Mirror as one which would allow a praying man to use them for his personal piety: the mirror surrounded by scenes of the Passion to reflect on it and on oneself, a rosary as a device in this process, the veiled and cushioned bench to use as a prie-dieu, and the abandoned shoes that point in the direction in which the praying man kneeled. The metaphorical meaning of depicted mirrors is complex and many-layered, e.g. as an attribute of Mary, the “speculum sine macula”, or as attributes of scholarly and theological wisdom and knowledge as they appear in book illuminations of
John Prie John Prie John Prie (died 1727) was a minor pirate in the Caribbean. In 1727 Prie and some associates staged a mutiny aboard the Dutch-flagged ship "Young Lawrence" during a cruise in the West Indies. Prie murdered the Captain and declared himself Master of the ship. The mutineers were caught and tried in London. Prie tried to frame fellow sailor John Ashley for the murder, who responded with a profanity-laced tirade. Prie was convicted for both murder and piracy and sentenced to hang. He was hung at Execution Dock, then gibbeted in chains opposite the town of Woolwich in July