The Christ Child, in the believer's heart, beats the time from a songbook while angels accompany him with musical instruments. Engraving by A. Wierix, ca. 1600.

[Antwerp] : Anton. Wierix, [1600?]

1 print : engraving, with etching ; image 7.8 x 5.5 cm.

Cor exulta quid moraris? Gaude, plaude, invitaris piis Iesu cantibus. Sonat chelys angelorum, sonant tubae beatorum mixtis Iesu vocibus. Anton Wierx fecit et excud. Translation of lettering: Heart exult! Why do you hesitate? Rejoice! Applaud! Invite Jesus with sacred songs! The [name of] Jesus sounds forth in the lyre of angels, it sounds in the trumpets of the blessed mixed with voices [singing]

M. Mauquoy-Hendrickx, Les estampes des Wierix, vol. 1, Brussels 1978, nos. 440

Hollstein's Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, 1450-1700, vol. LXI, The Wierix Family: part III, compiled by Zsuzsanna van Ruyven-Zeman, Rotterdam 2003, no. 458

Eugenio Monegon, 'Jesuit emblematica in China: the circulation of allegorical images in late Ming Fujian, according to Chinese and Western sources', Monumenta serica, 2007

Wellcome Collection 31749i

In the seventeenth century the prints in this series (Cor Jesu amanti sacrum) were used in catechisms by Jesuit preachers in Fujian, China: E. Menegon, op. cit.