In this painting Abraham Storck conveys the commotion of the arriving and departing travellers, around the Tollhouse, on the north side of the River IJ near Amsterdam. The Tollhouse was built on the southern point of the so-called Volewijk in 1662. A large number of boats are depicted on the river. Streams of sunlight and shadow alternate on the water and the vessels. The cloudbanks and the waves create a dynamic effect and indicate a moderate wind. In the foreground Storck depicts two rowing boats which are busy transporting people from the Amsterdam quay to the Tollhouse. The vessel, on the right, is occupied by three women who are rowing several passengers across the river. The Haringpakkerij (Herring factory) and the Nieuwe Stadsherberg (New City Inn) are visible between the ships. These are the destination of the little boat. This inn, which also opened in 1662, was situated near the Haringpakkerij opposite the Martelaarsgrachts on the Amsterdam side of the water. On the right, in the background, a merchant ship is hove-to flying the Dutch flag. The silhouette of Amsterdam can be seen, in the distance, on the right.

Here, Storck may have been painting either the arrival in the Amsterdam harbour of an important dignitary or some other similarly official event. Numerous motifs point to a ceremonial reception: the States yacht, on the left, fires a salute and trumpet signals are given from the vessel’s afterdeck. The yacht, also, flies a presumably German ensign and pennant and has the same arms on the stern. The bezan yacht, in the middle of the composition, flies a flag with a German coat of arms. The figure of the sea god Neptune is carved on the stern of the ship. The city barge, on the right, approaches both vessels. On board there are various dignitaries who may have come from the Dutch ship in the background. The central figures in this painting are the man sitting below deck and the man dressed in black and waving his hat on the States yacht near the Tollhouse. The man sitting is possibly a German prince, who visited Amsterdam in the last decade of the seventeenth century. This painting is signed 'A Storck Fecit' on the jetty.

A toll was collected for the maintenance of the canal to the village of Buiksloot in the north and the road which had been constructed two years earlier. The Buiksloot canal barge brought travellers to Hoorn, Edam, Monnickendam and Purmerend. Whilst sailing and rowing boats provided travellers with a connection from the Amsterdam harbour to the Tollhouse and the Nieuwe Stadsherberg. For two-and-a-half centuries the Tollhouse drew visitors from Amsterdam and afar. They came to enjoy the magnificent view of the city, the ships on the IJ, the cows grazing on the vast meadows and the birds in the green wooded banks. In addition, the attraction of the nearby gallows-field – the place of public execution – cannot be underestimated.

'Ships on the River IJ in front of the Tollhouse near Amsterdam' is representative of Storck’s late work. Most of these views of Dutch rivers and harbours depict ceremonial events or recreational activities with pleasure yachts. Usually the emphasis is on ships with colourful flags and passengers in festive dress. The same vessels appear in many paintings and drawings by the artist. Storck, also, depicted the three-master on the right, with the sails in a different position, in a drawing from 1684 which is preserved in the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam.

Originally the painting hung above an arched door and, therefore, had a curved hollow at the bottom. At a later stage a piece of canvas was added to the bottom and painted with waves to give the piece a rectangular shape. A further addition, which was probably intended to give the painting more conventional proportions, was a broad strip of canvas atop the composition extending the clouded sky. These additions were removed during conservation in 2007–08 which returned the painting to its original dimensions. In the first half of the nineteenth century it formed part of the collection of the great British painter J.M.W. Turner R.A. He does not seem to have been responsible for the (earlier) extensions to it but may have acquired the work during a visit to the Netherlands between 1817 and 1825. Parts of the composition, including the bezan yacht and the ship on the right, were taken over by Turner in his painting 'Admiral Van Tromp’s Barge at the Entrance of the Texel, 1645'. Turner's painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1831 and purchased by the architect Sir John Soane. Today it remains in the Soane Museum, London.

The artist, Abraham Storck, trained and worked with his father and became a member of the Guild of St Luke in Amsterdam. Storck's most popular paintings are views of harbour cities and river scenes. Most of these topographical views are of Dutch subjects, often depicting recreational and ceremonial aspects of shipping, with an emphasis on colourful pleasure yachts. These are typically occupied by passengers in festive dress. Storck's river and coastal scenes were influenced by Ludolf Backhuysen, Willem van de Velde the Younger and Jan Abrahamsz Beerstraten. He showed considerable accuracy in depicting the rigging and technical details of ships. Also he concentrated on depictions of both spectators and passengers, showing great skill in the depiction of the human figure, through characterization and attention to costume and detail.