Exotica, ornaments and idolatry in the poetry of Jan Six van Chandelier (1620-1695)

Abstract

In the seventeenth century, the Dutch Republic occupied a central position in the world trade in exotica. Exotic goods were not only popular as foodstuffs, medicines, and curiosa, but also as artistic ornaments in Dutch art and literature. The literary representation of exotica in the poetry of drug merchant Jan Six van Chandelier (1620-1695) reveals how these exotic materials did not only promote scientific curiosity, but also gave rise to moral unease. This article analyses a series of eulogy poems Six wrote to the Royal Entry of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana in Madrid in 1649, where he over-ironizes exotic oil and incense as poetic means to apotheosis. The article shows how these poems are not just meant as criticism on Counter-Reformation Spain, but also served as a means of selfrepresentation, with self-scrutiny as literary strategy. Jan Six articulates criticism both of the literary hype of exotica in the Dutch Republic and of his own identity as drogist-dichter.