USA > New York > New York City > Dutch New York (early history of the Dutch in New York) > Part 10
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DUTCH SILVER FROM THE VAN CORTLANDT MANOR HOUSE
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CHINA
three large pewter platters, a small " pye plate," and a pint pot. Dominie Nicholas Van Rensselaer, of Albany, had seventeen small and great pewter platters, two dozen plates, a saltcellar, a mustard-pot, two pewter candlesticks, four dozen cans or tankards, and four dozen small cups. John Haines, who had £26 of sil- ver, also had "77 lbs. pewter 10ª 1b." (£3 4s. 2d.), four porringers, and two dozen pewter plates. He owned, moreover, seventy-seven pounds of brass. George Underhill, 1691, possessed twenty pounds of pewter and eight porringers. Charles Morgan, of Gravesend, Long Island, 1668, was particularly well stocked. We read of three pewter platters, two basons, four plates, one pewter flagon, one pewter bottle, three beakers, four small pewter dishes, a mug, and two porringers. He also had three brass candlesticks, two lamps, two brass kettles, and " a great copper kettle," which he valued very highly, because it was the subject of special bequest. In his will of 1668 he says: "I do give and bequeath one great copper kettle for and to the use of all my children during the tyme that they or the greatest part of them shall reside or live to- gether and upon the said land aforementioned in this town." The " great brass kettle " and " the great cop- per kettle " appear in many an inventory, and they are always appraised at high figures. Judging from the prevalence and the amount of pewter, brass, and cop- per listed in the old documents, the homes of the Dutch residents must have been filled with brightly shining metal articles for domestic use.
During this century the Delft potteries reached the height of their activities and imitated with the greatest skill the blue and white, the black, the red and varie- gated porcelains and earthenware that the ships brought almost daily from the East. The collecting of por-
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DUTCH NEW YORK
celain became a craze with the Dutch burgher at home and abroad.
The inventories of New Amsterdam prove that the colonists shared this luxurious taste. Dr. Jacob De Lange had articles both for use and ornament. In his Side Chamber the " Purcelaine in the chamber before the Chimney " consisted of seven half basons, two belly flagons, three white men, one sugar-pot, three small pots, six small " porrengers," and one small gob- let, one great goblet, two great basons, two pots, two flasks, four drinking-glasses, five dishes, six double butter-dishes, thirty-three butter-dishes, seven red small teapots, two white teapots, one hundred and twenty-seven teapots, three small men, one can with a silver joint, one can with a joint, two flaskets, one barber's bason, five small basons, sixty-seven saucers, four saltcellars, three small mustard-pots, five oil-pots, one small pot, two tobacco boxes, one small spoon, four small cans, six small flasks, two small oilcans, one small chalice, two fruit-dishes, one earthenware bason, two small cups, one small oilcan, one small spice-pot, five saucers, four small men, one small dog, two small swans, one small duck, and two small men. One small East India rush case contained nineteen wine and beer glasses. This china-ware was probably arranged upon innumerable wall-brackets in the Marot style.
In the Shop we find the following earthenware: ten white dishes, seven white and blue dishes, two flat white basons, one white cup, one saltcellar, one mustard-pot, twenty-one trenchers of red earthenware, five small saucepans, three stewpans, four pots, one strainer, two small dishes, and two jars.
Cristina Cappoens owned a good deal of porcelain in 1687. She had eleven "great cheenie dishes," worth £1 15s. od., " four cheenie cups," two marble
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images, seven painted dishes, one small can and two cups, five white plates and two cups, two bottles and glass, two painted cups and five earthen white and painted cups.
Another fine collection was that of Francoys Rom- bouts, who had a "Holland cubbert furnished with earthenware and porcelain " (worth £15), eighteen pieces of earthenware and porcelain, one case of bot- tles, twenty-six earthenware dishes and other earthen- ware, a "cubbert " with earthen and porcelain pots and cups, six porcelain cups, seven earthen dishes, six earthen jugs, and a hanging-board, eight earthen dishes, fourteen porcelain cups, four earthen jugs, and two great glass bottles.
Mrs. Van Varick had " ten china dishes; three large china dishes, crackt and broke; four china dishes, crackt; six bassons (three crackt) ; two fine cups, one fine jug, four saucers, six smaller tea-saucers, six painted tea-dishes, four tea-dishes, eight teacups, four teacups painted brown, six ditto smaller, three teacups painted red and blue; eight East India flower-pots, white (one crackt) ; one china ink-box and two sand- boxes; eight white earthen plates; a tea-dish and two cups; one china image and one lyon; three teapots; one cistern and bason, and three china basons."
