Sculptuur van een adelaar op een voetstuk uit de Sint-Martinusbasiliek in Halle, opgesteld op een tentoonstelling over religieuze objecten uit de middeleeuwen en renaissance in 1864 in Mechelen 1864

This photograph by Joseph Maes captures an exhibition display from 1864, featuring a sculpture of an eagle atop a pedestal from the Saint Martin Basilica. The subdued sepia tones and sharp focus create a textural contrast between the smooth paper and the detailed musical notes and illustrations of the medieval book. The two pages create a binary opposition by contrasting how the musical notes fill the space in different ways. We can see how text and image come together to enhance the sacredness and cultural significance of the image and how they destabilize each other at the same time. The book's contents, juxtaposed within the display setting, engage with semiotics, revealing how symbols are coded and interpreted within religious and cultural contexts. This interplay between the object and its representation encourages us to decode the various layers of meaning embedded within the artwork. As such, this image functions not just aesthetically but also as part of a larger cultural and philosophical discourse, that remains open to ongoing interpretation.