Thursday 4 December 2014


PROTECTION AGAINST UNWANTED  ATTENTION? TRY SNAKE BELTS.

This poster depicting the ideal wife circulated in the 16th century Germany:

The framed texts explain the desirable characteristics:

Eyes: like a hawk to guard myself from anyone plotting against my honour.
Ears: listening to God’s word
Mouth: wearing a golden lock upon my lips
Breast: faithful like a turtle dove. No fault of his will break my loyalty.
Waist: girded with snakes to protect me from evil love and shameful play.
Feet: hooves to remain steadfast.

Not sure hooves and (life) snake belts will be trending any time soon. Hardware on lip? Yup, we've bought into that.


(Source: Woodcut by Anton Woensam, Vienna c. 1525)

No comments:

Post a Comment