Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
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Title:
Casaba melons
Creator:
Workshop of Giovannino de Grassi, painter
Description:
The "Tacuinum sanitatis" was an eleventh-century health handbook written by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad. In it he presents the elements needed for a healthful and happy life. He considers casaba melons (
cucumeres et cetruli
) to be good for cooling hot fevers and purifying urine. In the fourteenth-century illustrated versions the emphasis is on picturing attractive scenes drawing on themes from courtly love, fashionable dress, and estate management for an idealized view of agriculture, food production, and healthy living. This picture depicts a man plucking a melon off of a tree, ready to hand it to the woman standing next to him, who has extended her arms towards him. They are both dressed in courtly garb.
Source:
Wikimedia Commons
Rights:
Public Domain
Subject
(See Also)
:
Courtly Behavior
Medical Manuscripts
Plants
Geographic Area:
Italy
Century:
14
Date:
ca. 1380-1390
Related Work:
Tacuinum sanitatis, a medical treatise. Also known as the Theatrum sanitatis.
Current Location:
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS nouv.acq. Lat. 1673, fol. 38v
Original Location:
Artistic Type (Category):
Digital images; Manuscript Illuminations
Artistic Type (Material/Technique):
Vellum (parchment); Paint
Donor:
Layman; Probably commissioned by Giangaleazzo Visconti, Count of Milan, or nobility at his court.
Height/Width/Length(cm):
//
Inscription:
Related Resources:
Cathleen Hoeniger, "The Illuminated
Tacuinum sanitatis
Manuscripts from Northern Italy ca. 1380-1400: Sources, Patrons, and the Creation of a New Pictorial Genre." Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200-1550. Edited by Jean A. Givens, Karen M. Reeds, and Alain Touwaide. Ashgate,2006. Pp. 51-81.