1652-Agreement, Delft

p.2- but with no signatures?

Hi Anne,

It is an agreement between the mentioned potters Jan Harmenssz vande IJssell, his wife Adriaentgen Jansdochter, Jacob Jacobssz de Carton, Jan Jonassen vander Borgh, and Cornelis Holaert at the one hand, and on the other hand Pieter Gerritssz Durbe, from the context apparently the owner of a recently restored paint mill.

The agreement states the potters are held to have their paint materials grinded by Pieter Gerritsz Durbe in his paint mill. Also, they need to deliver enough paint materials to the miller to assure each of them will have paint in stock, sufficient to last for at least 4 weeks, just in case the mill would not work for an extended period of time, due to lack of wind or other causes.

For each 100 (I assume this would be 100 pound), the first three potters would pay the miller 25 stuyvers, the latter two potters are held to pay 26 stuyvers per 100.

The miller is responsible for the transport of the grinded materials to the respective shops of the potters involved. This transport was done by barge; in winter, the transport was by sled. It may be the Jan Harmenssz acted as skipper in this process, but the deed provides no solid proof for this assumption.

No signatures indeed, the document may have been a copy of the original text.

Dear Rene

As always this document provides very interesting details about the pottery business.

But I'm really puzzled that Jan Harmensz van d'Ijssell has a wife called Adriaentgen Jansdr in 1652. My understanding is that he married her in 1655 (I've attached the marriage register from Delft with the entry). In later documents she is referred to as Adriaentgen Jansdr van der Sande. Or maybe his first wife was also called Adrientgen Jansdr too?

His 2nd wife ran no less than 3 pottery factories. Jan Harmensx van Dijssel's daughter Petronella also owned a different factory, and his other daughter Geertgen van Dijssel (whom you helped me by translating her will she made in 1646 leaving everything to her father) was a pottery painter.

There's also a marriage contract between Jan & Adriaentgen in 1658. I thought the contracts were made before a wedding, not after it?

So you see a lot of questions re this couple!

With thanks as always.

Anne

I can imagine! In the register of bethrotals (ondertrouwregister) Jan Harmensz is mentioned as widower; unfortunately with widowers the name of their former (deceased) spouse was not registered. He is mentioned as 'grootschipper' which indicates he was the skipper of a seaworthy ship.

Indeed, marriage contracts were usually meant as 'prenuptial'. One may wonder if there are three couples with the same name combination (which can occur, but because of the specific, less frequent name of the male is less likely), or something else is the matter....

Hi Rene

I'm going to post the 'marriage contract' from 1668 on the Forum to see if that gives a clearer picture.

I agree there is a problem here, but what it is I'm not sure.

Could it be that the date on the original document is wrong? Does it definitely say 1652? It's very unlikely Delft archives have made a mistake but you never know. If the date was 1655 or later it would make sense.

Just out of interest Pieter Gerritsz Durven did own a mill that ground most of the colours and glazes that were used by Delftware potters.

very best wishes

Anne

Hi Anne,

Puzzle solved! I compared the date with the final section of the document: it was composed on the 8th of July 1657. The confusion was caused by the way the year was noted with pencil on the first page: although it says 1657, the 7 has been extended so far that it looks like a 2.

Oh that's absolutely fantastic Rene! 

Thank you so much. It's so nice when the puzzle pieces fit together :-)

Your help in solving the mystery is very much appreciated.

warmest best wishes

Anne