174 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



The same idea is traced in the thirteenth- 

 century Christmas carol: 



' As the sunbeam through the glass 

 Passeth but not staineth, 

 So the Virgin as she was, 

 Virgin still remaineth.' ^ 



And somewhat akin is the mirror which occasion- 

 ally appears, held by an attendant putto in a 

 Spanish ' Immaculate Conception.' 



The transparent vase is not often seen in 

 Italian Annunciations, for it was usual in Italy 

 to place the stalk of lilies, a complete symbol in 

 itself of virginity, in the angel's hand, and there 

 was no need to double the symbolism; but the 

 painters of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth 

 centuries, in pictures of Mary with the Child or 

 in a Holy Family, use the crystal vase fre- 

 quently as an attribute of the Infant Saviour, 

 filhng it with those flowers which express His 

 virtues, the violet of humihty, the rose or car- 

 nation of divine love, the daisy of innocence, or 

 the jasmine of heavenly hope.^ 



' Dies in IcBtiticB, Neale's translation. 



* The large transparent vase which stands beside the 

 Madonna with the Child, by Jean Perrdal, in the Louvre, con- 

 tains iris, the white lily, lily of the valley and columbine. 



