Three silver V.O.C. ingots
L. 15.5 cm / weight 1972 grams
*L. 16 cm / weight 1956 grams
The ingots were salvaged in 2004 from the wreck of the VOC indiaman Rooswijk, equipped by the Amsterdam VOC Chamber. The Rooswijk sank on its second voyage to the Dutch East Indies off the English coast on the Goodwin Sands in 1739. The Dutch had little to offer in Asia to trade for Asian goods, but silver and gold. Therefore the VOC ships sailed to Asia with silver bars and gold coins to pay for Asian goods. The silver bars were cast in private factories in the Netherlands, run by assayers, from melted down coins, mainly Spanish American “reales”. Once in Asia these bars were melted down again and minted into coins such as rupees, that could be used for payment in the East.
Related objects
A shagreen bound VOC Delft notebook with silver mounts and pen
_Probably Amsterdam, circa 1780_ _H. 13.9 x H. 8.1 x D. 1.5 cm_ Provenance: Private collection, the Netherlands
A British-colonial Jamaican engraved tortoiseshell comb-case with silver mounts and a comb
_Jamaica, Port Royal, dated 1690_ _H. 16 x W. 10.2 x D. 1.1 cm (case)_ The case attributed to Matthew Comberford (act. 1688-1692), the comb to Paul Bennett (act. 1670-1692) Provenance: - Architect Thomas Wallis (1873–1953), who designed the Tate Gallery, London; thence by descent - Gifted to the previous owner by the son of Wallis in the 1970s
A colonial tortoiseshell veneered casket with silver mounts
Until recently these caskets were often classified as Spanish or Portuguese but it has become clear that they were produced over a very wide geographic area under European patronage in workshops in India, Sri Lanka, Batavia, China, the Caribbean, Central and South America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Distinguishing regional characteristics are generally only found in the type of decoration of the mounts.