In 1668, Charles Morgan, of Gravesend, Long Island, owned three earthen dishes, two saltcellars, and one glass bottle; in 1674, Arent Everts had eight earthen platters; in 1675, John Winder, six earthen platters; in 1679, Nicholas Van Rensselaer, “five chany " plates, six cups, nineteen fine earthen platters, twelve butter-dishes, two earthen saltcellars, eight fine little earthen dishes, two ditto flower-pots, one ditto can and one ditto mustard-pot, - all together worth eighteen beavers.
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In 1680, Nathaniel Sylvester had a case with bottles; and in the same year Cornelis Jacobson owned an earthen pot, one case of bottles, forty earthen dishes, thirteen earthen pots, five earthen dishes, one stewpan, and seventeen pots. Cornelis Derickson had four earthen cups and seven cans in 1681. Dr. De Lange had two fruit-dishes, fifty-three glass bottles, and two glass bottles tipped with silver. John Budd had earth- enware, four glass bottles, and a case with bottles in 1684; Derick Clausen, a white pot with cover and five blue dishes in 1686; Cornelis Steenwyck had, in the same year, five earthen china dishes, five alabaster images, seven earthen dishes, two cases with bottles, and nineteen china or porcelain dishes worth £4, be- sides some earthenware worth £3 7s. od. In 1687, Glaunde Germonpré van Gitts had three white earthen- ware cans and five gray ones; in 1688 Thomas Phillips had glass and earthenware worth £6 5s. od .; and Frances Richardson, earthenware and a glass case and glasses. In 1689 William Cox had a dozen " phar- nish plates," worth £1 4s. od., six new saucers and six old saucers. Simeon Cooper had two cases with bottles in 1691, and in the same year Dirck Theunissen possessed seven earthen dishes and basons, six earthen platters, one "boter dish," two earthen cans, seven earthen pots, and two glass bottles. Sarah Ort, the wife of Captain Kidd, had in 1692 twelve drinking- glasses. In 1694, Annitie van Bommel had four earthen pots, five dishes, and one great earthen jug. In 1700, John Coesart had for sale in his shop " 20 red figured pots, 135 red mugs, one case with wine glasses, two earthen water pots, one earthen pot and one spitting-pot."
Examples from the Rijks Museum face pages 178 and 232, and a group in which appears one of the
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Hart, Si XL
SILVER TANKARD OWNED BY SARA DE RAPELJE
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grotesque ornaments brought from China and called by the French collectors magots faces page 190. Other fine specimens are contained in the cabinets facing pages 90 and 98.
Any one who visits the Rijks Museum in Amster- dam will see a wonderful collection of glass of this period, - of all shapes and sizes, white, green, ruby, amber, and opalescent tints, - loving-cups, tumblers, wineglasses, chalices, beakers, cordial glasses, jelly and syllabub glasses, beautifully cut in innumerable fa- cets, or engraved with a delicacy that rivals the touch of the frost fairies on the wintry panes; hunting- scenes, biblical scenes, mythological scenes, landscapes, proverbs, coats-of-arms, and mottoes are etched upon them with marvelous skill. Here we see the shapes and forms that so often appear in the pictures of Metsu, Van Mieris, Ostade, Jan Steen, Van der Helst, and others. What pleasure the Dutch artists took in painting the Bohemian glass and the transparent wine or beer that fills them! Particularly with Metsu do we meet with tall oblong glasses of elegant form in which the wine sparkles or the beer froths, - glasses cut and shaped in twenty different ways - octagon glasses each facet of which ends with a curve and which cut the light with their sharp edges, or glasses the calyx of which forms a reversed cone on a her- on's claw, or elongates into a swan's neck, and fin- ishes like a trumpet; lastly glasses, sometimes of an imperishable thickness and solidity, sometimes as deli- cate, light, and thin as an onion skin. Specimens of glass of the period face pages 184 and 216.
The old Dutch were great stay-at-homes, and al- though economical with regard to the expenditure of money on travel or pleasures, considerable sums were spent on beautifying and decorating the home. Gode-
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wyck said, somewhat gloomily, that " the home is like a grave wherein we always dwell." A great part of the Dutchman's pleasure in life lay in the acquisition and care of choice possessions. When his home was furnished to his taste, he liked to have it perpetuated on canvas, and he even had it reproduced in miniature with all its furniture and belongings in tiny articles of gold or silver.
