Women’s Stories and the Use of Objects in the exhibition “At Home in the 17th Century”
In 2025-2026, the Rijksmuseum mounted the exhibition At Home in the 17th Century, which focused on everyday family life by profiling the objects that helped to define the domestic environment in that era. Although the exhibition did not specifically center women, in highlighting the home it celebrated women’s key role in running the household and shaping the domestic space. By using the medium of physical objects rather than pictorial images, the exhibition avoided the stereotypes of domesticity that have been created through the painter’s lens. The exhibition was conceived and developed in the early years of the project Women of the Rijksmuseum. In crafting the exhibition’s art historical and broader historical narrative, we were able to draw on the specialist scholarly expertise within that project team. The next stage is to continue integrating the insights arising from this exhibition into the permanent installation.

Femke Diercks

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Femke Diercks is Head of Decorative Arts and Curator of European Ceramics at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Her scholarly interests include Delftware, Meissen, the history of collecting, and an interdisciplinary approach within the study of decorative arts. Most recently she was a member of the curatorial team of the exhibition At Home in the 17th Century (2025-2026).