Book Title: Spiegel van het menselyk bedrijf : in kleuren vertoond met honderd verbeeldingen, van ambachten, konsten, hanteeringen en bedryven, met verzen / Jan en Kasper Luiken.

Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712

Image Title: The Chair Maker: Even if made of gold, It breaks like wood

Scripture Reference:

• Matthew 11 (further images / scripture text)

Description: A craftsman repairs the seat of a chair while sitting on the floor of his open workshop. On the left, a man carries a bundle of wooden carved chair arms and another man works on a lathe. The Dutch artist and poet, Jan Luiken (1649-1712), was responsible for drawing this emblem and for creating the motto and poem that follow. Jan Luiken and/or his son Casper Luiken (1672-1708) were responsible for its etching. The attendant scripture text is Matthew 11:28-29. Motto: Even if made of gold,/ It breaks like wood. Poem: The chair of softness and rest, /Stands in the eternal house of the Lord, / For those, who, longing for comfort,/Turn their minds to God: /However soft the earthly chair might be,/ It breaks in the end and is gone. (Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker).

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