ITALIAN, LOMBARDY, SECOND HALF 15TH CENTURY | RELIEF FRAGMENT WITH A BOY HOLDING A WHIRLIGIG

This charming relief of a young boy playing with a whirligig provides a rare glimpse into children's use of toys in medieval Italy. Particularly rare in sculpture, there are examples of this toy being reproduced in other mediums, including illuminated manuscripts and maiolica - see, for instance, a Sienese pharmacy jar with a naked boy riding a pig and holding a whirligig at the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. no. 1965.553). An illuminated manuscript in a Parisian Bible, dating to the last quarter of the 15th century, also shows a naked young boy holding a whirligig, wearing a similar hood as the boy on the present relief (Paris, Couvent des Minimes de Chaillot, Bibl. Mazarine MS 0062, fol. 070v). The background of the present relief, with its floral motifs, could also be an indication that the composition was inspired by manuscript illumination. Stylistically, the boy is particularly close to a relief carving of young boys treading grapes at the Colleoni chapel in Bergamo, indicating a Lombardic origin for the present relief.