Description

Wouter Schouten (Haarlem, 1638 – 1704) was a Dutch surgeon who served the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and became one of the era’s most celebrated travel writers. He signed on as an under-surgeon with the VOC in 1658 for an adventurous voyage of seven and a half years that took him through much of the then-known world. After arriving in Batavia, he was appointed chief surgeon in July 1659 and traveled to the Moluccas, and Ambon, taking part in expeditions such as the VOC’s attack on Makassar Castle against the Portuguese, after which the Sultan promised to expel the roughly 2,000 Portuguese traders there.

In 1676 he published Oost-Indische Voyagie (“East India Company Voyage”), a vivid account of his sea voyages that became a genuine bestseller, reprinted three times and translated into several languages. Beyond battles and shipwrecks, Schouten described visits to Buddhist temples and discussions with Muslims, also revealing himself as a poet by adding a reflective verse to each chapter. As a physician, he showed particular interest in flora, fauna, hygiene, and living conditions.

This beautiful engraving is the author-portrait, a ship on a rough sea in the background, with a poem underneath, inviting the reader to explore his adventures. It’s from his book Oost-Indische Voyagie (“East India Company Voyage”), published in 1676 by Jacob van Meurs and Johannes van Someren, Amsterdam.

Jacob van Meurs (c.1619 – 1679) and Johannes van Someren (c. 1622 – 1684/85) were two of Amsterdam’s most prominent publishers of the Dutch Golden Age. Van Meurs was both an engraver and a publisher, active from around 1651, who specialized in geography, travelogues, and history. Van Someren was a prolific Amsterdam bookseller whose output ranged from scholarly auction catalogues to major folio editions.  Beginning in the mid-1670s, they frequently worked together in a partnership to publish travelogues and history books.Together, they published some of the most famous and influential works of that era, including Wouter Schoutens Oost-Indische voyagie (1676), the famous travel journal by Wouter Schouten, detailing his travels through Asia, complete with highly detailed prints of historical events. The pairing of Van Meurs’s engraving expertise with Van Someren’s commercial reach made them a natural team for lavishly illustrated accounts of distant worlds

• Title on print: “Mr. Wouter Schouten van Haerlem” with a six line poem.
• From: Oost-Indische Voyagie (“East India Company Voyage”), published in 1676 by Jacob van Meurs and Johannes van Someren, Amsterdam.
• Verso: empty
• Age and type: c.1676, engraving
• Size: image 20x15cm, sheet 24×19,5cm
• Condition: excellent; suitable for framing; very decorative print
• Click here for same print in collection of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam