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 Comb Maker: Comb out the tangle, Before it’s worse

Scripture Reference:

• Psalms 40 (further images / scripture text)

Description: Three comb makers are at work in a small workshop while a woman watches. A number of ivory tusks lie on the floor and combs hang from the open shutters. 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 Psalm 40:11-13 though Luiken quotes Psalm 40:12-14. Motto: Comb out the tangle, / Before it’s worse. Poem: The hair of the head, entangled at night, / Is in the morning put to right:/Man is full of quick inventions; / But the true head in the heart / Sits often in tangles year after year, /And remains a hotbed of sins. (Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker).

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