The Knucklebone
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Knucklebone
Scripture Reference:
- Isaiah 55 (further images / scripture text)
Description: On a city square, two youths are playing a game, each with a knucklebone in his hand and a collection of bones nearby, as two other boys await their turn and two men look on. The Dutch artist and poet Jan Luiken (1649-1712) was responsible for drawing and etching this emblem and for the brief poem that accompanies it (below). The attendant Scripture texts are Isa 55:1-3; Jer 4:22; and 1 Tim 6:10-12.
Motto:
How many Knucklebones are there on the Earth,
Although not gathered from the Ox-foot!
Poem:
The little Knuckle on which the Ox walked,
Is for the lad a thing of value,
But by the Man is long since forgotten:
Many things of the base Earth,
Are valuable for the old children,
But are thrown away by wisdom.
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
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