Linen page painted in distemper. The scene, of not great pictorial quality, could represent the myth of Afrodite who let herself help by Adone to thread a needle to embroider the magical belt.
This act will have two consequences:
1) Adone, completely subdued, gives Afrodite the third part of life he would have used for rest, as requested by the muse Calliope pushed by Zeus.
2) The death of Adone through Ares (Afrodite’s lover) who transformed in a wild pig. The door in the background could represent the entry of Ade where Adone is waited for by Proserpina.
On the front there are flowers painted that at the moment are not reproducible. The ivory sticks are fretted and have pearl and silvered inclusions (?) on the guards. The rivet is closed with a pearl.
Notes:
Afrodite represents the beauty and the birth of the nature; she gives grace and elegance to the women, and everyone wearing her magical belt gains an irresistible charm. Unfaithful wife, she always argued with Era, goddess symbol of conjugal loyalty.
"Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail."
Leonardo Da Vinci
