Cartouche met schaalstok en twee vogels 1592

This small cartouche with a scale bar and two birds was created by an anonymous artist, and its intimate size speaks volumes. In a time when maps charted not just lands but also power, this cartouche quietly challenges notions of scale. Look closely, and you’ll notice how the birds, perched on the frame, seem to guard the measure of distance. What does it mean when even our tools of navigation are ornamented, almost anthropomorphized? The lack of an artist's signature invites us to consider the countless hands that shaped our understanding of the world. It suggests the silent laborers whose knowledge was essential but uncredited in the grand project of exploration. This work makes me wonder, whose stories are missing from our maps, and how might we redraw them?