Stories of Joseph: The Finding of the Stolen Cup

On the brothers' second journey home from Egypt, Joseph had his own cup hidden in the sack of Benjamin, the youngest, and then sent his steward after them. Bachiacca paints the caravan brought to a halt on a country road. Benjamin, a child in blue, sits on the grey donkey, and at the lower right a bearded man lifts a gilded cup out of the baggage, with a few coins beside it. The brothers crowd in around them, an old man gripped by the shoulder, a boy looking up at the sky. The costumes owe little to the Bible, with plumed turbans, slashed hose and a broad straw hat, the kind of fanciful dress Florentine painters borrowed from northern prints. The Borghese also owns this panel's pendant, showing the search itself, and some of the same figures appear in both.