Fabel van het varken en het strijdros

The scene features a finely harnessed charger with a plumed headpiece and a decorative saddle blanket adorned with a fleur-de-lis. The noble animal looks down at a pig nestled in a pile of vegetation, while in the background, travelers walk a path leading toward a fortress on a distant hill. The contrast between the ornate, disciplined horse and the unadorned, reclining pig illustrates a moralizing fable.

Engraved by Sadeler during his time as the imperial artist for Rudolf II in Prague, this print belongs to a series that adapted animal fables into sophisticated moral emblems. Within the Rudolfine context, such images served as Stoic or Neoplatonic allegories, contrasting the noble, disciplined life of the spirit (represented by the horse) with the base, material existence of the flesh (the pig).