As we are in Passovertide it would be good to look at this picture a little closer in the light of the discussion below ...Bernard Picart's oil painting of the Passover Seder, most likely made as a gift for the Curiel family (vide Hunt, Jacon and Mijnhardt, 'The Book That Changed Europe', 2010). After four years of seeking permission to sketch Jewish rituals firsthand, he produced the engravings that are found in 'Religious Ceremonies of the World.' Picart moved to Amsterdam in 1711 and the engravings of Jewish subjects first appeared in the French edition of 1723. The painting therefore must depict the Curiel family about 1720. Who are they? and more interestingly who is the black servant? I am assuming that, as in England, slaves were not permitted on European Dutch soil. And, whilst the person still seems to be something of a servant with care of the wine (it is forbidden for a uncircumcised person to touch wine meant for Jews), and with his 'oriental' uniform he is nevertheless sat at the table with the family - albeit noticeably segregated from his neighbours. Was he in fact a circumcised slave or a freed convert? And if the latter might he have ended up in Ouderkerk?