A relatively humble example of Xhosa beadwork became a potent symbol of tradition as well as a statement of defiance in South Africa.
Location City: Boston
The boubou is a distinctive type of prestige dress worn by well-to-do men and women across a wide swath of western Africa.
Man’s robe (boubou or kusaibi), unrecorded Mandinka ...
The art of adire is one of continual change and innovation adapting to shifting social and economic circumstances.
Ibadandun woman’s wrapper, unrecorded Yoruba artist
More than 5 million artworks were produced in 17th-century Holland in the span of about 100 years
The Dutch art market in the 17th ...
Idealized depictions of sugar plantations and African laborers in Dutch-colonial Brazil were popular in the Dutch art market in the 17th century
Painting Brazil for the Dutch art market, ...
From Asia to the Netherlands, the Dutch East India Company dominated maritime trade in the 17th and 18th centuries
Model of the Dutch East India Company ...
This willfully forgotten Dutch artist explores how we experience the world around us during the time of the Scientific Revolution
Michaelina Wautier, The Five Senses
This collection of objects speaks to the international mercantile culture and wealth of the Netherlands in the 17th century.
Symbolism and meaning in Dutch still life ...
One of the earliest of its type, these architectural finials would have decorated a Torah, the sacred text of Judaism, and feature dragon-like creatures and bells
Early Dutch Torah Finials
This intimate portrait of Rembrandt's friend and his collection also hints at the city of Amsterdam's wealth and global connections at this time
Rembrandt, Abraham Francen
Contemporary artist and MFA graphic designer Eben Haines compares 17th-century Dutch and Flemish self-portraits to his own work—whereas artists of the past depicted power in their self-portraits, Haines attempts to portray vulnerability.
Why make a self-portrait?
Tour a doll’s house modeled after a 17th-century Dutch home
A Dutch doll house
What lies behind this ornate display of pewter, oysters, blue-and-white porcelain, and sugary sweets?
Osias Beert, Still Life with Various Vessels ...
Based on a print made a century earlier, this figure appeared again in a later Rubens painting as the artist attempted to create an authentic portrayal of an African king.
Peter Paul Rubens, Mulay Ahmad
Van Mander rewrites art history in this book of "celebrity" artists from the Netherlands
Van Mander rewrites art history
Ceramics factories in Holland compete with the demand for Chinese porcelain
Asia in Holland, 17th-century Delftware
Rembrandt makes a case for painting and art-making as an intellectual endeavor, rather than a craft
Rembrandt, The Artist in His Studio
From Indonesia to the Netherlands, this coconut encased in silver features a fish tail, a mermaid, and a chimp
Fashioning luxury from a coconut cup
A very expensive Atlas from Amsterdam attempts to map the known world to Dutch viewers
The Great Atlas, Dutch edition
What does the Virgin Mary look like?
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