Fresh Butter for the Maid, Dutch Costume Print, Maaskamp, 1811

This is an original antique copper engraving with hand coloring, plate No. 11 of Maaskamp's series on Dutch dress and customs, captioned in Dutch "Zo Aaltje! bezorg de boter maar aan de Meid, in mijn huis." Two women stand on open ground. The butter seller, at left, wears a flat crowned straw hat trimmed in red over a lace cap, a red checked shawl, a jacket printed with small flowers, a blue checked apron band and a dark blue skirt over a striped underskirt. She holds a ribbed pat of butter in one hand and rests the other on an open wooden box of butter. Her customer points with a long green glove; she wears a very large white bonnet with a pink flowered streamer, a white bodice trimmed with yellow, an olive patterned overskirt, a blue skirt worked with a small pattern, and pink shoes.

The Dutch caption translates as "So, Aaltje! just take the butter to the maid at my house." The French caption reads "Ah! du beuré frais! eh! bien, Annette, portez le à ma Servante.", that is, "Ah! fresh butter! well then, Annette, take it to my servant." Below the image the credits read "C.J. van Langenburgh, ad viv. del." at lower left, "J. Kuyper, direx." in the center and "L. Portman, sculp." at lower right, naming C.J. van Langenburgh as the draughtsman working from life, 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 publish'd by Colnaghi & Co. Cockspur Street, No. 43.", 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.