IMGR51

THE CENTRES OF PRODUCTION (hc Vicnu and Albcn Museum in 1(56 and described u bcing 'modern* in the contrmporary catalogue-cntry, show chat compcicnt leathcr-gildcrj were Mili working in France ai that datę.

Italy

Hic gay, sparkling, silver and gjk Icathm must havc appcakd stroimy as thc Vcnebana wbo. ai an carly dacc, bccame weQ acq uaintcd with odia cnmplcs of Islamie an. Thcir oafcunen dcvdopcd char own ccchniquc bodi fiu dccoraring and nsing gjk kadm Surviving cxamp!ci indude coflcrs, catkets (Place 77), paradę shields and book covcrs, all ofwhich bear paintcd dcsigns in which colonrcd glazes play an imponanc part, hand-stamped with smali punches (Jnri: lit. ‘irons’) in some cases, in othcrs incised; but the author knowt of no examplc of tmbosttd gile leather from any part of Italy, neither is this practice, so eommon in Spain, France and Flanders from thc sixteenth ceniuiy onwards, cven mentioned by thc two Ita lian writers' who described the manufacturc of ptlle krato (lit ‘gilt skins*) at diat dme. Although it is ckar chat gHt leather hangings werc madę and widely used in Italy, examplcs are today very rare. Illustrated (Platę 12) is a finc tixtccnth-century cxamplc in the Musco Civico, Turin. Anothcr, stated to be of scventeenth-century datę and Jtalian, was published by Francis Lenygon in 1911* (no source bcing mentioned) and in 1918 G. L. Hunter* printed a picture, in colour, of a fragment stated to havc co me from the house of Titian in Yenice and at tłut dme in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (ahhoogh this cannot now be traced): it was said to have been brought from Italy by an official of that museum. All known otamplcs are flar, that is not embossed in any way. Some are hand-stamped and in one case the design appears to have been printed from a wood-block whilc in the other cases done by hand. In 1965 the author saw in a dealer \ shop in Romę a superb scrccn of six leavcs, 2*285 m. high (7 fi. 6 in.) covered with gilt leather, hand-tooled and paintcd in glowing coloun with a senes of char mi ng little scenes of Chinese charactcr, with all kinds of folk going about their business.

All known Iulian hangings conform to the methods described by Fioravanti* (nonę is embossed) who stated that 'all impotunt people are now interested in this work and it is the hcight of fashion in Romę, Naples and Bologna.’ (1564) Coryate says that at Padua 'I observcd vcry fairc hangings the like whcreofl never saw in England [although at this

■ Sar m i.mi 17.

*    iMffa, Etanu, 'GA Lada Roobb*. Ilr Artjmmd. 191 r, p. 285.

*    Hunter, G. L, DttrrttiK TactiUs, 1918. cb. XX, p. 417.

*    Op- ol, dmc 1, abovc