Sir Brian Tuke (c. 1475–1547) was Henry VIII's Master of the Posts from 1517 and Treasurer of the Chamber from 1528. He was also a scholar, who edited an edition of Chaucer with a title-page after Holbein, and a collector of paintings. At the time Holbein painted him, Tuke had been ill, and the folded paper refers to the brevity of life ("Will my days not find their end very shortly"), evoking the patience of Job. Tuke's crucifix, showing the Five Wounds of Christ, is inscribed "INRI", a formula intended to ward off death.