Anachronistic Art

While at a tech conference in Amsterdam, Apple CEO Tim Cook spent some time at the Rijksmuseum. He couldn't help but notice something that seemed familiar in a painting from 1670 titled "Man Hands a Letter to a Woman in a Hall." What we assume to be the letter, as the title mentions, Cook immediately recognized as an iPhone. Now, this seems unlikely as the iPhone was first invented in 2007 and this painting was created in the 17th century. Did Tim Cook discover a possibility of time travel that brought the mobile device back 350 years?

 I can see a superficial resemblance to an iPhone, but the object in question is clearly a handwritten card. There is no screen, power button, or volume control; and while iPhones have gotten skinnier, they're not quite two-dimensional like the object in the painting. Of course, the handwriting on the note is another convincing clue.  I wouldn't doubt that Apple will use this in some marketing campaigns now, but we need to remember that not all gray rectangles lead to questions of space and time.

Unusually Yours,

Emily