Realism was carried to such a pitch that the doll's house had its kitchen, lying-in room, and gloomily draped death-chamber with the tiny coffin containing its wax corpse. The little garden of "coral work " with its hedges, trees, flowerbeds, shell walks, paths, and statuettes was added.
One of the most attractive houses of this character is in the Antiquarian Museum in Utrecht. It consists of several rooms, furnished in the period of 1680, and contains real paintings in miniature by Moucheron. First comes the Voorhuis, or Vestibule; then a Gang, or passage-way with staircase leading to the next floor; third, the Little Back Room; fourth, an Office, Comptoir; fifth, the Saletkamer, or Drawing-room; and, sixth, the Art Gallery. The other rooms are the Bedroom or Chamber; the Lying-in Room, the Nur- sery, the Kitchen, the Cellar, the Scullery, the Store- room, the Maidservant's Room, the Garret, the Laundry in the Garret.
A doll's house, also of the Seventeenth Century, said to have been made for Peter the Great, is preserved in the Rijks Museum. It is encased in tortoiseshell. The general view is shown in the illustration facing page 172, and other rooms appear facing pages 144, 150, 156, and 162.
Hundreds of miniature trinkets are to be seen in the Rijks Museum in silver and gold filigree work,
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ivory, ebony, brass, porcelain, earthenware, and Delft; for to the doll everything was given that human beings need for use or pleasure. The illustration facing page 108 will suffice to give an idea of the variety of these silver toys. These charming curios were known in New Amsterdam. Mrs. Margarita Van Varick left eighteen pieces of silver children's toys to Johanna ; twenty to Marinus; seventeen to Rudolphus; " twenty eight silver playthings, or toys, to Cornelia "; and besides there was a chest full of "childrens babyes playthings and toys" to be divided equally among them; and also for Johanna and Cornelia there were " two glaasen cases with thirty-nine pieces of small chinaware and eleven Indian babyes "; also "six small and six larger china dishes." Some of these may have been playthings; but they were evidently much prized treasures.
O
CHAPTER VI
NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING
A LL through the night the watch had been cry- ing the hours and describing the condition of the weather. Soon after daybreak the family arose, sometimes even before the bell of the city rang, for early rising was the custom. The first to get up, as a rule, was the head of the house, who would go downstairs in his dressing-gown and slippers, with nightcap on, open the door and the shutters, look at the weather, bid his neighbor good morning, and call the servant. While she lit the fire and got things ready for breakfast, the rest of the family would get up. The maid set the table, shook up the pillows in the chairs, heated the foot-warmer for the mistress, and placed the Bible before the master's chair. The family now came downstairs, - parents, children large and small, - washed, combed, and dressed, and took their places at the table. The servant also took hers at the end of the board. Then the father stood up, uncov- ered his head, and all followed his example and with folded hands joined in the prayer which he led. All repeated the " Amen," covered their heads, and sat down to breakfast, during which the father at the table, or one of the sons at the reading-desk, read a chapter from the Scripture. After the meal and at the end of the reading all stood up, sang the hymn, and the father said grace.
Bread, butter, and cheese always appeared upon the
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Vader or Moco Noorhaer Kindtis foren mott tot haer andtrhout Godt ons doch Schott Joos Jambrechtse Ons Loren is further on franck Op fyn Langst geen panne fanck Susanna Langenes 1.0.5.42
From an old print
A FAMILY MEAL SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
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table, but breakfast did not consist of these staples alone, by any means. In many families there were pasties of venison and meat. Fried fish was a favorite dish at breakfast, and smelts were called the "break- fast fish " by preference. The bread was different in size, quality, and shape from that of the present day. Rye, wheat, or white bread was used, and also bread made of oats, barley, and beans. Fancy bread was baked on festive occasions. At Christmas, presents were given of Christmas " Wights," in the shape of a child in swaddling-clothes; and at Easter, round Easter " Egg " loaves. At Twelfth Night a cake was given called duive-kater, derived from the French deux fois quatre, consisting of two four-cornered currant-loaves, baked together; and on Saint Nicholas Eve, the " St. Nicolaas brood."
Burghers seldom ate two relishes at once. Butter and cheese on a "piece " of bread was considered a wicked extravagance. With the bread milk was drunk, and sometimes small beer. It was not until the end of the Seventeenth Century that the coffee-pot made its appearance on the table. Many people used to make a milk-sop with white bread soaked in milk. The farmer himself was satisfied with buttermilk, while his wife was clever in adulterating the milk. Beer was the most general beverage. The common people drank schenkel (pouring), "sharp," or sharp beer (scharre-bier), leakings, and "thin beer." The citi- zens had stoops, of four or eight quarts, and pewter cups on the table; the richer class used silver and English pewter and poured the beer out of jugs with covers.
