Early Modern Bling

This small ring was where a chain or necklace would be attached to wear the pomander. In the early modern period, pomanders were a symbol of wealth, as you can see in portrait paintings from this period. (figures 14-17) The sitters are dressed in fine clothes, wearing their pomander on a girdle, close to the heart or even wrapped around the hands like a rosary. Our pomander is no exception, it was made for a rich consumer, and Amsterdam at the start of the 17th century was the place to be for the wealthy.

"The ships coming into port here, bringing all the produce of the Indies and everything rare in Europe. What place on earth could one choose where all the commodities and all the curiosities one could wish for were as easy to find as in this city?" - René Descartes

Descartes describes what must have been a magnificent sight: the Dutch fleet returning from the spice islands, filled to the rim with exotic wares. Claudia Swan. “Early Modern Global Bling.” TLS. Times Literary Supplement (1969), no. 5891 (2016): 17. Who were ‘the elite’ that could afford these goods? Well, it was a very small group. The difference between the wealth of the rich and the rest was enormous, even more so after the new riches brought back from overseas. In 1674, the richest one percent of Amsterdam households owned about 45 percent of the total wealth in the city. Derek L. Phillips, Well-Being in Amsterdam’s Golden Age. Amsterdam University Press, 2008. Chapter 3 the wealthy elite. P 44

This pomander could have been perceived as a symbol of discovering the new world. It’s possible that this health-jewel, embellished with diamonds and containing spices from Asia, even evoked the feeling of colonial power.