Enigmes Joyeuses pour les Bons Esprits, Plate 1

Jan van Haelbeeck|Jean Leclerc IV

ca. 1615 · Copper engraving · Drawings and Prints

First plate of a group of 9 plates with small domestic scenes, engraved by Jan van Haelbeeck, which were either were made for, or reused by Jean Leclerc around 1615 in the sonnet series ‘Enigmes Joyeuses pour les Bons Esprits’, in which they were each published with a sonnet that hinted at the double meaning of the activities. In this plate, a woman dressed in 17th-century style, sits on a wooden chair, spinning wool. She is inside a room with tiled floors, open windows and doors, with some shelves with plates and baskets with fruits, in front of an open stair. Finished rolls of wool are in a basket near her, and a cat and a dog play with spare rolls around her. The plate accompanies the first sonnet of the Enigmes, which hints to the double, slightly erotic, meanings of the images. The double meanings of the images and sonnets of the Enigmes helps explain why most copies of the series, although very popular and influential in their day, have been lost.

Artist

Jan van Haelbeeck|Jean Leclerc IV

Date

ca. 1615

Medium

Copper engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Mary Oenslager Fund, 2016