- Museum number
- 1868,0808.9609
- Title
-
Object: April-Kaart
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Object: Kaart Spel van Momus Naar de Nieuwste Mode
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Series: Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid
- Description
-
Satire on the financial crisis of 1720. Uncut sheet of 54 playing-cards arranged in six rows of nine, each with two lines of verse below. The images on the cards are appropriate to the "wind trade"; the landscape background and some objects extend from card to card.
On the card at lower right a man holds up a cloth with the title of the pack surrounded by heads representing four winds: the Golden Age blowing coins from its mouth, the Paper Age blowing paper, John Law also blowing paper, and Momus, the god of blame and mockery. At the right hand end of the third row is a card showing a cock holding a paper with an image of a horse grazing.
Hearts:
King - John Law draws back a curtain to reveal men with picks working at the "mine of stocks" and a foolish goat running to the top of a mountain
Queen - "Laura" (Madame Law) carries a paper with an image of a furnace in which stocks are distilled
Knave - a countryman with stock certifiicates hanging from his waist, holds a heart that he pierces with a dagger
Ten - a man blows bubbles
Nine - a nightwatchman (?) falls to the ground as the bell-rope he has pulled breaks; his lantern rests on the ground beside him
Eight - a man in Eastern dress in a landscape with palm trees counts coins while a fox looks into his treasure chest and an ape plays dice at his feet
Seven - a man in a dressing-gown observes the stars with a cross-staff while a dog runs off with a paper lettered, "Lucht Schat" (Treasures of the Sky)
Six - a man holds a scale weighing a bag of money against a dealer's weight while a monkey manipulates the balance; in the background the sun sinks below the equator in the southern seas
Five - a jester holds a five-pointed star with images of the five senses: an eye, a nose, an ear, a hand, lips
Four - a man on a sea-shore throws dice with one hand and with the other throws coins into the mouth of a fish
Three - a miser holds up a circle containing a triangle (which is never filled) and in his other hand a paper reading, "100,000 gulden met armoe" (... yet poor)
Two - a man holds a burning taper in one hand and in the other a fire-bucket with hearts floating on the water; the suggestion is that he is a two-faced or double-hearted trader who will start a fire and then fight it
Ace - a man on a sea-shore holds a bait to lure a mermaid, in his other hand he holds a snake that devours its own tail; the lettering points out that both the beginning and the end are unknown
Diamonds:
King - a well-dressed man stands on top of a cliff in front of a screen with windows that protects him from two winds blowing behind it; he holds a diamond window pane
Queen - a well-dressed woman blows glass through a pipe, holding a frame; a glass-kiln in the background
Knave - a man uses a magnifying-glass to direct the sun's rays on to a sheet of paper lettered "Law ras heet tot as" (Law quickly burns to ashes)
Ten - a man holds a ring with a jewel and a paper warning against purchasing precious stones by night
Nine - a man holds a ball and a paper on which appears a set of nine-pins
Eight - a lawyer tramples on a bat (signifying work done in darkness) holding a redundant stock certificate in one hand and a small coin in the other
Seven - a man holds a book marked with signs of the zodiac
Six - a man who has lost his fortune drops a bridle and a picture of his carriage and horses
Five - a man stands by a table on which are cards or stock certificates labelled as "crooked fives"; in the background is a man on crutches
Four - a sailor stands on the shore with a flag and a compass lettered "Noord" and "Oost"
Three - a man with a dagger in his hand stands on the shore with the arms of Amsterdam, Leiden and Haarlem on his chest; the verses below indicate that these cities are angry that Mercury (god of commerce, standing in the background with a share certificate) inhibits the progress of Neptune (god of merchants at sea, who approaches on a chariot)
Two - a pedlar offers spectacles to short-sighted investors; a bat flies away and an owl sits on a perch behind him
Ace - Samson forces open the mouth of a dead lion from which bees emerge
Clubs:
King - a well-dressed man representing Sorrow after Good Fortune (possibly Robert Knight, cashier South Sea Company who fled to the Netherlands) holds a paper containing a false account; a monkey on a table at his side tries to catch coins falling from the sky with a funnel so as to fill a money bag
