Antique Print of the Dutch attack near Bantam by Commelin (1644)

Description: Antique print titled 'Bantam'. Copper engraving of the Dutch attack on the Portuguese fleet off Bantam in 1601 depicted as the victory of Admiral Wolfert Harmensz and his 5 ships over 30 Portuguese ships. The ships in the battle include the Sultan of Bantam’s war galleys (ghali); ocean-going craft with sails, oars and a prow battering ram built according to Mediterranean standards learnt from Portuguese renegades and Turkish shipwrights. They were built to allow them to shoot the large cannon necessary for battles at sea. These war fleets served the expansionist policies of the sultans of Banten and Aceh in their search for pepper. This print originates from 'Begin Ende Voortgangh van de Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie' by I. Commelin. Published by Jan Jansson (Jan. Janz.) in Amsterdam in 1644, 1645 and 1646. A French edition by René Augustin de Renneville (Recueil des Voyages … Des Indes Orientales, Formée dans les Provinces Unies des Pais-Bas) was published in Paris between 1702-1706 and an English edition entitled A Collection of Voyages Undertaken by the Dutch East India Company.

Artists and Engravers: Isaac Commelin (19 October 1598, Amsterdam - 13 January 1676, Amsterdam) was a Dutch historian.