Collection

Left
  • Long Gallery
  • Commissione of Doge Cristoforo Moro to Domenico Diedo as Procurator of St. Mark
  • A Young Lady of Fashion
  • The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints
  • Book of Hours, Bourdichon
  • Woman in Profile
  • Virgin and Child, Civitali
  • Virgin and Child, Benedetto da Maiano
  • Lamentation of Christ
  • Tabernacle
  • Cinerarium (Grave Altar)
  • Crucifix, with pin
  • Commissione of Doge Francesco Donato to Vincenzo Gritti as Lieutenant of Udine
  • Platter
  • Sideboard
  • Commissione of Doge Giovanni Bembo to Francesco Contarini as Procurator de citra
  • Commissione of Doge Francesco Donato to Girolamo Morosini as Captain of Brescia
  • Commissione of a member of the Fradello family (?)
  • Commissione of an unknown Venetian nobleman
  • Commissione of Doge Giovanni II Cornaro to Giovanni Bollani as Podestà of Chioggia
  • Virgin and Child with an Angel
  • The Nativity
Right
Italian (Venice), Upper cover of the commissione of an unknown Venetian nobleman, mid-seventeenth century. Gold-tooled leather, height 22.5 cm x width 16.5 cm.
Left
  • Italian (Venice), Upper cover of the <em>commissione</em> of an unknown Venetian nobleman, mid-seventeenth century. Gold-tooled leather, height 22.5 cm x width 16.5 cm.
  • Italian (Venice), Lower cover of the <em>commissione</em> of an unknown Venetian nobleman, mid-seventeenth century. Gold-tooled leather, height 22.5 cm x width 16.5 cm.
  • Italian (Venice), Interior of the <em>commissione</em> of an unknown Venetian nobleman, mid-seventeenth century. Green silk damask, height 45 cm x width 16.5 cm.
Right


Related Artwork
  • Lace Panel
  • Portrait of a Lady in Black
  • Portrait of Isabella Clara Eugenia, Archduchess of Austria
  • Fan-Shaped Box
 

Commissione of an unknown Venetian nobleman

Mid-seventeenth century

Italian (Venice), binder

Gold-tooled leather, Height 22.5 x width 16.5 x depth 1 cm (closed)

Genre: Rare Books and Manuscripts, European Art

Location: Long Gallery

Accession Number: 4.a.1.2

View in explore

Leather tooled in gold with a border of interlacing ribbon lined by a lacy inner edge, leone in moleca within a fan-wheel, fan-shaped corner-pieces, and filigree, mid-seventeenth century.

The border, fan motifs and filigree decoration of this book's covers were inspired by new styles of bindings, which originated in France in the second half of the 1500s, and were copied and modified all over Europe in the following century. In Italy, these elaborate designs were introduced by French binders working for popes and cardinals in Rome. This commissione's rich but dainty design was inspired by the contemporary fashion for lace-trimmed collar and sleeve ruffs, which can be seen worn by wealthy men and women in sixteenth and seventeenth-century portraits.

Source: Anne-Marie Eze, Illuminating the Serenissima: Books of the Republic of Venice, special exhibition on view in the museum's Long Gallery, May 3 through June 19, 2011.

See related artworks for seventeenth-century lace, portraits of sitters dressed in lace, and a fan-shaped object in the collection.