The holy family rest on the way to Egypt, eating from the miraculous tree. Engraving after F. Barocci.

Bible. N.T. Matthew 2.12-15. The story of the palm tree bending down at the will of the infant Christ to furnish the holy family with dates is told in chapters 20-1 of the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. Here Joseph hands the fruit down to Christ; Mary is placing a cup into a spring. According to Louis Réau in 'Iconographie de l'art chrétien' (Paris 1957, vol. 2, pp. 278-9), the scene was understood as a depiction of paradise. In that case the handling of the fruit of the tree solely by the males of the family may be intended to echo Eve's disastrous handling of the tree of paradise