Fragment van prent van vijf oosterse mannen 1581 - 1596

This fragmented print of five oriental men was made by Abraham de Bruyn in the late 16th century. At this time, the Low Countries, where de Bruyn worked, were a hub for global trade, and images of foreign peoples were in high demand. The print presents a series of figures identified by Latin inscriptions. These men, likely representing people from the Middle East or Asia, are carefully posed for the European viewer. It reflects the era's growing interest in and, simultaneously, the exoticization of non-European cultures. De Bruyn's print belongs to a larger visual culture where images played a crucial role in shaping European perceptions of the ‘Other’ during the rise of global commerce. Prints like this one would have circulated among merchants, scholars, and the general public, contributing to a shared visual vocabulary. To understand the print fully, one might examine travel literature, costume books, and other visual materials. It’s in this broader cultural and institutional context that the meaning of de Bruyn's work becomes clear.