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The persons represented, whose names are known from contemporary documents, were the controllers of cloth-samples. They were appointed by the Burgomaster of Amsterdam to regulate the quality of cloth sold in the city, and the book in front of the chairman is probably the account book in which the names of the drapers whose samples had been approved, together with the date and the fees they paid, were recorded. The officials met in private, and thus the popular belief that the figure second from the left is rising to answer a question from the audience at a public meeting is erroneous.
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