Commissioned by Evert Jansz van Bleiswijck (1460-1531) and his wife Erkenraad van Groenewegen (1466-1544), Delft, c. 1500-31;{As stated on the object (name and coats of arms). The subsequent provenance is probable, but unconfirmed, up to the time the prayer nut comes into the possession of Mr Dirk (‘Theodorus’) van Bleyswijck (1655-1700), and again unconfirmed, until it entered into possession of Marcellus Emants (1854-1923). For the Van Bleiswijck genealogy, see H.K. Nagtegaal, ‘Het Delftse geslacht Van Bleyswijck’, _Ons Voorgeslacht, Maandblad van de Zuidhollandse Vereniging voor Genealogie_ 63 (2008), no. 603, pp. 261-95.} ? their son Dirck Evertsz van Bleiswijck (1495-1563), Delft, married to Maria Jacobsdr Fijck; ? their son Adriaen Dircksz Fijck van Bleyswijck (1555-1612), Delft, married to Claasje Hugedr van der Dussen (1559-1631); their son Dirk Adriaansz van Bleyswijck (1577-1631), Delft, married to Liesbeth Damensdr van der Graft (1583-1662); their son Hugo Dircksz van Bleyswijck (1615-1663), married to Maria Adriaensdr Beijes (1617-1675), Schiedam; their son Mr Dirk (‘Theodorus’) van Bleyswijck (1655-1700), Schiedam, married to Emmerentia van der Staal (1652-1692);{A late 17th-century annotation in The Hague, Hoge Raad van Adel, Familiearchief Van Slingelandt, inv. no. 438 (unpaged), states that Mr Dirk (‘Theodorus’) van Bleyswijck was the owner of the prayer nut: _in een houten appel daer de passie of het lyden van Christus / konstigh in is gesneeden en van onse voorouders / van vader tot soon altyt is gerecommandeert dat dese / appel altyt aen geslacht most blyven alsoo se seer langh / in het geslacht van Bleyswijck is geweest en op eenigen / honderden_ [jaren] _altyt is geaestimeert geweest sy is tegenwoor= / digh berustende onder den heer Diederik van Bleys= / wyck Burgemeester der Stadt Schiedam en / hoogheemraedt van Schielandt buyten op den appel / staen gesneden dese twee wapenen_ [a drawing of the two escutcheons follows].} ? Dr Abraham Cornelisz van Bleyswijck (1686-1761), Delft, married to Maria Gribius; ? their son Pieter Abrahamsz van Bleiswijk (1724-1790), pensionary in Delft and between 1772 and 1787 Grand pensionary of Holland in The Hague;{He was married to Geertruida Antonia van Bleiswijk, in what was to remain a childless union. Perhaps this explains how the prayer nut eventually left the family, thereafter entering the Emants family’s possession. In that case, the piece would have been handed down from Pieter Abrahamsz van Bleiswijk, as Leeuwenberg proffered, to Guiljelmus (‘Guilliam’) Balthasar Emants (1737-?), who succeeded the former as pensionary of Delft in 1772. J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, _Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum_, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 127.} ? Guiljelmus (‘Guilliam’) Balthasar Emants (1737-?), who succeeded Pieter Abrahamsz van Bleiswijck as pensionary of Delft in 1772;{J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, _Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum_, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, p. 127.} ? his son Marcellus Emants (1778-1854), The Hague, married to Henriette Isabella van der Feen (1786-1864); ? their son Guilliam Balthasar Emants (1818-1870), The Hague, married to Anna Elisabeth Petronella Verwey Mejan (1824-1908); their son, the author Marcellus Emants (1848-1923), Baden (Switzerland), married to Jenny Emma Gertrude Kühn (1877-1956); their daughter Eva Clara Jenny (‘Lilith’) Emants (1909-1985), The Hague, 1956; from whom, on loan to the museum, 1959-81; from whom,{According to the museum’s inventory book, acquired from ‘the heirs of Marcellus Emants in Velp’.} fl. 55,000, to the museum, 1981
Bibliography and list of abbreviations for the provenance (pdf)
