For the next five months, Zwolle will focus on the artist family Ter Borch; Ter Borch at home in Zwolle. This is also the case in the Heritage hotspot at ANNO City Museum Zwolle. The many prints made by Gesina ter Borch provide a nice insight into her life and that of the Zwollenaren in the seventeenth century. Many of the objects she depicted are found during archaeological research in the Zwolle soil. By studying Gesinas prints, we learn more about the everyday practices of the seventeenth-century Zwollenaar.
A woman lights a fire in a stove
The stove is frequently depicted by Gesina. This wooden cabinet was used to warm the feet. In the print a woman lights a fire in the stove, we see a woman placing a test filled with hot coals into the stove. The fire test is made of red-baking earthenware and stands on three legs or on a stand ring. The test has one handle and is often glazed. The top of the bowl is usually square in shape, but there are also round tests.
Stove Setter
The stove was primarily used by women. During the cold winter days, a stove provided the desired warmth. Even during church visits, it was a commonly accepted practice for ladies to have a stove under their feet during the service. In Gesinas print Group of churchgoers leaving the church, we see two ladies walking in the procession with a stove under their arm. The stove could be taken from home, but there was also the so-called stove setter. In Zwolle, the profession of stove setter was a municipal office. In the city archive of Zwolle, there is a document from 1686 in which Nicolaas ten Have declared his work as a stove setter for the Broerenkerk to the city council. We also find Nicolaas ten Have in the archives as a wood supplier. His widow, Aaltje Menso, had a claim on the poorhouse for delivered coffins from 1691 to 1697. The ten Have family was thus a wood supplier and woodworker with the additional function of supplying stoves.
Ter Borch at home in Zwolle
The exhibitions at Museum de Fundatie, Academiehuis Grote Kerk Zwolle, and ANNO City Museum Zwolle run from September 6, 2025, to February 1, 2026. For more information about Ter Borch at home in Zwolle, visit www.visitzwolle.com.
Come take a look!
The Find of the Month can be seen in the Heritage hotspot at ANNO City Museum Zwolle. Want to know more? Then visit the website www.anno.nl.
Text: Heritage municipality of Zwolle, Geertje Havers
Images
- Image 1. A woman lights a fire in a stove, Gesina ter Borch, ca. 1650. (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam)
- Image 2. Fire test of red-baking earthenware. (Heritage municipality of Zwolle)
- Image 3. Group of churchgoers leaving the church, Gesina ter Borch, ca. 1654. (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam)
