National Trust Curator, Lisa Voden-Decker, has been in touch with global and colonial historian Tristan Mostert at Leiden University to increase understanding of the painting:
“We knew the subject was a battle between Dutch East Indiamen and Chinese junks set in the dangerous waters of the South China Sea, which was and remains a hotbed of piracy. It was a particular problem during the Ming dynasty, when as well as capturing trading ships, pirates raided cities along the Chinese coast.
“At the time, the Dutch East India Company, which was seeking to advance its position in the South China Sea, had a number of run-ins with pirate groups. The Siege of Amoy was one such battle but two of the identifiable Dutch ships in the scene, the ‘Domburch’ and the ‘Arnemude’, did not take part in it”.