Collection Highlights
Common Sense
Date:
1776
Object Number:
LIB.Y1776.Paine.com
Medium:
Pamphlet, paper
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Museum Collections
Luce Center
Seal matrix
Object Number:
1944.258
Date:
ca. 1620
Medium:
Silver
Dimensions:
Overall: 1 x 1 3/8 in. (2.5 x 3.5 cm)
Silver Weight: 1 oz (troy) 6 dwt (40 g)
Marks:
intaglio (inverted): on obverse: "KILIAEN VAN RENSELAER.[sic]"
Description:
Cast circular matrix; obverse engraved with Van Rensselaer coat of arms at center (shield containing moline cross with close helmet above, flanked by foliate decoration, and crest of basket issuing flames); hinged openwork handle on reverse; part of chain attached. Star engraved on edge at top of seal. Unmarked.
INSCRIPTION: "KILIAEN VAN RENSELAER." engraved on obverse around perimeter.
Gallery Label:
This seal matrix was used to facilitate communication between Amsterdam merchant Kiliaen Van Rensselaer (ca. 1580-1643), the first patroon and founder of the colony of Rensselaerswyck, and his agents in New Netherland. The matrix's configuration and design are typical of pendant seals made in the Netherlands and England during the early seventeenth century. The cast and engraved matrix identifies its owner around the periphery and bears the family coat of arms at the center: a shield with moline cross with close helmet above, flanked by mantling, and a crest of a basket issuing flames.
Bibliography:
Krohn, Deborah, Peter Miller, and Marybeth De Filippis, eds., "Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick." New York: Bard Graduate Center, New-York Historical Society, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009, p. 178-179
Credit Line:
Gift of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer V
Provenance:
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer (ca. 1580-1643), who married (2nd) Anna Wely (ca. 1601-1670); to their son Jeremias Van Rensselaer (1632-1674), who married Maria Van Cortlandt (1645-1689); to their son Kiliaen Van Rensselaer III (1663-1719), who married Maria Van Cortlandt (1674-ca. 1730); to their son Stephen Van Rensselaer (1707-1747), who married Elizabeth Groesbeck (1707-1756); to their son Stephen Van Rensselaer II (1742-1769), who married Catherine Livingston (1745-1810); to their son General Stephen Van Rensselaer III (1764-1839), who married (2nd) Cornelia Paterson (1780-1849); to their son William Paterson Van Rensselaer (1805-1872), who married (2nd) Sarah Rogers (1810-1887); to their son Kiliaen Van Rensselaer IV (1845-1905), who married Olivia Phelps Atterbury (1848-1923); to their son Kiliaen Van Rensselaer V (1879-1949), the donor.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
