Who holds pears like that?!

[Koen G]

So your other idea is testicles 

I agree that there is something genital about it, in which case some kind of castration may be intended. Still, for some reason I can't shake the thought that they represent fruits (like real fruits from trees). Maybe it's the little line at the end of each...

Your link to my Philomela post doesn't work anymore, I took it offline as I'm working on a revision (as you may have guessed).

Something you write is very interesting though. I can't look into it right now since it's already well past midnight here. But you say: 

On the next folio is a different story. We go from Philomela, which is more of a morality tale, to a story of gods associated with stars. Here we see Arcas about to shoot Callisto, who Juno had transformed into a bear.

Now this is about Morgan Library MS M.126. But if I didn't know any better, I'd say it's about Q13, because You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is Philomela and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is Callisto! These stories are in completely different books of the Latin Metamorphoses. Can it be a coincidence that these exact same stories appear in the same order here?

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I still had figs in mind, they look similar too. Just an idea.

Yeah I see how they could be figs.