A LEAF FROM AN ARCHITECT'S PATTERN BOOK, design for a fountain with Lion base, MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
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A LEAF FROM AN ARCHITECT'S PATTERN BOOK, design for a fountain with Lion base, MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM

已結束2013年11月20日

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A LEAF FROM AN ARCHITECT'S PATTERN BOOK, design for a fountain with Lion base, MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[northern Italy, c.1300]

289 x 200mm. A design for a fountain, bearing a coat of arms per pale a vol (or two demi-vol), with two lions at its base and two dogs' heads as water-spouts at the top. The monogram IHS is a later medieval addition, while the inscription in the top left corner -- Empedocles Maxi[mus] -- is in a 15th-century hand (some browning and staining). In a modern cloth binding.

A rare and extremely early example of a medieval pattern book. With the exception of Villard de Honnecourt's sketchbook (BnF, MS Fr 19093), very few pattern books survive from before the late 14th century. The coat of arms on the fountain, given the lack of colours, is hard to decipher, but the a vol or two demi-vol devices are rare in Italy: this could correspond to the Albertuzzi or Borselli families of northern Italy, but it also bears similarities to the arms of the medieval town of Arona, in Piedmont. The sketch may therefore well have been a design for a real fountain -- intended either for a private family home or for a town.