Caught this on a recent trip to Venice. It’s embedded in an outside wall of St Mark’s Basilica. Agrobiodiversity was more crucial to iconography back in the Middle Ages, I guess.
Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
The iconography of the date tree is Byzantine, as is the depiction of the lambs. Down the road a bit, in Ravenna, (which Venice supplanted as the premier Italian harbor on the Adriatic) is Sant Apollinare. It dates to the 6th century (500 CE) and has interesting mosaics on it. So the sculptors didn’t need to go far to see them.
When I get some time I’ll go through my images of San Vitale which has wonderful swags of fruit and vegetation, also from the 6th Century, and also in Ravenna.
Thanks. I look forward to seeing your Ravenna pix! If the lambs represent the apostles, what is the date palm a symbol of? I’ve found references to it’s use to represent paradise, fecundity/fertility, the victory of life over death, athletic victory and a Nilotic setting. See also.