Jan Albert Sichterman

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Philip van Dijk (1680–1753): Portrait of Jan Albert Sichterman with his twelve-year-old son Jan Albert and a servant on the right. The dog has the beginning of Sichterman's name on its collar ("sighter .."); in the background a ship of the Dutch East India Company (1745, Groninger Museum ).

Jan Albert Sichterman (born September 19, 1692 in Groningen ; † January 15, 1764 ibid) was a businessman and director in the service of the Dutch East India Company , who made a career in Bengal , and a collector of paintings and porcelain.

Live and act

Jan Albert Sichterman came from a noble Groningen family. He aspired to a diplomatic career, but could not realize it because he killed an opponent in a duel as a young officer in 1716. He was advised to go to the Far East to avoid punishment. As a subcontractor in the service of the Dutch East India Company, he rose to become director of the company for Bengal. In addition to his official job, he worked as a trader and thereby acquired extraordinary wealth. In 1740 he sold a young rhinoceros who lived in his house to Douwe Mout van der Meer , captain of a ship of the East India Company; the rhinoceros became famous under the name Clara through a tour with its new owner in Europe.

The Sichterman house

In 1745, Sichterman returned to his hometown of Groningen; two ships in the fleet were loaded with Chinese china. In the city he had a large palace built for himself , in which he housed his porcelain collection and expanded it with a collection of Dutch paintings of his time. He offered the treasures to his guests for viewing; his house became the center of Groningen's social life.

After Sichterman's death in 1764 the house was divided because it turned out to be too big to sell; The Sichtermanhuis is now a tourist attraction in Groningen. The inventory was sold by his heirs to pay off debts, and the collection was scattered. Parts of the porcelain collection are now in the Groninger Museum . The family coat of arms of the sifter in the museum shows a squirrel.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Based on the illustration of the Groninger Museum
  2. ↑ De Koning van Groningen: Jan Albert Sichterman (1692-1764) (Dutch) in: De Verhalen van Groningen (German: Stories of Groningen), accessed on April 16, 2018

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sichterman, Jan Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sailor, director and art collector
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1692
PLACE OF BIRTH Groningen
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1764
Place of death Groningen