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Original filePortret van Hans Jakob König op 50-jarige leeftijd
About This Work
A bust-length portrait of a bearded man wearing a formal ruff and a doublet. He faces the viewer with a direct gaze from within an oval frame inscribed with his biographical details. The background is rendered with fine cross-hatching typical of late sixteenth-century engraving.
Hans Jakob König was a vital commercial agent for Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, sourcing the rare gemstones, minerals, and antiquities that fueled the Rudolfine interest in natural philosophy and the 'Kunstkammer' (cabinet of curiosities). His role as a supplier of physical materials for alchemical and lapidary study makes him a central figure in the infrastructure of late Renaissance esoteric culture.
Inscriptions
IACOBVS KIINING ALIAS PINICIANVS GERMANVS FIESSENSIS IOGELARIVS VENETIIS AETATIS SVAE L ANNO MDLXXXVI
Translation
JACOB KIINING ALIAS PINICIANUS A GERMAN FROM FÜSSEN JUGGLER IN VENICE OF HIS AGE 50 IN THE YEAR 1586
Connected Texts
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
König acted as a principal agent and purveyor of natural wonders and precious stones for the Emperor's collection in Prague.
Provenance & Source
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
paper
height 177 mm x width 144 mm
portrait
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.