17th -18th Century Dutch Demijohn Bottle – Depicting Admiral Tromp
Item #CC-0518 | 17th -18th Century Dutch Demijohn Bottle – Depicting Admiral Tromp
Origin: Holland
Date of Manufacture: Late 17th to early 18th century
Type: Demijohn wine tankard
Dimensions: 14″ x 16″ x 10″
Condition: Very Good with some missing paint
Description: This is a large hand blown bottle known as a demijohn or wine tankard bottle. The fact that this bottle has survived for over 300 years and traveled from Europe unbroken or cracked is nothing short of a miracle. Bottles like this were often decorated by Dutch painters on a variety of different types and sizes of bottles to commemorate naval victories, honor dignitaries and heroes, display coats of arms, and a wide variety of other artwork.
On the front side of this bottle is displayed a naval battle scene with the portrait of Admiral Maarten Tromp (23 April 1598 – 31 July 1653).
Tromp was an army general and admiral in the Dutch navy during much of the Eighty Years’ War and throughout the First Anglo-Dutch War. It was during the First Anglo-Dutch War, that Tromp was able to break a British blockade, but was killed early in the fight by a sharpshooter hiding in the rigging of one of the British ships.
The depiction of the naval battle is likely either the Battle of the Downs, which took place during the Eighty-Years War (1568-1648) or the Battle of Scheveningen, which was the final naval battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War that took place on July 31, 1653 between the fleets of the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic.
Tromp’s former superior, Admiral Piet Pieterszoon Hein (25 November 1577 – 18 June 1629), once told a friend that Tromp as a seaman and a commander possessed a sound character that distinguished him from all the captains he had ever known. Here is some history on Admiral Tromp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maarten_Tromp.
Hein, who was and still is a Dutch national hero, has had his portrait painted on Dutch bottles as well. Hein was a Dutch admiral and privateer for the Dutch Republic during the Eighty Years’ War who was the first and the last to capture a large part of a Spanish treasure fleet which transported huge amounts of gold and silver from Spanish America to Spain. The amount of silver taken was so large that it resulted in the rise of the price of silver worldwide and the near bankruptcy of Spain.
For more information on Hein’s exploits, check out our article here: https://commodorecoins.com/treasure-blog/the-mystery-of-the-lucayan-beach-treasure/. Here is some additional background history on Admiral Hein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Pieterszoon_Hein.
On the backside of the bottle is a beautiful coat of arms depicting a golden lion on a blue background with a knights helmet and crown above. This coat of arms appears to be the arms for the house of Nassau, which was part of the Dutch Republic coat of arms from 1581-1795.
Bottles like this are extremely rare and highly sought after by collectors.
