The picture features (from right to left) two Javanese men, Cornelia van Nijenrode, her husband Pieter Cnoll and their two daughters. Cornelia van Nijenrode (1630-?1692) was born on Hirado, the daughter of the Dutchman Cornelis van Nijenrode and his Japanese concubine Surishia. At the age of seven, she was taken to Batavia, the capital of the former Dutch East Indies and present-day Jakarta. She later married Peter Cnoll, inheriting a large fortune upon his death. She was then a young woman of independent means with good business acumen, but made the mistake of marrying Joan Bitter. By law, her new husband gained complete control of all her assets. He took advantage of the opportunity and deprived her of almost everything she had. Cornelia took the matter to court and fought her greedy husband for fifteen years. She lost eventually and Bitter succeeded in tricking her out of the greater part of her fortune.