The expansion of cross-sea trade and the vast increase in welfare in the early 17th century lead to an increase in the use of exotic wood-types. At first these were made available through trade with the Portugese, but after the VOC settled in the far east, the Dutch supplied it themselves. These factors formed the foundation of the creation of a new type of frame that originates from the Protestant north of the Netherlands. Ebben wood and other dark-wood types were utilized with a very spare use of gold leaf.