Object details
Accession number
4.a.1.2
Primary Creator
Italian, Venice
Full title
Commission of an Unknown Venetian nobleman
Creation Date
mid 17th century
Object Case
Horn Book Case
Publication Place
Venice
Binding Description
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 (Venetian)
Provenance
Possibly offered for sale, 1882, lot 2040.
Entered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection at an unknown date.
Marks
Inscribed on self-adhesive tag (back cover, right): "1882 Car[....] 2040-"
Dimensions
22.5 x 16.5 x 1 cm (8 7/8 x 6 1/2 x 3/8 in.)
Display Media
Gold-tooled leather
Web Commentary
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.
Permanent Gallery Location
Long Gallery
Bibliography
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Manuscripts and Bookbindings from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1922), p. 101.
Rights and reproductions
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