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 Skate Maker: For little pleasure, A big hazard

Scripture Reference:

• Job 37 (further images / scripture text)

Description: In the foreground of the workshop, a skate maker is finishing the rounded wooden body of a skate and a second worker uses a chisel to begin the shaping of the wood block. Finished skates and tools hang on the wall, and supplies are stacked on the back shelves. 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 Job 37:10. Motto: For little pleasure, / A big hazard. Poem: Vanity, to reap pleasure, / Since the worldly heart thirsts for escape, / It embarks on the water’s crust, /And lets death gape from underneath: /So plays man on the earthly well, / Like over the gaping of hell. (Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker).

Click here for additional images available from this book.

Request a high-resolution file (fees apply)

Rights Statement: The online edition of this work in the public domain, i.e., not protected by copyright, has been produced by Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.
Rights Status: No Copyright - United States
Pitts Theology Library provides copyright information as a courtesy and makes no representation about copyright or other legal status of materials in the Digital Image Archive.