coat of arms of his brother-in-law, burgomaster Cornelis de Graeff (1599-1664) (figs. b and c). The model showing the coat of arms supported by two putti as opposed to resting on a tree trunk is probably a previously considered design.⁷⁷On four prints based on drawing by Jacob Vennekool after Jacob van Campen’s town hall designs dating from 1652-1654, published in Afbeelding van ’t Stadt Huys van Amsterdam (1661 and earlier), each of the coat of arms in the Vierschaar is supported by three putti, cf. RP-P-AO-21-13-11, RP-P-AO-21-13-12, RP-P-AO-21-13-13 and RP-P-AO-21-13-14. The other model corresponds to the ultimate marble version in the Vierschaar. These escutcheons are also encased in frames comparable to that of the present terracotta.⁸⁸The frame encasing the terracotta with putti can be dated to the late eighteenth century on stylistic grounds. The year 1691 – as opposed to the name, not incised and indicated only in paint – is non-authentic. It also fails to match Cornelis de Graeff’s data. The year possibly refers to the time of his wife’s death, Christina Hooft, whose first name also begins with a C, or to the year the wooden frames were made, probably by Pieter de Graeff (1638-1707), who was castle lord of Ilpenstein from 1690 onwards (see below).

Frans Banningh Cocq, Knight in the Order of St Michael, Lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam, is forever preserved in Rembrandt’s Night Watch in his capacity as a captain of the civil guard (SK-C-5).⁹⁹About Frans Banningh Cocq, see J.E. Elias, De vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578-1795, Amsterdam 1963 (original ed. Haarlem 1903-05), vol. 1, no. 134 and S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘Frans Banninck Cocq’s Troop in Rembrandt’s Night Watch’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 57 (2009), pp. 42-87, esp. pp. 46-50. Banningh Cocq served as burgomaster of Amsterdam in the years 1650, 1651, 1653 and 1654. His coat of arms is surmounted by a crowned helmet, from which emerges a silver swan with wings in flight. As depicted on the relief, the coat of arms rests on a tree trunk with oak foliage. Around its perimeter hangs the chain of the Order of St Michael.¹⁰¹⁰Frans Banningh Cocq was awarded membership to this order by Louis XIV on 3 November 1648. In the same year, Pieter Jansz made a drawing of the coat of arms together with its chain (RP-T-1894-A-2971). The fasces on either side are a sign of officiating authority.

The wooden frame of later date bears the various coats of arms of Banningh Cocq’s ancestors: (dexter) Cocq, Frijtagh, Van Campen and Den Otter; (sinister) Banninck, Haeck, Van der Hem and Hooft. The identification of the armorial devices is based on Banningh Cocq’s self-compiled Genealogy of the Lords and Ladies of Purmerlandt and Ilpendam on the basis of Consanguinity as well as Affinity, a manuscript held in the possession of the De Graeff family and on long-term loan to the Rijksmuseum (SK-C-1102). The coat of arms of the Lord van Purmerland and Ilpendam is also found in a drawing by Pieter Jansz, made on the occasion of Banningh Cocq’s admittance into the Order of St Michael in 1648 (RP-T-1894-A-2971).

Initially, the presence of the Hooft coat of arms could not be conclusively linked to any specific branch of the family.¹¹¹¹J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 232. Nonetheless, the link was eventually established via the paternal side.¹²¹²J.E. Elias, De vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578-1795, Amsterdam 1963 (original ed. Haarlem 1903-05), vol. 1, p. 406, note c. Oddly, this coat of arms erroneously appears on the female side (sinister), whereas the maternal coats of arms of Van Campen and Den Otter have been placed on the paternal side (dexter). Dudok van Heel suggests this switch was intentional, designed to veil the missing quarter on the paternal side.¹³¹³S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘Frans Banninck Cocq’s Troop in Rembrandt’s Night Watch’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 57 (2009), pp. 42-87, esp. p. 76, note 21.

Following his death in 1655, Frans Banningh Cocq’s estate and the heerlijkheid (lordship) of Purmerland and Ilpendam were transferred to the De Graeff family via his wife, Maria Overlander (1655-1678). At this time, the family was already in possession of the two terracotta models with Cornelis de Graeff’s coat of arms. It was likely around this time that the three escutcheons came together at Ilpenstein Castle in Ilpendam, where Banningh Cocq’s escutcheon¹⁴¹⁴Communicated by the dealer Van Gelder upon the acquisition in 1874. and presumably those of De Graeff ultimately remained until the castle’s demolition in 1872. The frames today encasing the three terracottas are similar and might have been commissioned by Pieter de Graeff (1638-1707), castle lord of Ilpenstein from 1690 on, who was greatly concerned with his family lineage. Evidence of this fascination is the ancestors’ gallery De Graeff had installed in the great hall at Ilpenstein around 1700, which he filled with both new and previously existing full-length portraits of Frans Banningh Cocq, Cornelis de Graeff and others.¹⁵¹⁵S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, De jonge Rembrandt onder tijdgenoten: Godsdienst en schilderkunst in Leiden en Amsterdam, Rotterdam 2006, pp. 345-49.

In 2013, a painted escutcheon from 1650 surfaced on the art market, which bears the alliance coat of arms of Banningh Cocq-Overlander. This piece had come directly from the possession of family descendants.¹⁶¹⁶Oil on canvas, laid down on board, 98.8 x 65.5 cm. Noortman Master Paintings (London), displayed at the Tefaf (Maastricht) 2013. Furthermore, a heavily overpainted escutcheon or funerary hatchment of Frans Banningh Cocq (NG-87) is today preserved in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, a work said to have come from the Dutch Reformed church in Ilpendam.¹⁷¹⁷See R. van Luttervelt, ‘Het grafbord van Frans Banningh Cock’, Amstelodamum 38 (1951), pp. 24-26, who incidentally professes that this church was the location of Banningh Cocq’s final resting place when in fact he was buried on 6 January 1655 in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 306, with earlier literature; H.P. Moelker, De heerlijkheid Purmerland en Ilpendam, Purmerend 1978, pp. 146-147; S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, ‘Frans Banninck Cocq’s Troop in Rembrandt’s Night Watch’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 57 (2009), pp. 42-87, esp. p. 76, note 21; F. Scholten, Artus Quellinus: Sculptor of Amsterdam, Amsterdam 2010, pp. 56-57

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'workshop of Artus (I) Quellinus, Model for the Escutcheon of Burgomaster Banningh Cocq (1605-1655), Lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam, in the Vierschaar of the Amsterdam Town Hall (now Royal Palace) at Dam Square, Amsterdam, c. 1650 - c. 1652', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20017594