The Christ Child preserves the believer's heart from a snare in which the devil tries to trap it, and from worldly blandishments. Engraving by A. Wierix, ca. 1600.

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

1 print : engraving, with etching ; image 7.7 x 5.6 cm.

Fallax mundus ornat vultus, dolus latet sed occultus: ne crede blanditiis hoc vitare si vis rete; cito Christi sinus pete procul ab insidiis. Anton Wierx fecit et excu. Translation of lettering: The deceptive world makes up its face, yet trickery lurks concealed. Do not trust in blandishments if you want to avoid this net! Quickly seek the breast of Christ, far from ambushes

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.

M. Mauquoy-Hendrickx, Les estampes des Wierix, vol. 1, Brussels 1978, nos. 430

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. 446

J. Peto (ed.), The heart, New Haven and London 2007, p. 113

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 31775i