Birth Tray (Desco da Parto) with the Triumph of Chastity (recto) and Naked Boys with Poppy Pods (verso)

Workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni di Tomaso Italian

ca. 1450–60

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

Clearly inspired by the Italian poet Francesco Petrarch’s elaborate allegory in which the voyage of life is described as a series of "Triumphs," this tray, painted to mark the birth of a child, may seem to represent pure poetic fantasy. Such processions were, however, sometimes staged in European cities. Naked boys like those seen on the reverse are a fairly common, and playful, note in Renaissance painting.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

Title: Birth Tray (Desco da Parto) with the Triumph of Chastity (recto) and Naked Boys with Poppy Pods (verso)
Artist: Workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni di Tomaso (Italian, Florence ca. 1416–1465 Florence)
Date: ca. 1450–60
Culture: Italian (Florence)
Medium: Tempera and gold leaf on panel
Dimensions: Overall: 23 × 23 1/4 in. (58.4 × 59.1 cm)
Classification: Paintings-Panels
Credit Line: North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters