Dutch East India Company and Chinese Attack on Chinese Pirates in the Bay of Xiamen (Amoy), 9 February 1630
Simon de Vlieger (Rotterdam 1601 – Weesp 1653)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1650 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1880 x 2642 mm (74 x 104 in)
Place of origin
Holland
Order this imageCollection
Felbrigg, Norfolk
NT 1401166
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Dutch East India Company and Chinese Attack on Chinese Pirates in the Bay of Xiamen (Amony), 9 February 1630 by Simon de Vlieger (Rotterdam 1601 – Weesp 1653), signed and dated 'S de Vlieger 1650' at centre bottom of picture. A bird's eye view of a sea battle with Chinese junks, European tall ships and dark smoke rising into the air. A blue sky with clouds above a dark sea, with land on the horizon. In the right foreground a junk is sinking with figures observing from a rocky shore.
Provenance
Part of the Windham Collection. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1969 by Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer (1906-1969)
Marks and inscriptions
At the bottom of the composition, roughly in the centre.: The painting is signed 'S DE VLIEGER 1650'. Top left hand corner of the stretcher.: There is a chalk mark '616' (or 6/6). Date unknown. At the top of the stretcher.: There is an as yet untranscribed label from an exhibition at the Royal Academy, 1938.
Makers and roles
Simon de Vlieger (Rotterdam 1601 – Weesp 1653)
References
Brouwer & Mostert 2021: Louisa Brouwer & Tristan Mostert, ‘Chinese Pirates in a Norfolk Cabinet: An Art-historical discovery at Felbrigg Hall’, National Trust Arts, Buildings & Collections Bulletin, Spring 2021, pp. 23-27
