Figure: Bottle in the form of a shoe, Anonymous, c. 1675 - c. 1700, BK-KOG-1382. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Is it a shoe? A bottle? Or, a whale? As it turns out, all three: a bottle in the shape of a shoe in the shape of a whale (Fig. 1). The exact use of this rather peculiar object remains an intriguing question. Was it actually used as a bottle, or is the removable tail-shaped cork merely decorative? Was it perhaps made by a shoemaker as a masters test before they were allowed to enter the cobbler’s guild?
In the first tour we will take you on a tour of the object, showing you some of the interesting features.
Figure: Bottle in the form of a shoe, Anonymous, c. 1675 - c. 1700, BK-KOG-1382. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
This eyecatching object can be found in the Rijksmuseum’s special collections, where it has been on loan from the Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap since 1885. Questions about the object’s making process, its use, and internal features made it the central case study of the IntACT project, which was funded by a NICAS small project grant and ran from January till June 2022.