Plague, fire, floods and a king

One of the things we are doing is co-curating the display cases in the exhibition room, researching the objects we want to put on display. We are going through Brodick Castle, into the stores and lifting items off shelves in the rooms in order to have a closer look at the objects we have seen in the database. In the wine cellar, where there is no wine but instead the some of the castle’s objects stand on display, we are looking at tobacco and snuff boxes. A tobacco box in the shape of a book draws my eye and when I look at it up-close, it turns out the spine has Dutch writing on it, which happens to be in my mother tongue – Het Boek Der Zuigelingen [The Book of Infants] – not a title that immediately rings a bell.

When the box is clicked open, it reveals a small painting on the inside of the lid. This painting depicts a city square with a number of large buildings in the background, and some crates and toppled-over barrels in the foreground. Overhead flies an angel-like figure holding a white cap and a staff with two snakes, while a helmet with wings is falling from the sky. There is a black bird in the sky and to the left there stands a man with a Napoleonic hat on. In the right-hand corner, a man with a (devil’s?) trident holds his head in his hands. Some of the buildings and barrels have writing on them, but it is difficult to decipher.

Several things in the painting stand out, but the most prominent feeling I have is that I have seen that stately building in the background before. It looks like the Royal Palace on Dam Square in Amsterdam, the city where I was born.

The city was originally built on a dam on the River Amstel, and was first recorded as ‘Amstelldamme’ in 1275. The coat of arms, which dates from around 1280, includes a red and black shield with three white crosses on it. The story goes that the three crosses represent the three biggest dangers to the city. Like most old cities, Amsterdam used to be made entirely out of wooden houses, which meant that fire could spread quickly and was always a risk. Because Amsterdam was built on a river, and interspersed with canals, the second danger to the city was water. Although water brought the city many riches (goods would be transported via the canals), the risk of flooding was ever present. The third danger was universal in Europe: the Black Death. It is suggested that the crosses either represent the three dangers or are meant to ward them off, protecting the city.

Initially, I think I recognise these three dangers depicted in the painting. There is a fire in the background, as well as a body of water, and I think the staff might be the mythical Staff of Aesculapius – still used as a symbol for medicine and healthcare. This staff, however, has two snakes, which would make it the Staff of Hermes or the Caduceus. The winged helmet also suggest it is indeed Hermes; Hermes originally stole the Caduceus from Apollo, the bringer of the plague.

The palace in Amsterdam was not built for royalty but as a city hall in the 17th century. In this painting it bears a French flag, which would place it in the period of French dominance (1795–1813). However, there is a boxy black building right in front of it that confuses me. In the present day the square is empty save for pigeons and living statues. After a little research, I find in an article a pen drawing from 1763, which shows the city hall with a small black building in front of it: De Waag (the Weigh House). The building I know now as ‘De Waag’ is the ‘new’ one (it was converted from a 15th-century city gate); this was the Weigh House on the Dam. In the painting in the tobacco box the top of the weigh house is missing; it is only half a building. Other paintings I find show the whole thing.