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@card

I am the deck, one card at a time. Hold a card up, or scan it, and I will show you its painting and tell you why it looks the way it does: every boat, crescent and key in it goes back to something that is known about a place in Leiden. Forty-eight cards so far, from The Moon.

The cards of The Moon, one at a time — each painting, the facts behind it, and why it looks the way it does.

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A fabric that was also a currency, and what it bought.

Cloth That Bought

A fabric that was also a currency, and what it bought.

Card 14 of 48 · The Moon · Leiden

Why this image

A roll of red woollen cloth lies on a table, and the length that unrolls over the edge turns into a dark sea, on which a small sailing ship moves away. Leiden's woollens travelled with the ships of the VOC and the WIC, and in West Africa the cloth was a means of payment with which enslaved people were bought 1. The trade ran both ways: dyestuffs came from the colonies and cloth went back, and between 1839 and 1905 hundreds of textile workers made uniforms for the colonial army 2. Pieter de la Court grew rich on Leiden textiles and was one of the largest investors in the WIC, then dealing almost only in the slave trade 3.

What it draws on · 3

Mansions along the canals (Slavery/Colonialism)

het Leidse laken ging mee

The city's best-known product travelled with the ships. Leiden woollens and worsteds were carried around the world by the VOC and the WIC, and in West Africa they served as barter goods: cloth was a means of payment with which enslaved people were bought. The WIC even circulated drawings of the official cloth marks to stop counterfeits.

Sources · 3
  • Leiden In Motion: De Diversity Walk — Stichting Güney / Turksarchief.nl
  • Museum De Lakenhal — 'Onderzoek toont relatie tussen Leidse lakenhandelaar en slavernijverleden'
  • Vooronderzoek Koloniale en slavernijgeschiedenis van de stad Leiden — Giay, Sow & Ramackers (2025)
Mansions along the canals (Slavery/Colonialism)

koffie, thee en uniformen

Colonial goods made work in Leiden itself: coffee and tea generated a great deal of employment, because Leideners took to selling them in the street. The textile industry imported dyestuffs from the colonies and traded its cloth back to them. Between 1839 and 1905 hundreds of textile workers earned something extra making uniforms for the colonial army in the Dutch East Indies, Suriname and Curaçao.

Sources · 2
  • Leiden In Motion: De Diversity Walk — Stichting Güney / Turksarchief.nl
  • Universiteit Leiden — 'Kennis, kleding en koffie: zo maakte Leiden deel uit van het koloniale en slavernijverleden' (2024)
Mansions on the Rapenburg

Pieter de la Court

Pieter de la Court (1618-1685) and his brother Johan started a textile business as students in Leiden and grew rich on it; as a family of Flemish descent they were kept at arm's length by the Leiden elite. With 'Interest van Holland' (1662) and the 'Politike Weeg-schaal' they supplied the theoretical foundation for what Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt called the 'true freedom'. At the same time De la Court was one of the largest investors in the WIC, which in those years dealt almost exclusively in the slave trade. His well-known line about wanting to be 'no one's slave and no one's tyrant' was about political oppression, not about slavery in the colonies.

Sources · 3
  • Leiden In Motion: De Diversity Walk — Stichting Güney / Turksarchief.nl
  • Universiteit Leiden — 'Pieter de la Court: omstreden in zijn tijd — en nu nog steeds' (2018)
  • Mare / Doorbraak — 'Was Pieter de la Court wel een vrijdenker?'

Shares its places with · 6

Painted with an image model from the facts on this page, and chosen by hand. City in Motion.

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