The Syndics of the Amsterdam Goldsmiths Guild
Artist: Thomas de Keyser (Dutch, 1596/97-1667)
Date: 1627
Dimensions:
Painting: 50 1/8 × 60 in. (127.3 × 152.4 cm)
Frame: 59 1/2 × 68 3/4 × 3 in. (151.1 × 174.6 × 7.6 cm)
Medium: oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Museum Purchase
Object number: 1960.11
Label Text:These men are the syndics, or officers, of the Amsterdam association of metalworkers. Syndics oversaw the quality of the raw material and of the finished products of guild members. Because their portrait hung in the guildhall, visible to their customers, Thomas de Keyser created a group portrait that communicates the authority and the competence of the syndics.
The officer on the left holds with tongs a cupel—a small cup made of porous bone that absorbs molten ore, leaving behind gold or silver. To indicate the man’s status as highest-ranking syndic, de Keyser places his head above the others and shows him wearing an elaborate costume of patterned silk, with decorative gold tips hanging from the ties of his jacket. The seated man in the center grasps a set of “touch needles” used to determine the purity of gold or silver. The other seated man holds a luxury product from the guild: a silver belt from the pile on the table. He extends his other hand towards the viewer, palm up, in a gesture of persuasion, as if to say, “Trust us.”
The officer on the left holds with tongs a cupel—a small cup made of porous bone that absorbs molten ore, leaving behind gold or silver. To indicate the man’s status as highest-ranking syndic, de Keyser places his head above the others and shows him wearing an elaborate costume of patterned silk, with decorative gold tips hanging from the ties of his jacket. The seated man in the center grasps a set of “touch needles” used to determine the purity of gold or silver. The other seated man holds a luxury product from the guild: a silver belt from the pile on the table. He extends his other hand towards the viewer, palm up, in a gesture of persuasion, as if to say, “Trust us.”
On view
In Collection(s)