Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 117
Il tegnoso fuge il pectineItalian
The scabby-headed man flees the comb.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
An oval medallion within a square frame, set in a barber-surgeon's shop interior. At the centre a coarse-featured man sits on a chair, grimacing and twisting his body, his shirt open at the neck; a barber standing behind and to the left, wearing a broad-brimmed hat, doublet and breeches, holds up a comb (or tuft of hair) in his raised right hand while reaching toward the seated man's head. Two assistants hold the struggling man: one behind grasps his shoulder and collar, another at the right pulls at his arm. On the floor lie a pair of scissors and a shoe; at the left stands a table draped with a white cloth bearing jars and a flask; at the back are a door, a framed picture, a window, hanging basins/vessels, and a shelf with bottles; at the right a bench with a hat. Below the oval is a blank scroll banderole; the corner spandrels are hatched. Signed at lower left 'A. v. Venne in.' and lower right 'D. v. Bremden Sculp.'
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
VVaerom mach desen mensch so bijster leelick tierē? Den kop daer henē slaen, de ledē omme-swierē? Wat maeckt dē grovē gast, wat maeckt dē kinckel gram? Al wat ontrent hem koomt is maer een fijne kam! En waerom die gevreest? naedien oock teere maegden Noyt van het wit yvoir of sijne tanden klaegden; De kam is wonder nut, de kam is wonder net, De kam is die het hooft in beter order set.
TranslationAI-generated
Why does this man carry on so dreadfully and uglily? Throw his head this way and that, and fling his limbs about? What makes the coarse fellow, what makes the lout so angry? All that comes near him is only a fine comb! And why should that be feared? Since even tender maidens never complained of the white ivory or of its teeth; the comb is wonderfully useful, the comb is wonderfully neat, the comb is the thing that sets the head in better order.
CommentaryAI-generated
8 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Iamais teigneux n'aima le peigne.
A scabby-headed man never loved the comb.
Wie een schurft hooft heeft wilt geen kammen lijden.
He who has a scabby head will suffer no combing.
A l'œil malade la lumiere nuict.
To a sick eye the light is harmful.
Qui malè agit odit lucem.
He who does evil hates the light.
Ce qui est de bas or craint la touche.
That which is of base gold fears the touchstone.
Een schurft peert vreest den ros-kam.
A mangy horse fears the curry-comb.
Cicer. Senect. In fragili corpore odiosa omnis offensio.
Cicero, On Old Age. In a frail body every knock is hateful.
I. Hal. observ. 37. Si l'on ne passe jamais par les chemins ils deviennent herbus, s'ils sont beaucoup frequentez ils se rendent commodes au passage. Si le cœur n'est entierement accoustumé à la meditation il se plaist en soi mesme, non en ce qu'il est innocent, mais confident. S'Il s'exerce souvent en ceste matiere il trouve passage plein de consolation à ses pensees.
J. Hall, Observation 37. If one never passes along the roads they become grassy; if they are much frequented they make themselves easy for passage. If the heart is not entirely accustomed to meditation, it pleases itself in itself, not in that it is innocent, but presumptuous. If it exercises itself often in this matter, it finds a passage full of consolation for its thoughts.
Iconclass
86(IL TEGNOSO FUGE IL PECTINE)proverbs, sayings, etc. (IL TEGNOSO FUGE IL PECTINE)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
31A535barber, barbershophighThe scene is set entirely in a barber's shop with a barber at work on a seated client, matching 'barber, barbershop'.
49G11barber; surgeonmediumThe interior is a barber-surgeon's shop with jars, flask and bottles on the table and shelf, fitting 'barber; surgeon'.
31A5311comb, brush and other tools (care of the hair)highThe barber holds up a comb and the motto turns on combing a scabby head, matching 'comb, brush and other tools (care of the hair)'.
31A5352barber's basinmediumBasins/vessels hang on the back wall of the shop, corresponding to 'barber's basin'.
47D8(SCISSORS)tools, aids, implements ~ crafts and industries: scissorsmediumA pair of scissors lies on the floor as a craftsman's tool, matching 'tools, aids, implements ~ crafts and industries: scissors'.
48C34(TOUCH-STONE)tools, implements of craftsman: touch-stonelowThe commentary invokes the proverb that base gold fears the touchstone, though the implement itself is not depicted.
46C13172curry-comblowThe commentary's adage 'a mangy horse fears the curry-comb' names the curry-comb, though it is not shown in the image.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- I ii 66 Fures clamorem – thematic inventiomedium
The emblem's moral — 'Qui malè agit odit lucem', the man with a bad conscience shuns anything that would touch or expose him (comb, light, touchstone, Bible, preacher) — is exactly Erasmus's point that a guilty man dreads any noise that might betray him and becomes 'trepidus ac lucifuga', a shunner of the light.
- IV iii 50 Aurum subaeratum – thematic inventiolow
The French gloss 'Ce qui est de bas or craint la touche' (base gold fears the touchstone) parallels Erasmus's adage on gold with copper beneath, the insincere man who dreads being tested and shows one thing outside while hiding another.
- II iv 51 Quod index auro, id aurum homini – thematic inventiolow
The emblem's subsidiary proverb about base gold fearing the touchstone draws on the same commonplace of the 'index/basanos' that tries both metal and men, which this adage expounds.
- II vii 79 Lupus ante clamorum festinat – thematic inventiolow
Like the scabby man who flees the comb and the sinner who avoids church and Bible, Erasmus's wolf takes flight before any accusation because he is conscious of his own wrongdoing ('conscius, ultro timet, prius quàm accusetur').
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem117
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem117
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288