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 Watchmaker: So one is prepared While there is time

Scripture Reference:

• Psalms 143 (further images / scripture text)

Description: The watchmaker, sitting at his worktable, examines a pocket watch, while a potential client watches. A number of grandfather clocks hang on the walls around him. Through the open door, a city square with trees is visible. 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 144:4 though Luiken misquotes Psalm 143:4. Motto: So one is prepared / While there is time. Poem: oh Man, put the state of your soul in order, /While life’s clock runs; /As once the weight has run down /Of this brief time of life, /No pull-up can be bought again, / For art, nor money, nor respectability. (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.