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XVIII.10 Model of pregnancy at about week 16
Author: unknown
Place:Florence
Date:1770-1775
Materials:terracotta
Dimensions:200x320x350 mm
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This terracotta model, commissioned by Giuseppe Galletti, shows the uterus occupying, at this stage of gestation, the pelvic entrance and extending over the pubic symphysis by ten centimeters. The fetus is depicted in cephalic presentation, and we can see the initial fatty deposit in the subcutaneous tissue of the neck and buttocks. The placenta, whose weight now nearly matches that of the fetus, has become disk-shaped. Here (as in items XVIII.9 - XVIII.11 - XVIII.12 - XVIII.13) we can observe the typical or normal attitudes of the fetus inside the uterus, such as head bent forward, lower joints flexed, arms folded on chest or lodged in the crook between head and thorax. Thanks to this crouching position, recognizable from the start of fetal development, the fetus acquires a near-oval shape and occupies about half the length that it would in an extended position.

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