Kan in de vorm van een slakkenhuis, op de tuit zit een man die blaast op een hoorn by Balthazar van den Bos

Kan in de vorm van een slakkenhuis, op de tuit zit een man die blaast op een hoorn 1548

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metal, engraving

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allegory

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metal

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caricature

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caricature

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figuration

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form

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11_renaissance

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engraving

Dimensions: height 220 mm, width 169 mm

Copyright: Rijks Museum: Open Domain

Editor: So, here we have Balthazar van den Bos's 1548 engraving, “Vessel in the Shape of a Snail Shell, with a Man Blowing a Horn on its Spout”. It's currently held at the Rijksmuseum. My first impression is…well, it's bizarre! What exactly am I looking at? Curator: Isn't it glorious? A madcap fever dream wrought in metal. The snail shell form, you see, immediately throws us into a world of slow, deliberate creation. But then Van den Bos clatters against this inherent tempo with this gaggle of figures. Editor: Like that dude struggling to blow the unwieldy horn, while a dog is also… being a spout? Curator: Precisely! And consider the era. The Renaissance adored allegory and sly critique, and there's certainly some commentary embedded here. I always wonder, is this a mockery of bloated officialdom or simply a whimsical flights of fancy, crafted for the sheer love of outlandish form? Editor: Maybe a bit of both? It’s so packed with visual information; there's that almost grotesque face incorporated into the shell itself, the bizarre proportions… It feels almost surreal. What do you see as the overall… purpose here? Curator: Purpose is a weighty word, my friend! But let’s say Van den Bos aimed to rattle the comfortable cages of expectation, perhaps inspire a few incredulous giggles along the way. After all, shouldn't art sometimes poke fun, defy categorization, and make us question the accepted "order" of things? Editor: It definitely does all of that. Looking at it this way, I get it. There's a rebellious streak to the piece, isn’t there? Thanks for putting it into perspective. Curator: My pleasure. It's funny how an image so laden with history can still tickle us.

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