Rederijkerskamer 'de Goudsblom' te Antwerpen, onder de zinspreuk "Groeyende in deughd" 1623

Editor: Here we have an engraving on metal from 1623. It’s an anonymous piece titled "Rederijkerskamer 'de Goudsblom' te Antwerpen, onder de zinspreuk 'Groeyende in deughd,'" currently residing in the Rijksmuseum. It looks like a coin, almost medieval-esque. What do you make of this curious piece? Curator: Well, first off, doesn't the inscription just *sing* to you? "Growing in virtue"—what a sentiment! But more than that, this piece transports me. Imagine Antwerp in 1623; this wasn't just a pretty trinket, it was a calling card, a statement. These chambers of rhetoric were all about elevating the soul through art, through performance, through…virtue! It's so optimistic. What I am always fascinated by in pieces like this is that the physical object is one thing, but what the maker and owners *intended* it to represent...now that's a whole other world to dive into. What does virtue look like to *you*, and does it resonate with anything you see in the work? Editor: Hmm, I suppose the geometric precision, all these carefully laid out forms could represent a striving for order, for moral structure… It feels less spontaneous, and more about a constructed idea. Curator: Exactly! It’s like a little monument to self-improvement, right there in your palm. Plus, it fits in with what they now call the Dutch Golden age, don’t you think? I am learning from you that my definition of virtue in this era would need some refining to better match their definitions, don't you agree? Editor: Yeah, it gives a very different feeling than modern coins or awards. So much deeper than the surface aesthetic. Curator: Indeed! Next time I need some moral direction, I will stare deeply at coins from 1623, haha.