Koets met het wapen van Zwolle, van achteren Possibly 1648

Harmen ter Borch made this pen and ink drawing of a coach bearing the arms of Zwolle in 1648. The Dutch Golden Age was a period of unprecedented economic growth and global trade, and in that context, the symbolism of the civic coat-of-arms takes on an interesting meaning. The coach’s presence asserts Zwolle’s authority and commercial power in the landscape, where it would have been recognised by the populace. In its assertion of identity, this image also speaks to Dutch civic pride and the power of the city-state. The drawing would have been made for a patron who probably belonged to the very social class that it depicts. The work invites the modern historian to look at the social and institutional conditions that would have shaped the production of this image, including the system of patronage, the economy of the art market, and the place of civic identity.