Desco da parto

In Florence a family that came safely through a childbirth might be given a desco da parto, a painted wooden tray that arrived loaded with sweets and gifts for the new mother. This one is credited to Masaccio and dates from around 1427. It shows the moments after a birth in a well-off household, women and visitors arriving with presents in a hall built out of black-and-white stone. Masaccio was then the young painter teaching Florence how to make painted space feel solid and deep, the same work he was doing in the Brancacci Chapel, and he would be dead within a year or two, still in his twenties. On the back of the tray is a plump naked baby boy, a wish for a healthy son.