Korendragers- en -stortersgilde van Amsterdam, gildepenning van Jan Hulsman van hier 1724

This is the guild badge of Jan Hulsman, made anonymously in Amsterdam in 1724. The symbol of a man bearing a basket laden with goods is not merely an emblem of labor, but a potent echo through history. We see the figure of the porter, head crowned with his heavy load. It calls to mind images of antiquity, of Atlas bearing the world or even the early Christian depictions of Saint Christopher, each figure burdened, each figure a conduit. The porter, then, is not just a worker, he is a carrier of worlds, both material and symbolic. His gesture reminds us of the cyclical nature of human endeavor, that it resurfaces across time and space, transformed, yet fundamentally the same. It evokes a deeply ingrained understanding of human labor and endurance. An image that resonates with the weight of history itself.