Enigmes Joyeuses pour les Bons Esprits, Plate 7

Seventh 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 working-class man, standing on a piece of wool held by two wooden scaffolds, which he saws with the help of a woman who stands of the floor beneath him, in front of a town, the church of which can be seen in the back. The plate accompanies one of the sonnets of the Enigmes, which describes the nature of the activity, in which the man and woman move the saw up and down to cut the wool, while also hinting to another, slightly more erotic activity. This double meaning 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.