F80r - Leprosy in La Franceschina 1474

[Jorge_Stolfi]

Another interpretation is that the scene from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is inspired by Christ healing the blind man or generally some poor beggar kneeling before a holy man.  In such case the "clappers" would be badly interpretted beggar's bowl.

Indeed, the left nymph does seem to be touching the eye of the right one, who seems to be kneeling before her.

I always "read" the object in her hand as a ladle with a short handle, that the nymph would use to scoop up water from a shallow tub/pool to pour on her head or torso.  

Now I think that the pair does makes sense as having been inspired by some illustration of Jesus opening the eyes of the beggar, which the Scribe would have mis-interpreted, unduly adapted, and mangled:

• he did not recognize it as a reference to a specific biblical episode.
  
• so he replaced what he thought were just two generic persons by two of his nymphs.
  
• he had never drawn a kneeling nymph before so he bungled the right leg.
  
• he mistook the beggar's bowl for a ladle with short handle to scoop up water.
  

I could say more if I were allowed to mention the Retracing theories here...

All the best, --stolfi