Dog collar or slave collar? A Dutch museum interrogates a brutal past.

The Rijksmuseum’s ”Slavery” exhibit examines the lives of enslaved people as well as those of wealthy people who benefited from their labors. Among the privileged was Oopjen Coppit, seen in a 1664 portrait (right) by Rembrandt van Rijn, who married twice into Amsterdam families whose wealth stemmed from slavery in South America.

An abstract artwork featuring blue beads helps to tell the story of Lohkay, an enslaved woman whose failed escape attempt eventually spurred the abolition of slavery in St. Marteen during the early 1800s.

Tronco, or multiple foot stocks used to to constrain enslaved people, are shown at the “Slavery” exhibition of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

A 1788 drawing shows Augustus of Bengal, an enslaved man, holding the pipe of his enslaver Hendrik Cloete.