Fisherman and Wife mending the Net, Dutch Costume Print, 1811

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, plate No. 8 of Maaskamp's series on Dutch dress and customs, captioned in Dutch "Koom Vrouwtjen Spin af, het Net is vol scheuren." A fisherman stands beside a spinning wheel, trimming a small wooden piece with a knife. He wears a brown knitted cap, a long brown coat with black buttons over a red waistcoat, wide breeches, white stockings and pale wooden clogs. His wife sits on a rush seated ladderback chair spinning flax from a tall distaff, in a high white and blue cap, a blue checked neckcloth, a red jacket with a blue bodice braided in yellow, and a dark blue skirt, a spare clog on the ground beside her. Behind them a fishing net hangs from a tall wooden mast.

The Dutch caption translates as "Come, little wife, finish your spinning: the net is full of tears." The French caption reads "Allons; file, file, ma Femme, mes filets Sont tous déchirés.", that is, "Come on, spin, spin, my wife, my nets are all torn." Below the image the credits read "J. Kuyper, direx." at lower left and "L. Portman, Sculp." at lower right, naming J. Kuyper as the artistic director and L. Portman as the engraver. The imprint reads "Amsterdam 1811. by E. Maaskamp, Kalverstaat en Dam No. 1." with a second line, "London Published by Colnaghi & Co. Cockspur Street No. 48.", naming the London print sellers Colnaghi and Co.

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.