Relief portrait, ivory, of Nicholas Witzen, Burgomaster of Amsterdam, perhaps by Francis van Bossuit, Netherlandish (Amsterdam), ca. 1682-5

A young man in a long flowing wig wearing a lace cravat and shirt under a cloak is portrayed looking slightly downwards to his right. The ivory medallion, of an irregular oval shape, carved in high relief on the obverse, is inscribed in ink on the reverse: 'Bürgomaster Witzen/ of Amsterdam 1620/ by F. Bossüet [sic.]'.

Bought for £28, along with Mus. No. A.82-1936, from Alfred Spero, London, in 1936. Frits Scholten of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam has written (28 January 2015) to say that this portrait was sold as part of the collection of the Amsterdam collector Jan de Bosch on 11 April 1825, lot 32, as by Francis Bossuet (sic.): 'Het borstbeeld van den burgemeester Nicolaas Wisen; fraai behandeld' (The bust of the burgomaster Nicolaas Witsen, beautifully done). It was sold again on 13 April 1859, lot 480, from the collection of another collector, Jacques Moyet, again as by Bossuet, and said to be a 'pourtrait du Bourgemaitre N. Witsen'. It was bought by a Mr Hellendaal for 2,50 guilders, according the annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Rijksmuseum library.

Nicolaas Witzen was burgomaster (mayor) of Amsterdam from 1682 to 1705, as well as an administrator of the Dutch East India Company, collector and scholar, and the ivory compares well with an engraved portrait of Witzen by J. Houbraken of 1688. An ivory portrait of Witzen, as well as a wax likeness, is mentioned in the catalogue of his collection of 1761. The apparent age of the sitter would suggest a date early on in his period of office. The probable sculptor, Francis van Bossuit, was in Amsterdam at that time, and is known to have executed small portraits in ivory, although the present example is not included in Matthew Pool's engravings after Bossuit, published after the sculptor's death in 1727.

A.83-1936