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Desk
Abraham Roentgen, c. 1758 - c. 1760, BK-16676
This desk has numerous secret compartments and drawers and even includes a fold-out prie-dieu. It was made for Johann Philipp von Walderdorff, archbishop and elector of Trier, and is decorated at the top with his portrait and heraldic arms. The desk is the most expensive showpiece ever made by…
On display in room 1.9
Blue Parrot
Meissener Porzellan Manufaktur, 1731, BK-17496
German scientists discovered the ingredients of Chinese porcelain in the 18th century. Elector August the Strong was such a fan of this hard, translucent white material that he filled his Japanese Palace in Dresden with porcelain objects. In the 1730s, he had a series of large birds and animals…
Dolls’ house of Petronella Oortman
anonymous, c. 1686 - c. 1710, furniture, BK-NM-1010
The exterior of this dolls house is a work of art in its own right, with its mother-of-pearl and pewter veneer. The owners’ initials - Petronella Oortman and her husband Johannes Brandt, a cloth merchant in Amsterdam - are inlaid on both sides. Remarkably, all the domestic furnishings were made…
On display in room 2.20
Clock and gunpowder horn
anonymous, c. 1590 - c. 1596, clockwork, NG-NM-7687
In 1596, Willem Barentsz, Jacob van Heemskerck and fifteen others spent the winter in an improvised shelter on the island of Nova Zembla off the north coast of Russia. Confined to their hut in the middle of the Polar winter, the men had no sense of night or day. A clock on the wall told the time,…
On display in room 2.9
Weepers from the tomb of Isabella…
Borman workshop (attributed to), Renier van Thienen (I) (attributed to), c. 1475 - c. 1476, tomb figure, BK-AM-33
Self-portrait
Johan Gregor van der Schardt, 1573, bust, BK-2000-17
On display in room 2.3
Roemer with a poem to Constantijn…
anonymous, 1619, BK-1983-15
Anna Roemers Visscher engraved one of her own poems in a wineglass as a gift for Constantijn Huygens. The verse contains a complaint and an exhortation: her pen has dried up, her brain has rusted. She asks Huygens to fetch her some water from the Helicon – where the Muses live – so her ink will flow…
On display in room 2.8
Cabinet of a Militia Company
anonymous, c. 1520 - c. 1530, furniture, BK-KOG-656
On display in room 0.4
Boekenkist mogelijk van Hugo de…
anonymous, c. 1600 - c. 1615, NG-KOG-1208
Traditionally, it was in this case that Hugo de Groot escaped from Loevestein Castle in 1621. He had been serving a life sentence there since 1619. The internationally renowned jurist De Groot (Grotius) had been arrested in 1618 as a political opponent of Prince Maurice. After his escape, De Groot…
On display in room 2.5
Portrait of Andries de Graeff
Artus Quellinus (I), 1661, bust, BK-18305
The De Graeffs were one of the leading merchant families of Amsterdam and highly influential. Like his father and brother, Andries was also a burgomaster. The superb bust was carved by Quellinus, who had been brought from Antwerp to Amsterdam to create sculptures for the new town hall. The plinth…
On display in room 2.18