{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O70170"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70170/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE8134/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE8134/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AE8134","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JU3092","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O70170/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O70170","accessionNumber":"A.18-1913","objectType":"Bust","titles":[{"title":"Bust of a child","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"This bust of a child of African descent looks very similar to a sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, of a standing boy. The Rijksmuseum figure is signed ‘JOANNES CLAUD DE COC …. Anno 1704’, making it possible that both sculptures are the work of the Flemish artist Joannes Claudius de Cock. Another possibility is that this bust is a  work by a different artist, inspired by the de Cock figure.\n\r\nDe Cock's choice of a Black subject for the standing figure and (possibly) bust may be unusual, but African people, particularly young men and boys, were not an uncommon sight in cosmopolitan Antwerp where de Cock spent much of his working life. The city's historic trading links and increasing involvement in the transatlantic slave trade contributed to the growth of a Black community. It is unclear whether the sculpture, and the bust, were intended to represent a particular individual or a generalised 'type' of person, such as a personification of the continent of Africa. The naturalistic nature of the depiction, however, could indicate that it was originally modelled after a real child, whose identity is now lost. The boy who sat for De Cock, if he did exist, would likely have been enslaved.\n\r\nThere are also at least 15 other very similar busts to this one, now found in both public and private collections. Given the number of them still in existence, they must have been quite popular at the time they were made. In every example, the child is depicted wearing a medallion around his neck, although the images on each medallion differ. In this version, the medallion seems to depict a Roman emperor in profile. The different medallions may reflect the different interests of the patrons of each marble.\n","physicalDescription":"White marble bust of a young child of African heritage, wearing a medallion around his neck.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"de Cock, Joannes Claudius","id":"A6561"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"x43862"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved marble.","categories":[{"text":"Slavery & Abolitionism","id":"THES49008"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Children & Childhood","id":"THES48980"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AE8134","2017JU3092"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"7","id":"THES263054"},"free":"","case":"WN","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Bust","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Netherlands","id":"x29020"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1705-1710","earliest":"1700-01-01","latest":"1710-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by E. S. Clarke Esq.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"370","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"including base","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"230","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"145","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured byConservation, 2012.","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Bust of a child, marble, attributed to Joannes Claudius de Cock (1668-1735), Netherlandish, about 1705-10","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Winch, Dinah and Celia Franklin. <u>Black History Month Trail</u> 2002."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Sculpture subject of a V&A web object story, 'Bust of a Black Boy',  \nhttp://web.archive.org/web/20221215144957/http://www.vam.ac.uk/%20collections/periods_styles/%20hiddenhistories/bust_boy/index.html"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cf. Curtis, P. and T. Friedman, eds. <font -u>Leeds' Sculpture Collections: Illustrated Concise Catalogue.</font> Leeds, 1996. p. 2. inv. no. 8/43."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cf. Leeuwenberg, J. and W. Halsema-Kubes. <font -u> Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum : catalogus.</font> Amsterdam, 1973. pp. 253-254. cat. no. 339A."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cf. [Sale Catalogue] <font -u>Important Mobilier et Objects d'Art.</font> Sotheby Parke Bernet, Monaco S.A., 26/27 May, 1980."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Children","id":"x31526"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"This bust is a tangible reminder of the presence of African people in Europe in the 1700s. It was probably carved in Antwerp, a port city with global trading connections and links to the transatlantic slave trade. This young child was likely enslaved. Though this bust was reproduced many times, the identity of the original sitter is unknown.","date":{"text":"19/11/2025","earliest":"2025-11-19","latest":"2025-11-19"}},{"text":"Bust of a Boy\r\nAbout 1705-10\r\n\r\nThis bust of a black child was probably carved in Antwerp, a port city with global trading connections. African men and boys worked in European ports and cities as seamen and servants. The boy’s jacket suggests that he was a servant, and his medallion may show his master.\n\nSouthern Netherlands, now Belgium (probably Antwerp)\n\r\nProbably by Jan Claudius de Cock\n\r\nMarble\n\r\nBequeathed by E.S. Clarke Esq.","date":{"text":"09.12.2015","earliest":"2015-12-09","latest":"2015-12-09"}},{"text":"Head of an Infant\r\nThis is one of ten marble busts of black infants by or after the Netherlandish sculptor Jan-Cluadius de Cock (1667-1735). The man on the medallion may represent the boy's master.","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["A.18-1913"],"accessionNumberNum":"18","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1913,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU4159"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-19","recordCreationDate":"2002-11-14","availableToBook":false}}