eMuseum

view single item

Proposed Coat of Arms for New Amsterdam, New Netherland: Preparatory Drawing for a Presentation to the Dutch West India Company

Date: ca. 1630

Related People:

Medium: Black ink and wash, watercolor, red and black chalk, and red gouache, with contours incised by a stylus on laid on paper, mounted on card

Dimensions: Overall (irregular): 12 x 14 1/4 in. (30.5 x 36.2 cm) Mat: 14 x 18 in. ( 35.6 x 45.7 cm )

Description: Heraldry. Inscribed in ink below the coat of arms in mid-17th century script, in Dutch: "Nota dit waepe(n) was ee(n) concept doch niet goet gevonden" Translation: "Note: this coat of arms was a draft and was not approved".

Credit Line: Gift of J. Carson Brevoort

Object Number: 1885.5

Send to a Friend

Marks: Inscription: Inscribed in 17th century Dutch script in brown ink lower center: "Nota dit waepe(n) was alz [?] concept doch niet goet gevonden" Translation: "Note: this coat of arms was a draft and was not approved"; inside escutcheon under beaver: I otter [?]";

Inscribed: Inscribed in 17th century Dutch script in brown ink lower center: "Nota dit waepe(n) was alz [?] concept doch niet goet gevonden"; Translation: "Note: this coat of arms was a draft and was not approved"; inside escutcheon under beaver: I otter [?]"; old typed label on verso of card: "Drawing of a proposed coat of arms for the West-India Company, 1621-23, but not adopted. From the papers of J. Bontemantel, a shareholder and on the special committee of the New Netherlands."

Gallery Label:

This illustration first appeared in a catalog of a sale held by Frederick Mulller & Co., Amsterdam in May 1869. Item 1368, as the catalog designated it, was described as a "projet" (design) for the coat-of-arms of New Amsterdam in the Dutch colony of New Netherland, now New York. It represents the arms of the city of Amsterdam surmounted by the imperial crown and between two beavers instead of two rampant lions. At the bottom Bontemantel has written that the "projet" was rejected.

Provenance:

Provenance: Johannes (Hans) Bontemantel, New Amsterdam (New York), c. 1630; Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, May 1869, lot 1368

Bibliography:

Krohn, Deborah, Peter Miller, and Marybeth De Filippis, eds., "Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick." New York: Bard Graduate Center, New-York Historical Society, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009, p. 173-175

Exhibitions:

"Drawn By New York: Six Centuries of Watercolors and Drawings," New-York Historical Society, September 18, 2008 - January 07, 2009.

"Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margarita van Varick," Bard Graduate Center, New York, NY, September 18, 2009-January 24, 2010.