Portrait of the Cock Blomhoff Family, their Wetnurse and two Enslaved Servants

Unknown artist

1817

paint on silk

Rijksmuseum

When the director Jan Cock Blomhoff travelled to Japan in 1817, he did something highly unusual: he took along his family. Western women were not allowed onto Deshima. Titia, her young son and the wetnurse thus had to leave the country a few months later. A Japanese artist portrayed the family. From left to right are: Jan Cock Blomhoff, the wetnurse Petronella Munts, Titia Cock Blomhoff-Bergsma, her son Jan and two enslaved Javanese servants: Maraty and an unknown boy.