{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O127468"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127468/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM3204/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM3204/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM3204","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O127468/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O127468","accessionNumber":"25001:21","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Boa Vista","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"This etching is by the Amsterdam publisher, engraver, globe-maker and art dealer, Johannes de Ram. De Ram was best known for his maps and atlases, some of which were based on the maps of other geographers, some of which were drawn by him. Similarly some of his illustrations were informed by the accounts of early European explorers to Asia, Africa and the New World. Each plate in this series shows two figures dressed in the costume of the country illustrated or in some cases in the costume worn by settlers. In the background are accurate topographical views of cities, in most instances showing a port and ships. These images of costumes of various countries would have appealed to the increasingly fashion-conscious public of the eighteenth century and the inclusion of representations of indigenous peoples would have contributed greatly to the interest and popularity of the series.\r\n\r\nThe Dutch were slow to develop trading interests in Africa but, following a series of conflicts with Portugal, gained possession of a number of slave depots on the West African coast. Responding to a labour shortage in the newly conquered sugar plantations of northern Brazil in 1630 the Dutch slave trade took off and by 1650 thirty thousand slaves had been dispatched to Brazil from West Africa.\r\n\r\nThe etching depicts a scene on Boa Vista, an island in the Cape Verde archipelago of the west coast of Africa, a historic centre for the slave trade. A white trader has just paid his black assistant, presumably for his help in securing the pile of ivory horns which lie on the ground before them and the shackled Africans emerging from a cave-like prison to the right of the image.","physicalDescription":"Print depicting a scene on Boa Vista, an island in the Cape Verde archipelago off the west coast of Africa. A white trader pays his black assistant for his help in securing a pile of ivory horns and enslaved Africans.To the right of the image are a group of the shackled slaves entering a doorway.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Ram, Johannes de","id":"A17970"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x38483"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"laid paper","id":"AAT14184"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"}],"techniques":[{"text":"etching","id":"AAT53241"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Etching on laid paper","categories":[{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"},{"text":"Slavery & Abolitionism","id":"THES49008"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BM3204"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"7","id":"THES263054"},"free":"","case":"WN","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Amsterdam","id":"x28722"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x35383"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"circa 1680","earliest":"1675-01-01","latest":"1684-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x35383"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"14.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"18.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"BOA VISTA\r\n\r\n","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On the plinth within the image"},{"content":"I. de Ram Execudit Cum Privil:","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Printed at the bottom centre within the image"},{"content":"V&A stamp","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"In the bottom left hand corner of the image"},{"content":"J: de Ram. Excudit met Prevelege.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"In the top right hand corner"}],"objectHistory":"Accessions register notes that the print was acquired on 21 September 1871 as part of a group (24980-25011) from 'Bachelin Deflorenne[sp?], 173 engravings, £15 \" 5-0.'\r\n\r\n'25001 Costume of various cities and countries. Series of 24 plates. Each having male and female figure by J. De Ram, b.1680. (margins cut) (?) 27 plates pri. £1 \" 4\" 0.'","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Boa Vista; plate from 'Costumes of Various Countries' by Johannes de Ram; etching; circa1680","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century; Chapter 7, Part II, pages 111 - 121, A Worldwide trading network; Maarten Park; Cambridge University Press"},{"reference":{"text":"Jackson, Anna & Jaffer, Amin (eds.) <i>Encounters : the meeting of Asia and Europe 1500-1800</i>, London, V&A, 2004","id":"AUTH353422"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"slave","id":"AAT17491"},{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"slavery","id":"AAT55309"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"People and Ports\r\n\r\nThese prints are from a set illustrating the dress worn in Europe, the Middle East and other parts of the world where Europeans traded. They show people in local clothing, often fanciful, with a port or harbour in the distance. The locations include trading stations in Africa, Asia and the Americas that were under the control of the Dutch, British, French, Spanish and Portuguese, the five major European colonial powers.\r\n\r\nIllustrations of the Dress of Different Countries\r\nAbout 1680\r\n\r\nDutch Republic, now the Netherlands (Amsterdam)\r\n\r\nBy Johannes de Ram\r\n\r\nEtching\r\n\r\nMuseum no. 25001:2 to\r\n3, 14, 17, 19, 21\r\n\r\nAmsterdam\r\nThe great city port of Amsterdam was the global\r\nheadquarters of the Dutch companies trading\r\nwith the Americas and Asia. Their trade in raw\r\nmaterials, finished goods and enslaved people\r\nwas the source of much of the Republic’s wealth.\r\n\r\nNew Amsterdam\r\nDutch settlers are shown with tulips and\r\ntobacco leaves in front of the skyline of New\r\nAmsterdam. Now New York, this was the capital\r\nof the Dutch colony until it was lost to the\r\nEnglish in 1665.\r\n\r\nBatavia\r\nThe Indonesian port of Batavia, present-day\r\nJakarta, was a major trading station where\r\nspices, raw materials and manufactured goods\r\nfrom all over Asia were exchanged. It was one of\r\nthe most important territories held by the Dutch\r\nEast India Company.\r\n\r\nBoa Vista\r\nBoa Vista is an island off the West African coast\r\nthat was used by slave traders. Here an African\r\nman sells ivory tusks and shackled Africans\r\nto a European.\r\n\r\nHavana\r\nThe Caribbean island of Cuba was of great\r\nstrategic importance for the Spanish\r\ncolonisation of the Americas. Here a man\r\npresents a branch bearing fruit to a well-dressed\r\nwoman (both probably Spanish). The port of\r\nHavana lies in the distance.\r\n\r\nCanton\r\nCanton was the European name for the Chinese\r\nport of Guangzhou. It became one of the most\r\nimportant trading stations for the European East\r\nIndia companies dealing in tea, silks, porcelain\r\nand other Chinese goods.","date":{"text":"09.12.2015","earliest":"2015-12-09","latest":"2015-12-09"}}],"partNumbers":["25001:21"],"accessionNumberNum":"25001","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU1359"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2006-08-30","availableToBook":false}}