Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



Click to view high resolution image

  • Title: Pine Cones
  • 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 pine cones to be useful for stimulating the bladder, the kidneys, and the libido. 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 and a woman kneeling next to a pine tree, with the man plucking a pine cone off the tree, before handing it to the woman.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public Domain
  • Subject (See Also): Agriculture Medical Manuscripts Work
  • 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. 14
  • 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.