The Market of Goa

The artwork

On the left, above the word “Porteiro”, a man in a hat wears a heavy chain around his neck and a row of rings at his belt: he is the crier of the Goa auction, and those jewels were goods for sale. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The auction of Goa in the Rua Direita, drawn from life by Linschoten, with Latin verses.
• In the large format it is a picture for a library, to be read up close.
• A gift for anyone who loves the history of India and of the routes to Asia.

Jan Huygen van Linschoten, a Dutchman from Haarlem, lived in Goa from 1583 to 1588 as secretary to the archbishop and described the auction, the leilão, like this: it was held every morning from seven to nine in the Rua Direita, the main street. The criers went about covered in gold and jewels, and with them were slaves, “both men and women, young and old”, sold every day “as beasts are sold with us”. Beside the crier, a half-naked woman with lowered eyes is being offered to the buyers. Below, in the Latin verses, you can read of one man who sells goods of gold and gems and of another who sells slaves brought from far away.

Top left, in Portuguese, an inscription states that Linschoten drew the scene “from life”. His Itinerario, published in Amsterdam in 1596, put into Dutch and English hands the routes and the trade that the Portuguese kept to themselves. Joannes van Doetecum engraved the plate on copper and signed it bottom right. This copy, titled “La Bourse ou Marché de Goa” in the David Rumsey Map Collection, comes from the third French edition, printed in Amsterdam by Evert Cloppenburgh in 1638.

In a study or a library, it is a gift for anyone who loves the history of India and of the sea routes between Europe and Asia. And the crier, on the left, still shows off his gold chains in a street where everything was for sale, people included.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 40 x 60 cm (15.7 x 23.6 in)
With frame: 42 x 62 cm (16.5 x 24.4 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass