An Embassy from the East-India Company

Ogilby's translations included the Jesuit Johann Adam Schall von Bell's written rebuttal of the Dutch claims and aims, as well as a partial translation of Athanasius Kircher's recently published China Illustrata, based on other Jesuit accounts.

Nieuhof's original account and its translations served as a major influence in the rise of chinoiserie in the early eighteenth century.

In addition to keeping the logbook for the journey, Nieuhof also drew several impressions of landscapes, cities, and people, which were to be used as a visual supplementation of the account for the VOC.

These notes and illustrations were left in the care of his brother Hendrik, "so as they not fall prey to rugged seas and hollow waves".

It provides information on the language, craftsmanship, culture, customs, fashion, religion and the natural world.

[8] The anonymous introduction added to the Latin edition, relating details from the travels of Marco Polo, was probably composed by Jacob Golius.

This version also includes excerpts from Athanasius Kircher's China Illustrata, a work chiefly compiled from accounts by the Jesuit China Mission, as well as an epistle of "John Adams", the Jesuit Johann Adam Schall von Bell, opposing the aims of the Dutch mission.

Prior accounts of China had been supplemented with visual reference material after the fact, and often featured mythological and fantastical creatures.

[3] Though this claim has been proven false, the sketches made by Nieuhof still featured elements drawn directly from observation.

Together with the author Olfert Dapper, he published Gedenkwaerdig bedryf der Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Maetschappye, op de kuste en in het Keizerrijk van Taising of Sina.

[20] As it provided the first realistic visual representation of China, Nieuhof's travel account is considered one of the biggest influence on Western chinoiserie.

Depictions of China were copied from the book and incorporated in Delftware porcelain, tapestries, wallpapers and paintings.

[21] Impressions copied from Het Gezantschap can be found on many Chinoiserie works from the 1660s onwards, with artists often combining multiple cityscapes, characters and scenes from different illustrations.

The main map of China from the 1665 Dutch edition, detailing the route of the VOC embassy north from Guangzhou along the North , Gan , and Yangtze Rivers and thence along the Grand Canal to Beijing
The frontispiece of the 1693 reprint of the Dutch edition, depicting a prisoner in the cangue (Chinese pillory ) before the Qing emperor Shunzhi beneath his ceremonial parasol.
Ji'an as approached by river, from the 1665 French edition
Etching of Chinese googhelaars ("magicians") from the 1665 Dutch edition [ 7 ]
Delftware porcelain plate decorated with a version of the googhelaars image from Nieuhof's work
The Forbidden City in Beijing , as depicted in the 1665 French edition.
Nanjing 's Porcelain Pagoda , as depicted in the 1665 French edition.
Nieuhof's presentation of Chinese characters , presenting their development from ancient ideograms ( 1 – 12 ) and I Ching trigrams ( a – d ), the supposed subtleness of distinctions between them ( a – g ), and a mangled presentation of a character in Chinese cursive (M). 1665 French ed.
Manchu women and tents, as depicted in the 1665 French edition.
An additional illustration in the China Illustrata appendix of John Ogilby 's 1669 English edition, displaying severed heads on a Buddhist altar while a mandarin kowtows to a Thai-style idol of the Buddha or a bodhisattva .
Depiction of Chinese idols from the 1668 Latin edition, conflating the Taoist Sanxing and Buddhist figures to produce a trinity of Longevity , the Heavenly King , and " Pleasure " with both flanking gods depicted as forms of the Maitreya Buddha or his incarnation Budai .