Reception of the Envoys from Kandy in Colombo

This is a 1772 image by Carel Frederik Reimer depicting the reception of representatives of the King of Kandy at the Dutch East India Company’s (VOC) governor’s house in Colombo, Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka). The Kingdom of Kandy was an independent polity that controlled the central and some eastern portions of the island. The Kandyan and VOC officials are situated around a large table in the ornately decorated Great Reception Hall. The VOC governor, Iman Willem Falck, sits at the prominent position at the head of the table. The richly dressed men, coupled with the lavishness of the room’s furnishings, highlights the opulence of these diplomatic meetings. Such diplomatic formalities were an important part of the Company’s commercial and political relations in Asia.