Credit: © The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.6190
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    ‘Palace at Pekin’ [Beijing]

    Date
    1669
    Creator
    Wenceslaus Hollar (1607 - 1677, Bohemian) , Engraver
    Object type
    Library reference
    56950
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 200mm
    width (print): 298mm
    Subject
    Content object
    Description
    View of the inner court of the Imperial Palace in Peking [Beijing]. Inscribed above: ‘PROSPECT OF Y INNER COURT OF THE EMPEROURS PALACE at PEKIN.’ Key to numerical annotations as follows: ‘1.Palace where the Emperour Throne is, 2.The two Ambassadors, 3. Ambassador from the Great Mogul, 4. Twelve snow-white horses, 5.A Herald, 6. Emperours Liffe-guards.’

    Plate from the book An embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperour of China...., by John Nieuhoff (London, 1669).

    John Nieuhoff (1618-1672), Dutch traveller, was appointed steward of the mission to China under Peter van Goyer and Jacob van Keyser, ambassadors of the Dutch East India Company.

    The Dutch East India Copmany (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC) was an amalgamation of Dutch trading companies established in 1602 to trade with India, where the majority of Europe’s cotton and silk originated from. It began operating in South Asia, and over the next century expanded its colonial operations to Mauritius and South Africa. The VOC is known to have used enslaved people for labour across its settlements throughout the 17th century.
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Asia
          > China
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