Gotta prepare 'em for their future career
The siblings in the top right go hard. Would not want to meet those in an empty corridor.
What is that small curved knife with long handle, cruciform guard and chain?
Some sort of specialized tool that fell out of use centuries ago?
My guess is it probably wasn’t real, the painter added it because it symbolises power: these kids were likely to become kings/queens or some such later.
I’m not a historian in any way though, I hope I’ll be corrected shortly.
Maybe it’s something for them to suck on. Chain keeps it close, as babies are known to drop and forget things. Guard keeps it from going all the way in the mouth and choking the baby. And then made to look like a weapon because the nobility thought it was cool.
Or maybe it was a small knife intended to train them to handle a blade from a young age and be more natural at using it and if the baby dies from it, well that’s just what most babies do.
Bottom right looks like a Bond villain.
