Card

@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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The city measures what comes in, and who carries it.

The Scale

The city measures what comes in, and who carries it.

Card 15 of 48 · The Moon · Leiden

Why this image

Under an old stone bridge two small boats ride the same water side by side: one carries a white feather, the other a heavy iron key. At the Waag the goods of merchants from other cities were weighed and checked, so that Leiden could guard their quality and levy excise: the city measured who came in and what he was carrying 1. At the Morspoort gatekeepers charged the same duty on entry; the gate was an office as much as an opening 2. The key is the city's own mark: the two keys of Leiden's arms were struck on the lead cloth seals with which the bales were marked 3.

What it draws on · 3

Waag Building

wegen en accijns

The goods of merchants from other cities were weighed and checked here as well. In this way Leiden could guard the quality of the products and levy excise on them. At the city gate the duty was charged on entry, at the Aalmarkt on the scales: the city measured who came in and what he was carrying.

Sources · 2
  • Rijksmonumenten.nl / Erfgoed Leiden — Waag en Boterhal: goederen van kooplieden uit andere steden gewogen en gecontroleerd, accijnsheffing
  • Nederlandstalige Wikipedia — Poort (doorgang): accijnsheffing door poortwachters
Morspoort

de accijns

Gatekeepers sat at the gate, and they levied excise on the goods coming into the city. Anyone bringing something in did not simply pass through: the gate was not only an opening in the wall but an office.

Sources · 3
  • Leiden In Motion: De Diversity Walk — Stichting Güney / Turksarchief.nl
  • Nederlandstalige Wikipedia — Poort (doorgang): accijnsheffing door poortwachters
  • Ridderschapkwartier — 'Van Wittevrouwenpoort tot Commiezenpost: accijns- en wachthuis'
Municipal Museum De Lakenhal

wat een loodje is

A cloth seal is two small round lead discs held together by a lip. On them stand the city's arms — the two keys or the climbing lion — and details of quality, colour and size. In the stamping room beside the great guild hall, the Grote Pers, the bales were inspected and marked in this way. The museum therefore stands exactly where the mark was struck.

Sources · 1
  • Museum De Lakenhal — lakenhal.nl: 'Leids Laken' en 'Gebouw en geschiedenis'

Shares its places with · 6

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

I'd love to know that someone came by — as a number, never a name. May I count your visit? And if an ad brought you here, may I tell that ad it worked?