Tools c. 1590 - 1696

This iron tool, of unknown date and maker, presents a stark study in form and function. The eye is immediately drawn to its division into three distinct parts: the handle, the central mounting block, and the broad, curved blade. The tool’s material texture, its rusted iron surface, speaks to a history of labour. The geometry here is instructive. Note how the handle's straight lines give way to the mounting block’s precise square. This shape then transitions into the blade’s organic curve. We might read this formal progression as a semiotic sequence: the handle, a signifier of human effort; the mounting block, of structural integrity; and the blade, of transformative power. In viewing this object, we consider how form is never neutral. It is a carrier of meaning, shaped by the constraints of function, material, and the cultural codes of its time. This tool invites us to examine how such codes influence both the making and the reception of even the most utilitarian objects.