Delft Butter and Leiden Cheese, Dutch Costume Print, Maaskamp, circa 1820

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, plate No. 22 of Maaskamp's series on Dutch dress and customs, captioned in Dutch "Vruchten die wy tweemaal 's daags inoogsten: Delftsche boter en Leydsche kaas." A young farmer and a dairywoman talk over their produce. He leans on a staff in a black hat, a red and white checked neckerchief, a blue jacket over a black waistcoat with silver buttons and clasps, brown breeches, blue and white striped stockings and buckled shoes. She sits on a cask in a broad straw hat edged with blue over a lace cap with gold ornaments, a coral necklace with a gold cross, a red printed jacket with checked cuffs, a white apron and a green skirt, and pushes a butter tester into an open cask of butter. The casks are marked with crossed keys, and round red rinded cheeses are stacked at left.

The Dutch caption translates as "Fruits that we harvest twice a day: Delft butter and Leiden cheese." The French caption reads "Voici les fruits que nous récoltons deux fois par jour: beurre de Delft et fromage de Leiden.", that is, "Here are the fruits we harvest twice a day: Delft butter and Leiden cheese." Below the image the credits read "W. van Senus sculp." at lower left and "L. Springer ad viv. del." at lower right, naming L. Springer as the draughtsman working from life and W. van Senus as the engraver. The imprint reads "Amsterdam, by E. Maaskamp, Nieuwendyk by den Dam No. 251." and carries no year, so the sheet itself cannot be dated precisely.

The plate belongs to Afbeeldingen van de Kleedingen, Zeden en Gewoonten in de Noordelijke Provinciën van het Koningrijk der Nederlanden, the survey of dress, manners and customs in the northern Netherlands published in Amsterdam by Evert Maaskamp, with a parallel French text. Each plate pairs its figures with a short exchange in Dutch, sometimes in regional dialect, and in French, so the costume studies also read as small genre scenes.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.