Manier van Begraven onder de Hottentotten - Jan Caspar Philips

An eighteenth-century etching by Jan Caspar Philips depicting a funeral procession of the Khoikhoi people in Southern Africa.

This etching, titled 'Manier van Begraven onder de Hottentotten', is a work by the Dutch engraver Jan Caspar Philips. It appeared in the mid-eighteenth century as part of a larger collection documenting global cultures and travel narratives. The print depicts a funeral procession of the Khoikhoi people, a group indigenous to Southern Africa. In the foreground, figures carry a shrouded body towards a burial site, while a circular settlement of domed dwellings is visible in the middle distance. The background features a mountainous terrain, rendered with the characteristic cross-hatching and tonal variation common to Dutch printmaking of the period.

Philips, active in Amsterdam, produced numerous illustrations for travelogues and historical accounts. These works were often based on second-hand descriptions or earlier sketches rather than direct observation, which accounts for the stylised representation of the figures and the architecture. The composition follows the conventions of eighteenth-century ethnographic illustration, where the subject is placed within a constructed, picturesque environment. The use of light and shadow creates a sense of depth, drawing the eye from the foreground figures toward the distant, rounded huts. This print offers a view into how European audiences of the Enlightenment era visualised non-European societies. It functions as a historical document of colonial-era perspectives on indigenous customs, reflecting the aesthetic and intellectual frameworks of the time. The precision of the line work and the balanced arrangement of the scene demonstrate the technical skill of Philips as a master engraver, whose output was essential for the dissemination of geographical and cultural knowledge in the Netherlands during the eighteenth century.