Garden Vase with Marine Creatures (Allegory of the Navy?)

Entry

These classicist garden vases were transferred from the former National Repository of Medicine at 8 Lange Voorhout, The Hague (since 1867 in use by the Court of Audit) to the Rijksmuseum in 1889.³ The objects are said to have originated from the gardens of Huis ten Bosch, the stadholder’s palace in The Hague, ‘which served as a hospital at that time’.⁴ According to the same source, in the French Period they were transferred to the National Repository of Medicine at Lange Voorhout, to serve as mortars in which to grind medicinal powders for the army. In view of their mediocre artistic quality, the vases are unlikely to have ever been owned by the stadholder. Having said that, the suggested military provenance is supported by the iconography of the reliefs, which could well be interpreted as references to what, at that time, were the main services of the armed forces. The body of the present vase contains a relief with mythological sea creatures which can be interpreted as symbolizing the navy, while the other depicts a cavalcade of warriors on horseback (BK-NM-8922), referring to the army. We can assume that these garden vases were ordered by the Department of War, housed at 7 Lange Voorhout. Perhaps, from the start, they were intended to decorate the grounds of the National Repository across the street at 8 Lange Voorhout, which was then home to the Military Medical Corps. It is quite possible that at a later stage the garden vases were used at the Medical Laboratory (on the same premises) as receptacles in which to grind medication, and this would also be a logical explanation for the absence of lids which characterize garden vases of this type.

Bieke van der Mark, 2025