Complete set of two very rare early 19th-century historical prints depicting naval scenes at the Soengsang river (now Musi River) in the former Dutch East Indies at the time of the second Dutch expedition to Palembang in June 1821. This second expedition was a punitive expedition by the Dutch colonial government against the Palembang Sultanate in retaliation for the first expedition in 1819 which had been a failure for the Dutch. Its aim was to re-establish the Dutch authority and to depose Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II (1767-1852), the ruler of Palembang and instigator of the revolt against the Dutch.
In May 1821, under command of the Dutch general Hendrik Merkus de Kock (1779-1845), the Dutch army left the port of Batavia (now Jakarta) with 32 warships and 14 transport ships containing a total of almost 1.500 combat troops. On 24 June, the Sultans defensive positions along the Soengsang river (nearby the island of Gombora) were shelled from the Dutch warships and subsequently captured, the first aquatint shows this successful attack (with in the foreground the Dutch infantry approaching the riverside in sloops). On 27 June, the Sultan decided to surrender and the second aquatint shows his arrival at the Dutch frigate "Johanna", lying before the city of Palembang. After his arrest, the Sultan was transferred to the island of Java where he lived as a state prisoner until his death in 1852. In October 1823, the Palembang Sultanate was dissolved and placed under direct Dutch rule.
Both aquatint plates are proof prints and were originally accompanied by an explanatory text leaf, titled "De roemrijke overwinning der Palembangsche expeditie, op den 24 en 27 Junij 1821; aan boord van een der schepen geschetst, en daarna door de kunstschilder den heere H.P. Oosterhuis opgewerkt, en in het koper gebragt door den kunstgraveerder den heere J.A. Lutz ... uitgegeven door Js. Groenewoud, te Amsterdam".
No biographical details are known of the Dutch engraver J.A. Lutz, except for that he was active in the period of 1809-1822, presumably in The Hague. The Dutch painter and draughtsman Haatje Pieters Oosterhuis (born in 1784 in Tolbert, Groningen, died 1853 in Amsterdam) studied at the drawing academy of Groningen where he lived until 1815. He then moved to Amsterdam where he was mainly active as painter of landscapes and portraits. He is also known as draughtsman for historical prints (for example the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, published in 1816 in Amsterdam by Js. Groenewoud) and as an illustrator of Dutch childrens books.
"No date of publication is indicated, and there is no evidence that the work was published since only proof plates are known. They must have been executed in about 1822 or 1823, and rank among the rarest of nineteenth century prints of Indonesia, an additional degree of rarity arising from the fact that they are aquatints, a medium of illustration seldom used by early nineteenth century Dutch engravers" (Bastin/Brommer).
Both prints occasionally slightly browned, otherwise in good condition. Atlas Van Stolk no. 6560; Bastin/Brommer p. 130; Muller, Ned. historieplaten, no. 6160a and no. 6163. On the artists: Haks/Maris p. 174 and p. 202; Scheen, I, p. 732 and II, p. 135; Waller p. 209.