Doos voor een penning op het overlijden van stadhouder Willem II 1650 met ingeplakte gedichten c. 1650

This round box, made of wood, was created in 1650 as a death token for William II, Prince of Orange, with poems pasted inside by Joost van den Vondel. Vondel was a towering figure of the Dutch Golden Age, a period marked by immense cultural and economic growth for the Netherlands. The box, small enough to fit in your palm, encapsulates the complex relationship between personal grief and public mourning. William II’s sudden death at the young age of 24 triggered a political crisis but also immense grief. In this context, Vondel's poems offer an intimate glimpse into the emotions surrounding his death. As Vondel wrote, “Death’s sting is bitter, life’s a fading flower.” Consider that the very act of creating and distributing such a token served to shape public memory, negotiating personal and collective identities in a time of great social and political upheaval. The box is a powerful reminder of the human stories woven into the fabric of history.