Excruciatingly rare and famous pair of very early prints of child slavery, published ca 1660 in Amsterdam, from a series of costume and fashion prints.

The only recorded examples of the prints are in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, in an album with a collection of prints, which makes the examples here only the second copies known. No copies recorded in America or elsewhere.

The album was acquired by the Rijksmuseum in 2002 with the support of the F.G. Waller Fund. The Rijksmuseum album contains costume/fashion prints of European people, except for the two prints that correspond to the ones offered here, depicting ethnographic scenes outside Europe.

According to an inscription on one of the prints in the album, the prints were etched/engraved in copper by Jan van Troyen, after (now lost) design drawings by Gerard van Eeckhout. Hugo Allard is given as the publisher and a manuscript annotation dates them to ca 1660, which matches when all three of them were active.

These are among the earliest depictions on the subject of slavery.

A perfect item for exhibition, education and research, and a unique opportunity to acquire these unobtainable and famous engravings that are lacking in all collections.

Reference: Rijksmuseum RP-P-2002-416-TM-438.

Condition

Strong and even imprints of the copperplates. Thick and clean paper, minimal imperfections. Margins cut into the borderlines, as was custom at the time. Attractive original hand color (unlike the other known copies in Rijksmuseum that are uncolored).