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Requires Photography
Ingot
Dutch (Amsterdam)
1738
Medium/Technique
Silver
Dimensions
approx. 7 in x 2 in x 2 in
Credit Line
Elizabeth M. and John F. Paramino Fund in memory of John F. Paramino, Boston Sculptor, and William Francis Warden Fund
Accession Number2023.578
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsSilver
The three ingots, or bars of raw silver, are stamped with the monogram of the Amsterdam office of the VOC. These ingots were created in the Netherlands from melted down Spanish silver, likely reales, which were brought from South America to Amsterdam. The VOC created these ingots to use both as ballast and trading goods on their ships traveling to Asia where they would be exchanged for spices, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, and other goods and converted into other currencies, such as Indian rupees. Silver was only in this ingot form for a fleeting period: the length of the journey from Amsterdam to Asia. These particular ingots only survive today because the ship they were on, the Rooswijk, sank off the coast of southern England shortly after beginning its journey in 1738. Recovered in 2004, they are an important record of the raw materiality of silver in the global trade of the 18th century.
DescriptionSilver ingot from the wreck of the VOC East-Indiaman Rooswijk of the Amsterdam VOC Chamber
Marks
Marked with ‘A’ for Amsterdam and entwined ‘VOC’ monogram, and with an additional mark in a shield for the Amsterdam assayer’s hallmark of the Grill family
Provenance1740, sent from The Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) on the Rooswijk, which wrecked off the coast of Kent, England [see note]. 2004, ingots salvaged from the wreck and dispersed on the European art market. 2022, sold by a London dealer to Zebregs and Röell Fine Art, Amsterdam; 2023, sold by Zebregs and Röell to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 11, 2023)
NOTE: This is one in a group of ingots that were recovered from the wreck of the Rooswijk, of the Amsterdam VOC Chamber, which was found off the coast of Kent, England in 2004. Both England and The Netherlands have worked together to manage and protect the site, and authorization was granted to export these ingots in 2023.
NOTE: This is one in a group of ingots that were recovered from the wreck of the Rooswijk, of the Amsterdam VOC Chamber, which was found off the coast of Kent, England in 2004. Both England and The Netherlands have worked together to manage and protect the site, and authorization was granted to export these ingots in 2023.