After breakfast everybody went her or his way, -the husband to his office or his business, the boys to their offices, shops, or schools; but the girls usually helped
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their mother and the servant in the housework. The husband and wife attended to their special duties and hardly met, except at meals and at night. Before go- ing to market the mistress saw that the kitchen was put in order. This was first thoroughly cleaned and all the cooking utensils scoured. The mistress would help the servant, working as hard as she did, and talking to her on equal terms, just as the husband was on a fa- miliar footing with his clerks. The hearth also required great attention to keep it and its utensils bright and free of dust and ashes. Andirons or firedogs were of brass and copper, as were also the tongs and shovel. Steenwyck had a "hearth iron with brass handles " which may have been a species of grate or perhaps a fender. Mrs. Van Varick had two hearth hair brushes with wooden handles, one with a brass handle, and a chamber hair brush. The brass and copper chande- liers also required constant polishing. The rooms in well-to-do homes were lighted from chandeliers that hung from the centre of the room, sconce arms that were placed on either side of the mantelpiece, and standing candlesticks. Mrs. Van Varick had five brass hanging and handle candlesticks worth eighteen shil- lings, a double brass ditto, which with snuffers and extinguisher was worth £1 4s. od .; a pair of brass standing candlesticks, worth sixteen shillings, and a standing candlestick with two brass candlesticks to it, worth twelve shillings.
Another pleasurable duty was the care and arrange- ment of the flowers. Potted plants stood on window- sills and tables, and there were handsome vases and jars in which to place cut flowers. Cornelis Steen- wyck had two earthen flowerpots, and Mrs. Van Varick six East India flowerpots, white, three large and three small and two round ones.
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After having put the house in order, the mistress, in a simple dress and with a headcloth folded over her head, would go to market, accompanied by the servant with the basket. In the middle of the century the market day was Saturday, and the commodities were offered for sale in the Strand, which, as we have seen, extended along the river shore from the Battery to the Ferry on the east side of the island. On Sept. 12, 1656, the following was issued :
" Whereas now and again divers wares such as meat, pork, butter, cheese, turnips, carrots and cabbage and other country produce, are brought to this City for sale by the outside people; with which being come to the Strand here, they are obliged frequently to remain a long time with their wares to their great damage, because the Commonalty, or at least the greater part thereof, who reside at a distance from the waterside, do not know, that such articles are brought for sale, which tends not only to the inconvenience of the Burgher - but to the serious damage of the industrious countryman, who fre- quently loses more than he has expended on his wares ; Therefore being desirous to remedy this evil, the Director- General and Council hereby ordain that from now hence- forward the Saturdays shall be Market days here within this City on the beach, near or in the neighbourhood of Master Hans Kierstede's house,1 whereby every one who has anything to sell or to buy shall regulate himself.
The importance of the servant as a marketer is shown in the following lawsuit in 1654, when Marretie Trompetters (the Bugler's), plaintiff, versus Maria de Truwe, defendant, demands payment of 3.11 florins for fish sold to defendant. Maria insisted that she sent the money by the servant, and that it fell into the ditch. She had no more at present, but promised payment at
1 South side of Pearl Street.
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the earliest opportunity, wherewith, the plaintiff being satisfied, they were reconciled.
In meats and vegetables, fruits, poultry, and dairy products New Amsterdam compared very favorably with the Old Country with regard to supplies for the table. Game was far more abundant, however, and the delicacies of the sea were within reach of all. Early travelers spoke of the waters here as being " very fish rich." They greatly prized the salmon and the striped bass, which were found in large quantities. Having found shad, which in Dutch is called Elf, they next discovered the " streaked bass " which they called Twaalf (twelfth), and when they found the drum next they called it the Dertien (thirteenth). Wissenaer, 1625, wrote :
Very large oysters, sea-fish and river fish are in such great abundance there that they cannot be sold; and in rivers so deep as to be navigated upwards with large ships.
The sheepshead also attracted great wonder and praise. Van der Donck wrote:
The kinds of fish which they principally take at this time are shad, but smaller than those in this country ordinarily are, and are quite as fat and very bony; the largest fish is a sort of white salmon, which is of very good flavour, and quite as large; it has white scales; the heads are so full of fat that in some there are two or three spoonsful, so that there is good eating for one who is fond of picking heads.
