Birth Tray

c. 1453-1455
This birth tray contains heraldic coats of arms, symbolically connecting marriage to childbirth. The original purpose of birth trays, to bring food to women during labor, faded as the wedding gift took on a more symbolic quality in the Late Middle Ages.
The National Gallery

Birth tray with heraldry. This is a view of the back of the tray. [Source](https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/workshop-of-apollonio-di-giovanni-and-workshop-of-marco-del-buono-birth-tray-the-triumph-of-love)

Birth tray with heraldry. This is a view of the back of the tray. Source

Connection to Website Themes

Spousal Power Dyanmics: The equal size of the two heraldic representations indicates a balance of power between the two families. Art historians have identified the three red cresents as the coat of arms of the del Zaccheria family.1 As a wedding gift, a birth tray like this would reference the feminine space of the birthing chamber and the female authority accorded to pregnancy and childbirth. The feminine realm of fertility related knowledge remained a sphere of power for women within their spousal dynamics.

Community Social Norms: This object surfaces the deep social and cultural connections between motherhood and marriage. As a typical wedding gift, a birth tray reinforced the purpose of marriage as bearing children.

Church and State: Christianity barely registers on this birth tray, perhaps as a reflection of the confused messaging ecclesiastical authorities produced regarding fertility.

What is Love: The front of the birth tray depicts several love scenes from ancient sources, such as Cupid as the largest figure and, at the bottom, Aristotle letting Phyllis ride him as a demonstration of his love for her. The scenes indulge in the emotionality of love, even erroneous love such as in the depiction of Delilah and Samson.

This is a view of the front of the tray. [Source](https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/workshop-of-apollonio-di-giovanni-and-workshop-of-marco-del-buono-birth-tray-the-triumph-of-love)

This is a view of the front of the tray. Source

  1. Apollonio di Giovanni and Marco del Buono, Birth Tray: the Triumph of Love, c. 1453-1455, The National Gallery, London. ↩