I did not expect much agrobiodiversity in the Victoria & Albert’s exhibition on the baroque. But I found some anyway, in the mid-17th century Flemish oil painting Flower Garland with the Holy Sacrament and an Angel’s Head, possibly by Daniel Seghers (1590-1661). It’s reproduced below, but you can consult a better image on Flickr.
It looks to me that what I’ve marked are maize cobs, although the one on the right could, I suppose, be sorghum. If they are maize, it is interesting that they seem to show three distinct varieties. There’s variation in the other cereals too. I guess it goes with the general exuberance of the baroque. But what’s with those peduncles?
It looks, indeed, like maize cobs, and I think they are. Very nice and quite distinct also. The one on the right seems to me more maize than sorghum, but …
Nice the one on the left with reddish seeds dotted with darker ones. I’ve seen many, also yellow or white and purplish, and that is quite true to life.
Interesting the depicted variability of the other cereals which, I guess, are wheat and, seems, rye (at least the one on the right close to that one you think it could be a sorghum head).
I think the peduncles are only to give a prominent look to the maize cobs and are the artist’s free interpretation of nature. However, I’ve seen maize cobs with long peduncles, so long that the ears would be pointing downwards, but didn’t look that straight, though!