A burgher handing an arrow to a lady

Pieter Brueghel the Younger continued his father's penchant for illustrating Flemish proverbs. This subject has been described as 'geef je echtgenote niets dat tegen je gebruikt kan worden' (don't give your wife anything that can be used against you), however Ertz thinks it more likely warns against the acceptance of erotic propositions, alluded to here by the receiving of a sharp arrow. Ertz records three versions of this proverb and lists the prime as that sold at Koller, Zurich, on 19 March 1998 (op. cit., p. 218, no. E168).