Sketch of Melondene (née Boffin) Birdsfoot, Corydalia's "Ma"

Melondene (née Boffin) Birdsfoot is the wife of Rubicund Birdsfoot, master jeweller, and mother of Franco, a Bounder, and Corydalia, current apprentice to Nadvald of the Lonely Mountain. This is a brief sketch intended to capture Melondene in a moment of contentment as she presents some irises, pinks, and forget-me-nots from her garden in a vase. She is a bit plump in her maternal years, and has vigorous streaks of white in her ginger hair, as well as lines from smiling and a slight dowager's slouch. She uses a delicate fichu veil to make the neckline of this favorite dress a bit more modest, as it dates to the era before she bore and fed two children -- it has been made over with tablet-woven trim contributed by her sister. As befits a jeweller's wife, she sports large dark-pearl earrings, a gold hair fork with opals, and other trinkets about her person. However, her prize is a simple piece: a large walnut shell, mounted by Rubicund on a gold chain and fitted by him with gold hinge and latch. This contains miniature paintings of her children.