Een haantje met een bok, een vogeltje daarneven, Hoe gy ze ook gebruikt, dat is my on het even Possibly 1551 - 1804

Editor: So, this piece, "Een haantje met een bok, een vogeltje daarneven, Hoe gy ze ook gebruikt, dat is my on het even," is, well, a mouthful, isn't it? Dating sometime between 1551 and 1804. It is currently held at the Rijksmuseum, by Erven de Weduwe Jacobus van Egmont. I find the images, sketched in ink, both quirky and a bit... nonsensical. It's like something scribbled in the margins of a very strange book. What is your interpretation of such an image? Curator: Nonsensical... precisely! Isn't that delicious? I sense here, beyond a simple drawing of livestock, something of the carnivalesque, you know? A topsy-turvy world, an 'anything goes' energy erupting from early modern society, especially when viewing this quirky composition and its crude rendering of three different animals. See the text surrounding the drawings? Do you sense a possible deeper meaning for the original audiences that purchased or engaged with this piece of ephemera? Editor: I do now. Especially that phrase "Hoe gy ze ook gebruikt, dat is my om het even". The fact it is 'even to them' hints at more use scenarios for the original object. Are we perhaps seeing elements of political satire at play? Or are the three animals perhaps references to popular allegories and jokes of the time? Curator: Satire, allegory, joke... why not all three, darling? You begin to grasp the delightful slipperiness of prints like this! Something irreverent, challenging social order by way of its deliberate meaninglessness and humorous images. Editor: It really opens up so many exciting potential interpretations. I am curious to delve into early modern humor to understand the object more now! Curator: Wonderful. I am sure we shall find that its original meanings have something to say to our current world, in many surprising and telling ways.