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Biography
Debora van der Plas (1616–1680) was a Swedish entrepreneur.
She was born in Dordrecht, the daughter of the Dutch artist Laurens van der Plas (d. 1629), who immigrated to Sweden in 1618 and became a court painter in 1621. In 1644, she married Jan van Ruyff, a leading member of the Dutch colony in Stockholm, a merchant and owner of the manor Axbergshammars bruk in Närke. After the death of her spouse in 1658, she took control over his business an became one of Sweden's most notable skippers and exporters of iron and copper. Among her business partners where Marescoe-Joyes in London, managed by Leonora Marescoe, as well as other in England and the Netherlands. She retired for health reasons in 1672 and left the company to her son-in-law Henrik Cletcher.