Which Leonardo painting shows Mary with the Christ Child holding a cross-shaped yarnwinder?

The Leonardo painting showing Mary and the Christ Child with a cross-shaped yarnwinder is the Madonna of the Yarnwinder.

The object is technically a niddy-noddy, a tool used to collect spun yarn. Its crossed arms form a shape resembling a crucifix, and the Child reaches toward it while Mary appears poised to take it back. This turns an ordinary domestic implement into a foreshadowing of Christ’s Passion and death on the cross.

Leonardo’s earliest known reference to the subject comes from a letter written in 1501 by Fra Pietro da Novellara. The letter describes a small painting being made for Florimond Robertet, a secretary to the French king. Scholars debate how that commission relates to the surviving versions, including the Buccleuch and Lansdowne Madonnas, which may both preserve parts of Leonardo’s designs or workshop production.

The title can cause confusion because several versions and numerous later copies survive. It is also called Madonna of the Spindles. The Benois Madonna and Virgin and Child with St. Anne contain related Passion symbolism, but not this distinctive yarnwinder.