There's a lot of ermines (and the occassional white ferret) in Rennaisance art because they were associated with purity.

The reason for it is kind of weird. It was believed that if an ermine would rather die than get its fur dirty (e.g. if it was cornered between hunters and a mud puddle)--shouldn't that make it associated with foolish vanity? Eh, whatever.

This is a ferret, not an ermine. It's inspired by my roomie's ermine-looking ferret.

#princess #jewelry #ferret #ermine #flowers #fancy