Print, Le Retour du Baptesme (Return from the Baptism), Plate IV, from Le Mariage à la Ville (Marriage in the City), 1633, Abraham Bosse

In a fashionable upper-middle class interior, a mother receives her new infant daughter from the "foster mother" while siblings and friends look on. The mother reclines in a stylish four-poster "box-shaped" bed (popular 1625-75) with hangings and coverings matching the upholstery on the nearby chair. Cups with ostrich feathers crown the four bedposts. A servant sets a table with tarts and fruits to celebrate the event. On the back wall, a tapestry depicting diana, the protectress of childbirth and goddess of chastity (like daphne, her arms are turning into laurel leaves). Scene is surrounded by a palmette-decorated frame. Date: 1633. Dimensions: 29.9 x 38.6 cm (11 3/4 x 15 3/16 in. ). Medium: etching with engraving, laid paper. Collection: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Print, Le Retour du Baptesme (Return from the Baptism), Plate IV, from Le Mariage à la Ville (Marriage in the City), 1633 (CH 18653543)