RIJSWIJCK, Dirck van
(b. 1596 Kleve, d. ~1679 Amsterdam)
Dutch goldsmith. He was presumably born in Kleve, present-day Germany but from 1622 onwards he spent his life in Amsterdam. Although trained as a goldsmith, he mostly worked on the inlay and carving of mother-of-pearl. Van Rijswijck depicted scenes on wood and Lydian stone (a black variety of jasper used as a touchstone to test the quality of gold, silver, and other precious metals). An impressive example of his work in touchstone is the octagonal table-top, to which the Dutch poet Vondel dedicated an ode in 1660. Dirck van Rijswijck kept the table-top for a long time in his own house, turning his workshop into an attraction for art-lovers and tourists.
