"play on a jawbone" is in the Netherlandish Proverbs Wikipedia article as "play on the pillory" = "attract attention to one's shameful acts" – in Dutch, "kaak" means both "jaw" and "pillory" https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kaak#Dutch
I think the second mocks the inclination of humans to reflexively admire everything that high status (ie rich) people do or say. It is similar to this amusing Yiddish saying: https://www.yiddishwit.com/gallery/sing.html
It’s a bit weird to see a French translation of the Flemish proverb right in the middle of the engravings, although in a smaller type. The engravings are from the 16th century, already then there were apparently tensions between the Flemish and French speaking parts or classes in the region.
A cafe in the town I live in (Brno, Czech Republic) has one of their walls covered with a big mural painting of his, and I keep stumbling onto different versions of the drawings.
I wonder if it's because they are kind of weird that people are just drawn to them.
Well, “Flemish” is also a secondary name for South Dutch. It’s a very interesting collection, I kind of wish some were included in the “Canon van Vlaanderen”.
Shooting all your bolts (all uw pijlen verschieten) is still very commonly used. Knocking at a deaf man's door (aan dovemans deur kloppen) is still somewhat used, and variations like "for a deaf man's ears" (voor dovemans oren) is still common.
Im also pretty sure I've heard dialect versions of the salesman one and the arsehole ones.
- "A whistling woman and a crowing hen are neither fit for God nor men" - It is not proper for a woman to engage in overtly masculine behavior. Source: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+whistling+woman+and+a...
- "The music of the rich is always pleasant, even if played on a jawbone" - I still don't know what this was supposed to mean.
I like how wikipedia presents the proverbs from Netherlandish Proverbs[1], with a list, an image, and the meaning.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlandish_Proverbs#List_of...