RE: What *is* that object those nymphs are holding?

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> FWIW I do beleive that what we are seeing depicted in those rings is the
> story of twins and that the "curious object" is a system to differentiate
> tween the two. After a priod of time all the objects are on the same hand
> (same side of the girl, same girl, meaning the other twin is dead). As for
> the "time frame" of each drawings... this I have no idea. likely months. too
> many for years, too few for weeks... and there are 9 drawings "in tube"
> which could represent pregnancy...

Very interesting! There were many different hypotheses about pregnancy and 
the womb at that time, so we may be able to link these pictures with a 
tradition by careful comparison of them with several of those theories. :-)

> great about imola and sforza... was there ever a twin birth amongts the 
> Sforza between 1450-1535 by any chance????

I'll look into it... :-)