Who holds pears like that?!

[Koen G]

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

By coincidence I just got a huge bag of fresh figs from someone whose fig trees were producing too much for them to handle. They are shaped a bit like pears as well.

This prompted me to look into the names for figs in Latin and Greek. Obviously, the Latin is ficus, like the scientific name of the various plants in the Ficus group. 
The Greek name though, is σῦκον (sûkon). This might not ring a bell at first, but it has an interesting etymological sibling.

See You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., " "from Middle French sycophante and directly from Latin sycophanta, from Greek sykophantes "false accuser, slanderer,"
The literal meaning is "one who shows the fig" or "revealer of figs". 

Currently it is thought that its origins lie in rude gestures made with three fingers, vaguely resembling a fig or female genitals. This is a modern explanation, however, which was not known in the past. They used to think it had something to do with literal figs. The modern English meaning of sycophant as a flatterer is also relatively recent. The meaning used to be a that of a false accuser, a slanderer.

Bottom line for possible VM image interpretation is twofold:

- "showing the fig/figs" is a vulgar gesture with genital connotations. In a number of languages, fig is still slang for genitals.
- sycophant means "one who shows figs"