ARCIMBOLDO, Giuseppe
(b. 1526, Milano, d. 1593, Milano)

Treatise on Silk Culture and Manufacture (Series of Thirteen Drawings, No. 6)

c. 1586
Pen blue ink and blue wash on paper, 308 x 190 mm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Drawing No. 6 depicts that when the metamorphosis comes to an end, before the moth perforates the cocoon and breaks the filament, the cocoons are gathered and exposed to a source of heat (here the sun), and then placed in a cauldron of hot water (the most common way of scalding the pupae), to wash and loosen the filaments before the process of unwinding the silk starts