On view
European Art
Birthing tray (desco da parto): The Garden of Youth,
ca. 1430
Artist unidentified
Italian
y1963-3
Wooden trays like this one were given at all levels of society to commemorate the birth of a child and carry food, drinks, and gifts to the recuperating mother. In this lavishly decorated example, likely made for a wealthy woman, courtly figures interact in a lush garden, a setting symbolic of fecundity. Amid a festive atmosphere of music and dance, some couples engage in a lively discussion around a fountain, while others hold hands and embrace, drawing out themes of courtship and love.
More Context
Special Exhibition
A fashion arose in fifteenth-century Tuscany for a painted tray to be commissioned for the lying-in of elite women in labor. Food could be brought to the bedchamber on it, and later it was hung on the wall like a painting to commemorate the birth. The painted subjects included religious scenes, allegories, and, as here, courtship in a Love Garden. The elegant couples dance to harp music or refresh themselves around a fountain, while a small dog symbolizes fidelity in love.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Birthing tray (desco da parto): The Garden of Youth
Dates
ca. 1430
Maker
Medium
Tempera on wood panel
Dimensions
diam. 57.5 cm (22 5/8 in.)
frame: 65.7 x 66.4 x 6.3 cm (25 7/8 x 26 1/8 x 2 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Frank Jewett Mather Jr.
Object Number
y1963-3
Place Made
Europe, Italy, Florence
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
Albert Figdor, Vienna (1843 - 1927; his sale, Paul Cassirer and Hugo Helbing, Berlin, September 29-30, 1930, Lot 5); 1931 purchase by Frank Jewett Mather Jr.; 1963 gift to Princeton University Art Museum.
- Paul Schubring, Cassoni: truhen und truhenbilder der italienischen frührenaissance: Ein beitrag zur profanmalerei im quattrocento, (Leipzig: K.W. Hiersemann, 1915)., Vol. 2: pl. 14
- Paul Schubring, Cassoni: truhen und truhenbilder der italienischen frührenaissance: Ein beitrag zur profanmalerei im quattrocento, (Leipzig: K.W. Hiersemann, 1923)., p. 239, no. 93
- Raimond van Marle, The development of the Italian schools of painting, (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1923-1938)., Vol. 1: p. 373
- Theodor Demmler, Otto von Falke, Max J. Friedländer, Leo Planiscig and August Schestag, Die Sammlung Dr. Albert Figdor, (Berlin: Paul Cassirer; Wien: Artaria & Co., 1930)., pl. 3
-
Raimond van Marle, Iconographie de l'art profane au Moyen-Age et à la Renaissance et la décoration des demeures, ('s-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1931-1932).
, p. 428 (illus.) - Patrick J. Kelleher, "College museum notes", Art journal 23, no. 1 (Autumn, 1963): p. 46-56., p. 50
- "Summary of Acquisitions, 1963," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, vol. 23, no. 1 (1964): p. 29-31., p. 29
- B. B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of pre-nineteenth-century Italian paintings in North American collections, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972)., p. 99
- Domenico DeRobertis, "Ut pictura poesis: (uno spiraglio sul mondo figurativo albertiano)", Interpres 1 (1978): p. 27-42., p. 27-42; p. 32 (illus.)
- Paul F. Watson, The garden of love in Tuscan art of the early Renaissance, (Philadelphia: Art Alliance Press, 1979)., pl. 52; p. 63-64, 146
- Daniela Pagliai and Allessandra Uguccioni, "Un desco fiorentino della fine del Trecento: temi di iconografia profana", Notizie da Palazzo Albani 15 (1986): p. 9-18., p. 16, pl. 7
- Sharon Fermor, "On the question of pictorial "evidence" for fifteenth-century dance technique", Dance research 5, no. 2 (Autumn, 1987): p. 18-32., p. 26, pl. 6
- Jacqueline Marie Musacchio, The art and ritual of childbirth in Renaissance Italy, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1999)., p. 139, fig. 138
- Anthony Grafton, Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Italian Renaissance (New York: Hill and Wang, 2000)., p. 143, fig. 17
- Vera Minazzi and Cesarino Ruini, Historical atlas of medieval music, (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2011).
