Each of the twelve roundels depicts one of the Labours of the Months associated with the activities of the agricultural calendar. This tradition goes back to classical antiquity, and was widely depicted in the medieval era – for instance on the exteriors of cathedrals, signifying the natural order of the cosmos, or in the calendar pages of prayer books – but also reflects contemporary agricultural practice. For instance, April shows the training of vines; June the reaping of corn; August, a farmer ploughing; September, harvesting grapes; October, sowing; November, harvesting olives, and so on. Around the edge of each roundel a band of light and dark blue denotes the relative periods of light and darkness, which varies according to the month depicted: in the summer, the light blue band is considerably longer than the dark. The hours of daylight are inscribed in Latin inscriptions, with the words DIES (days) and ORE (hours). In the light blue bands is the sun, panted in yellow glaze, with the appropriate sign of the zodiac, and in the dark blue area opposite, a crescent moon. The theme of the Labours of the Months is an interesting choice for the ceiling of the studietto; the changeless cycle of the seasons and its association with the natural order might be interpreted as a metaphor for the continuity and order of the Medici regime; Piero de’ Medici’s motto, perhaps significantly in this context, was SEMPER (‘always’).