Queen - a well-dressed woman holds a paper illustrated with the fall of Icarus; clubs fall from her other hand towards the figure of Fortune suggesting that women will prosper even after the collapse of stocks
Knave - a servant, his feet shackled, takes of his livery to put on fine clothes; in the background a ship founders, but the man's star is in the ascendant, the verses indicating that stocks can make rich men of servants as well as the reverse
Ten - a man dressed half as a European and half as an Indian holds a paper indicating that he has been charging extortionate rents; an eagle pecks at his eyes
Nine - a gambler holds a game-board
Eight - a man stands at a table cuts in two the number 8 so as to create two zeros, in the same way as shares can become worthless
Seven - a gambler at the edge of a cliff sieves coins and papers; a pair of dice remain at his feet
Six - a man takes poison as he looks at the dial of a clock lying on the ground which reads six o'clock when he thought it was seven thirty; behind him stands Bombario, embodiment of the "wind trade"
Five - a gambler holds up a hand of cards
Four - a man standing in a gale holds up a toy windmill; his hat has blown off
Three - an old man supported by a crutch and wearing spectacles holds out a subscription certificate
Two - a man looks upwards to where two hands emerge from clouds washing each other; in the background two men duel
Ace - a pilgrim with an emblem on the sun on his chest and stars on his robe shuns the trade in stocks and goes in search of enlightenment
Spades:
King - a well-dressed man holds a scale in which a bag of money outweighs a spade; in his other hand he holds a picture of a man digging
Queen - Madame Quinquempoix reaches for a spade as she scatters playing-cards
Knave - a drummer, papers flying around his head, hastens debtors towards the city of Vianen
Ten - a ragged man holds a picture of a grave beneath a gallows and holds a small coin in his other hand, saying that for that coin he will tell where the speculators should be interred
Nine - a man in a fool's cap holds a mirror in one hand and in the other a picture of the Muses; he is turning from speculation back to the arts
Eight - a smiling man whose coat is covered with the figure 8, holds a lantern in one hand and, in the other, a white falcon which he has caught
Seven - a gambler points towards piles of coins on a table
Six - a man with straw and laurel leaves in his hair holds up a coin and in his other hand a paper indicating that his bank is broken; behind him is a table and underneath a chest into which rats are climbing
Five - a man carries the coat-of-arms of Amsterdam suspended from a "crooked five"; he steps on stock certificates suggesting that Amsterdam is imposing regulations; above his head a winged boy brings a crown of laurels
Four - a man holds a cat ("Madame la petite", a name apparently given to the wife of Robert Knight) by its tail above a dog with a South Sea sickness that rolls on the ground
Three - three young women sit on a swing; they represent the South Sea Company, holding a dog in her lap and poppies in her hand, the Mississippi Company represented by a black woman holding a bird on a string, and the West India Company holding grasses in her hand.
Two - Time holding a burning brazier in one hand and a large jar in the other treads on a bellows which blows share certificates
Ace - a street sweeper shovels share certificates (blown by Time in the previous card) into a canal; behind is a bridge and a row of houses.
1720
Etching
- Production date
- 1720
- Dimensions
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Height: 459 millimetres
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Width: 352 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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The inscription of the last card in the third row reads: "Dese fyne Modese Kaarten worden gemaakt to Schothanenburg bij Lawrens Bombarist inde wroetende droom goud-mijn graver" [Muller states 'verkocht' instead of 'gemaakt'; does he describe a different version?]
For another impression, see Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid, Vol. I (1868,0808.9609)
A copy, probably a piracy, of this print is in Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid, Vol II ( 1868-0808-9702; BM Satires 1643)
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One of a collection of prints bound together in two volumes c.1721 known as 'Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid'; for more information, see 1868,0808.9602.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated events
- Associated Event: Financial Bubbles 1720
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.9609
