A Dutch Merchant, Possibly Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest
Van Braam Houckgeest was director of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) trading post in the southern Chinese port of Canton from 1790 to 1795. He possibly ordered this figure of himself during one of his earlier journeys through China. The Chinese sculptor Chitqua specialized in such clay portraits, usually of foreigners. Comparable likenesses of other Dutch merchants and captains of VOC ships are also known.