266 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



Jeremy Taylor, in a beautiful passage, de- 

 scribes Mary as the pomegranate tree and Christ 

 as the fruit. 



* When the Holy Virgin now perceived that 

 the expectation of the nations was arrived at 

 the very doors of revelation and entrance into 

 the world, she brought forth the Holy Jesus, 

 who, like light through a transparent glass, 

 past through, or a ripe pomegranate from a 

 fruitful tree, fell to the earth, without doing 

 violence to its nurse and parent.' 



In art, however, the pomegranate is very 

 seldom used as the attribute of the Virgin. 

 Occasionally the Florentine masters ornament 

 the Virgin's throne with knobs which more or 

 less resemble the fruit, and Flemish artists, 

 Memling in particular, place behind her a brocaded 

 panel of the well-known pomegranate design. 

 But these pomegranate knobs were a very usual 

 detail in carved work, and the pomegranate 

 pattern, which still persists, was a standard 

 design of the silk-weavers of France and 

 Italy. 



The fruit itself is not used by the older 

 masters. Even Crivelli, who lavishes fruit of 



