How did objects move between places and people, and how did they reshape the Republic’s arts, cultures and sciences?
‘Objects’ were vitally significant for the early modern Dutch Republic, which is known as an early consumer society, a place famous for its exhaustive production of books, visual arts and scientific instruments. What happens when we push these objects and their materiality to the centre of our research? How do they invite us to develop new perspectives on the early modern Dutch Republic? And how do they contest the boundaries of the academic disciplines that have traditionally organized our scholarship?
In Objects, Commodities and Material Cultures, the interdisciplinary community of specialists around the Amsterdam Centre for the Study of Early Modernity innovatively explores the diverse early modern world of objects. Its contributors take a single object or commodity as a point of departure to study and discuss various aspects of early modern art, culture and history: from natural objects to consumer goods, from knowledge instruments to artistic materials. The volume aims to unravel how objects have moved through regions, cultures and ages, and how objects impacted people who lived and worked in the Dutch Republic.

Judith Noorman is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Amsterdam and leads the Dutch Research Council project The Female Impact, 2021–2026. As Director of the Amsterdam Centre for Studies in Early Modernity, she has organized the Object Colloquia Series, which laid the foundation for this book.

Feike Dietz is Professor of Global Dynamics of Dutch Literature at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on the relationship between early modern texts, knowledge and reading, with special attention devoted to youth, women and girls.

Acknowledgements
Feike Dietz and Judith Noorman - Introduction: Objects, Commodities and Material Cultures in the Dutch Republic. Exploring Early Modern Materiality Across Disciplines
2. Weixuan Li and Lucas van der Deijl - The Anatomical Atlas: Govert Bidloo and Gerard de Lairesse’s Anatomia Humani Corporis (1685)
3. Djoeke van Netten - The Bullet and the Printing Press: Objects Celebrating the Battle of Gibraltar (1607)
4. Saskia Beranek - A Baluster: Amalia van Solms and the Global Trade in Japanese Lacquer
5. Lieke van Deinsen and Feike Dietz - The Graphometer and the Book: How Petronella Johanna de Timmerman (1723/1724–1786) Merged Science and Poetry
6. Hanneke Grootenboer, Cynthia Kok and Marrigje Paijmans - Shells: Shaping Curiosity in the Dutch Republic
7. Gabri van Tussenbroek - The VOC Boardroom: A Forensic Investigation into the Built Environment
8. Maartje Stols-Witlox - The Muller: Insights into Practical Artistic Knowledge through Re-Making Experiments
9. Judith Noorman - Blue Paper: Its Life, Origin, History and Artistic Exploration
List of illustrations with photo credits
Index