It was strictly forbidden to sell fish on Sunday dur- ing church hours. In 1660, the following case came up in court :
Schout Pieter Tonneman, plaintiff, demanded from Wessel Everzen, defendant, the fine for having sold fish
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on last Sunday forenoon. Defendant's wife appearing said, that it happened before the ringing of the bell. The Court dismissed the Officer's suit.
Again :
Schout Pieter Tonneman, plaintiff versus Albert Trom- petter, defendant. Plaintiff says that defendant sold fish on Sunday morning and that Resolveert Waldron has subjected him to the fine. Resolveert appearing in Court declares he fined him because he sold fish on Sunday morning. Defendant's wife appears in Court, says it occurred before the ringing of the bell. The Court dis- miss the Officer's suit, as the occurrence took place before the preaching.
The cheeses were known by the names of the towns where they were made and were in demand in nearly every country in Europe. The farmers of New Am- sterdam made their cheeses according to methods of their own provinces. Occasionally, too, cheeses were imported.
Regarding prices, it is interesting to learn that in 1692 James Latey's Turkey hen was worth one shil- ling; twenty common hens, ten shillings; and fourteen geese and ganders, fourteen shillings.
Although the Dutch housewife was a very clever cook and superintendent of the kitchen, for great occasions she called in the help of the baker, who was also a confectioner. For every festival or ceremonial occasion there was a special cake. The Saint Nich- olas, the Twelfth Night, the gilt New Year's, the wedding and the christening cake were made according to special recipes and beautifully decorated. The Dutch bakers were also expert in the making of pan- cakes, waffles, oil-cakes, wafers, biscuits of various kinds, marsepein, and many kinds of sweets. The cakes
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and pasties were as different in shape as in composi- tion. They were filled with fish, meat, cheese, ram's kidneys, and even cocks' combs. One of the favorite pasties was thus prepared: a piece of pork the size of a loaf of bread was chopped fine and stewed until done. Then a piece of salted fat pork the size of an egg, and butter the size of an egg, and four salted apples, and four raw eggs and ginger and a little mace and saffron, and with that some powdered sugar, were added.
There were also tarts of apples flavored with wine and spices and tarts of marsepein. The pastry-cooks also prepared the jellies. There was a green jelly made out of milk, parsley, eggs, sugar, and cinnamon- powder; apple-jelly; and orange jelly, or marmalade. Spice and sugar were bought at the apothecary's, who sometimes mixed flour in his sugar, as the baker would put bean meal in his flour. On well-provided tables were also found macaroons and "oblies " (wafers) made of thin egg pancakes rolled and hardened in the oven. White-bread sop, waffle cakes, salted almonds, egg-cheese, almond bread, clotted cream, chestnuts, roasted, served with butter, sugar, and cinnamon, after which came blanc-mange, apples, pears, cheese, and aniseed sugar comfits, with which the meal ended.
Innumerable are the pictures of kitchens by the Dutch painters of the period. A very interesting one by Jan Steen faces this page, where the cook is spitting a bird while laughing with the errand boy who brings to her an unplucked bird and a basket of eggs.
All cake-bakers had a sign with the picture of Saint Nicholas, a bishop, Saint Obertus, an oven with the inscription " Delicious and sweet," some biscuits, cakes, and pastry for sale, or various emblems of the trade. Here and there one would find a molasses barrel or
DUTCH KITCHEN JAN STEEN
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a beehive with inscriptions underneath, "what is sweeter than honey," and "Here we sell honey by the jug, while the Holy Land was overflowing with it," and various others. Under the veranda all kinds and sizes of cakes were exhibited, while the shop was filled with boxes of various kinds. In an old print we see .ne baker descending the staircase, sleeves tucked up, with a skull cap on, while a boy stands on the stoop with an ox's horn and the inscription " Nice and warm." The wife is superintending things, and threatens the cat with uplifted finger because she is licking the honey barrel. On the boxes we read " pas- teys, letters, roundels, sugar's, marmelades, spice-cake, marsepan, pea-sweets, edge-cake," etc. Among the delicacies we find quartered tarts, tarts with cream and eggs, gin, chevreuil, quinces, pears, jelly tarts, and various others.
The New Amsterdam bakers were subject to the strictest rules and regulations. Their wares were regu- larly inspected, and baking-hours were strictly enforced. Bakers were not allowed to peddle their bread and cakes in the street, nor to sell to the Indians. They also had to take certain precautions against fire. It was sometimes difficult to become a baker, especially for Jews; for we read in the court records in April, 1657, that " Jacob Cohin Hendricus, a Jew, appeared and requested permission to bake and sell bread within this City as other bakers, but with closed doors." Af- ter much deliberation the request was refused.
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