Telltale, anonymous, c. 1780 - c. 1792
parcel-gilt silver, glass, wax, d 8.5cm × h 1.9cm More details
When the back of the telltale is heated, for instance with a candle, a portrait of Hendrik Daniëlsz Hooft, Burgomaster of Amsterdam and supporter of the Dutch Patriots, appears. Also visible are a keeshond and an aphorism translatable as: ‘He lives hidden in a cloud in the heart of the Batavian people’. The owner of the object thus reveals his patriotic sympathies.