[Ceres Holding a Scythe] · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: [Ceres Holding a Scythe]
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Ancient Italy
Description: This illuminated image depicts Ceres, the goddess of the harvest and queen of Sicily, holding a scythe in her right hand. There is wheat illustrated behind her to demonstrate that she is the goddess of agriculture. Boccaccio explains that she had tamed oxen and discovered how to plow fields and cultivate the harvest. She had taught men how to husk grain and turn it into edible fare, which is why the wheat in the image is significant.
Image Creator: Robinet Testard (Illuminator)
Type: Text; Illumination
Identifier: mta:17126
Language: frm
Source Name: Boccace, Des cleres et nobles femmes, traduction française anonyme [Boccaccio, The cleric and noble women, anonymous French translation]
Parent Collection: Boccace, Des cleres et nobles femmes, traduction française anonyme. Illuminations by Robinet Testard (1488-1496); Boccace, Des cleres et nobles femmes, traduction française anonyme. Illuminations by Robinet Testard (1488-1496)
Image: mta_17126_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Harvest; Wheat; Scythe; Goddesses; Roman Mythology; Ceres; Agriculture