Album amicorum of Hiskia van Harinxma

Traditionally, women's albums show a mixture of chansons and poems, alternating with pages on which inscribers limit themselves to their motto (sometimes abbreviated to the initials), possibly a small logo (a flower, a heart), their name and the year. They are frugal with paper. There are albums where there can be as many as twelve of these 'minimal inscriptions' on one page. It is a pity that women's albums rarely or never mention where a contribution was written. Did the albums circulate at music evenings or while attending a party? Or were they lent out to each other and you had to wait and see how long it took before you got your booklet back?

In general, women's albums are dominated by female writers. In the case of Hiskia's album, men are equally strongly represented, often with very good quality coats of arms paintings. The inscriptions were almost all placed by members of the Frisian nobility, such as Van Aylva, Van Heringa, Van Douma and Van Eysinga. The most beautiful contribution comes from Hessel van Ostheim: a beautifully executed cut-out against a painted back page. This work of art is provided with a poem in which the knight hunting his sweetheart declares that he will not stop until he has caught his ‘prey’.