[Sca-cooks] Kitchen Scene by Campi

[Jeff.Gedney at Dictaphone.com]

1) It's a grater. If you blow up the picture (a slightly better one may be
seen here:
 http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/c/campi/vincenzo/2kitchen.jpg ), you will
see that the black iron grater has raised bumps on it, and directly under
the grater are some shavings of cheese in the bowl. This is clearly a
through type grater, probably a sheet of iron punched out and set in an
iron frame with a handle that she is balancing against her abdomen to
enable her to use both hands on what is evidently a rather large chunk of
semisoft cheese (or perhaps suet?).

2) the boy is inflating a pig's bladder to make a toy.
Playing ball with inflated pigs bladders was common, and there are several
pictures in Brughel's peasant scenes which show such balls in use.

Other interesting things in the scene, if you blow it up:
-- the woman in the background endoring pasties with a brush or what looks
like a feather.

-- one woman at the table in the middle is setting a slitted piecrust on a
pie, in a ceramic pie dish, with a bottome crust, Looking for all the world
exactly like a regular pie we make today.

-- there is the tinest little kitten looking out at you from under the
center table.

-- there is a squab hanging off the chair that the woman is grating at,
looking like it just dropped there.

-- Nobody is wearing an apron, instead they are all bending over their work
surfaces to keep their skirts well back and away from that they are doing


Brandu