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1:  The most unique element in this painting, absent in many of the examples of this famed image, is this green parrot. Such a bird would have been imported from either India or South America, highlighting Antwerp as a center for global trade. Exotic pets showed the worldliness and wealth of the owners, and the green parrot’s inclusion here demonstrates the tax collector’s ostentation.

2:  An open box with the inscription "Cuelen" indicates the box of standard weights and measures utilized by moneychangers for evaluating the weight of individual coins for their worth. The word "Cuelen" translates to Cologne, the German city that was the leading producer of such weights. At the time, people would often shave or clip coins, as even a tiny bit of gold or silver would have been a fortune to the working class. These weights allowed moneychangers or tax collectors to ensure that the weight and thus the value of the coins remained unchanged.

3:  The wooden box is overflowing with tax papers of the past with their wax seals. This detail symbolizes the insatiable nature of the tax collectors, suggesting that no matter the volume of taxes collected, they would never be satisfied.

4:  The artist places the candle in a brass candlestick, rendering the reflections of light on the metal in meticulous detail. The candle has just gone out, which was a symbol of memento mori and the fleeting qualities of life.

5: The ledger writer wears a large jeweled Renaissance brooch on his headwrap, displaying both pearls and a ruby in its gold setting. The ruby historically protected the owner’s assets, and the pearls imply humility, as the natural pearls of the day were almost never perfectly round. The gold further underscores the man’s wealth.

6:  The primary tax collector’s sartorial finery is both archaic and pretentious. This style of glasses, carefully rendered to cast the most subtle of shadows onto the man’s face, represents moral short-sightedness. At the time this image was painted in the early 1500s, this style of clothing with sumptuous drapery, large turban bonnets and fur trim would have been a relic of fashion from nearly a century prior. As part of the painting’s satire, the artist sought to mock the pair’s gaudy and out-of-fashion clothing.

7:  The writing on the tax collector’s ledger is legible, written in Dutch, and enumerates collected taxes. The Dutch text depicted in the book reads as follows: “Dits den ontfanck... Item die...alle is waerdich... die seven ma.nden... Item die ...is waerd... Somma t’samen.” This has been roughly translated into English: “These then received... Ditto...all is worth... That seven months... Ditto...is worth... Sum all together.” This indicates the patron and purchaser of this painting was likely from the Netherlands.

8:  The inkwell is covered by rubies, emeralds and pearls, again underscoring Antwerp as a powerhouse of global trade. These gems would have come from across the world. Emeralds originated in South America, particularly from Colombian mines, while rubies hailed from Burma and pearls from the South Seas. Next to the jewels, the artist has rendered some cotton. Typically used to symbolize purity, the white cotton here appears somewhat soiled. This rare detail only appears in a few versions of this famed image.

9:  Perhaps the most important item on a tax collector’s table is the money itself. The coins are rendered in tremendous detail, including the visible gold double ducat of Guglielmo II Paleologus, the Marquis de Montferrat who reigned 1494–1518, as well as an assortment of English and German coins. The second man in the painting, with a somewhat contorted facial expression, has just emptied the coins onto the table. With the empty coin purse still in his clutches, he looks toward the viewer and points dramatically at the ledger, signaling that everyone’s money will end up going to them!