Bescheiden van Jan Brandes: financiën en staat van bewoning Batavia. 1779 - 1785

Curator: Oh my, doesn't that script just dance across the page? It's so alive! Editor: Indeed, what you're seeing is a drawing made with ink on paper by Jan Brandes, dating roughly between 1779 and 1785. The work is titled "Bescheiden van Jan Brandes: financiën en staat van bewoning Batavia." These are documents related to finances and residency status in Batavia, now Jakarta. Curator: Finances, hmm. Still, it looks like a score for a strange, celestial orchestra. All those rhythmic dips and swirls—does it mention anything interesting? Editor: It does. These are administrative records documenting transactions, related to people named Socta Wangsa and Aman Minge. Curator: It is oddly beautiful. Look at the angles meeting curves, how dense areas give way to blank space. It’s like a landscape of numbers. You could almost lose yourself in that geometry. What about these names, Socta Wangsa and Aman Minge - were they residents? Editor: Most likely they were local individuals involved in financial transactions with the colonial administration. The document speaks to the ways resources were managed—or perhaps mismanaged—in this colonial context. It offers a glimpse into the day-to-day realities of both colonizers and colonized, recorded in meticulous detail. Curator: So it is not merely administrative but quite political as well. Seeing how economics become art—almost by accident—is really incredible. Brandes never imagined we'd pore over his account keeping for its aesthetics! Editor: That tension is powerful, I think—the cold precision of colonial record-keeping imbued with accidental artistry. It pushes us to consider what survives from these periods, and who gets to decide what's deemed important, or beautiful, enough to preserve. Curator: Absolutely. What stories lie hidden beneath the beautiful calligraphy? It makes me wonder about those untold tales of Batavia, filtered through the meticulous hand of a colonial scribe. Editor: Perhaps art’s greatest value, then, lies in its ability to ask more questions than it answers, provoking reflections that transcend time and place.