AMSTERDAM.- The Rijksmuseum has acquired an extremely rare 18th-century glass engraved with a scene depicting the Surinamese sugar plantation Siparipabo and the text ‘t welvaren van Siparipabo’ [‘The Prosperity of Siparipabo’]. The magnificent, detailed engravings are partly polished. Once the Rijksmuseum’s main building reopens, the glass will be given a prominent place among the 18th-century works of art, telling the story of Surinam’s plantation economy. Plantation owners in Surinam and Europe used glasses such as these to toast the prosperity of their possessions; in this case, the prosperity of the Siparipabo sugar plantation in Surinam. The plantation is first mentioned on a map dated 1686, on which it is depicted adjacent to the River Commewijne. The glass was probably ordered at the beginning of the 18th century by the owner of the plantation, Catharina Marcus, widow of Willem Pedij d