Gerard ter Borch, A mother combing her child's hair, known as 'The lice hunt', c. 1652 - 1653 A mother concentrates combing her child's hair in search of lice. The boy resignedly undergoes the fiddling with his head. Ter Borch painted many such genre scenes, with the main characters completely absorbed in their pursuits. The lice hunt presumably contains a moral. Maternal care, order and tidiness were pre-eminent characteristics of the good housewife. In the 17th century, the lice comb was considered a symbol of both a clean exterior and a clean interior.
