Jan Kooi

Jan Kooi (c. 1840 – after 1884) was a Dutch KNIL (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army) military officer from Ghana.

Kooi was probably born somewhere near Elmina, where the KNIL recruited him.

No records of his birth/death dates exist, and his (Dutch) name was probably given to him upon recruitment. He is best known today for his portrait painted by Johan Conrad Leich in 1882 when Kooi was back in the Netherlands.

He is proudly wearing his four Dutch service medals, the most prominent being the leftmost one, Knight of the Fourth Class of the Military Order of William, which he received in 1878 for his service in the Second Aceh Expedition, part of the Aceh War.

The portrait remained in the possession of Leich who bequeathed it to the Museum Bronbeek. Kooi's colleagues were also portrayed by other Dutch painters at the time, most notably Kees Pop (again, probably a Dutch name given him by the Elmina recruiters):

Sources:

• Wiki
• Wiewaswie
• Nationaal Archief
• Wiki Orang Blanda Itam