Saturday, May 20, 2023

A Belt from Fourteenth-Century Italy

This belt belongs to the Met, which doesn't seem to know much about it. They think it was made in northern Italy, maybe Genoa, between 1330 and 1350. But they don't say why they think any of that. Only the silver decorations are original; the cloth backing is modern.

I am fascinated by some of these little figures. Who is this guy? What is he doing?

Or the character and the bottom here? He has a hawk, but nothing else about him looks like a hawking scene.

What a fascinating and delightful object.



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2 comments:

G. Verloren said...

"I am fascinated by some of these little figures. Who is this guy? What is he doing?"

"Or the character and the bottom here? He has a hawk, but nothing else about him looks like a hawking scene."

I have a hunch, although I'll need to look into it in more detail to be more certain - I think both images you mention show the same figure, and I even think I know the figure's identity.

The figures are clearly depicted as Westerners, but their settings appear more Oriental - there are large broad-leaved plants in literally every scene; there is a repeated motiff of what seem to be Arabesque arches; there are what appear to be Oriental rugs or woven mats under several of the figures; some of the dress being worn appears more Oriental than Occidental; etc.

And if the Met's dating of 1330 to 1350 is accurate, that would have a time when much of Europe was still obsessed with The Travels of Marco Polo.

I believe these are scenes from the stories of Polo's journeys. That would seem to explain a great many of the details shown, and also why the hawk scene does not look to you like a hawking scene - Middle Eastern and Eurasian falconry don't have the same trappings and aesthetics as European falconry. Polo makes considerable note in his writing about the various hunting birds of the Khan's that he saw and was impressed by, both in their exotic varieties and their great numbers.

Birds in general are a recurring them in these scenes, some of them quite outsized - which I also feel supports my hunch, because Polo famously recounted tales of a giant bird he referred to as a "Gryphon" (although he expressly noted it differed from European imaginings of creatures of that name), but which he stated was known to the locals of Zanzibar as a "Ruc", or Roc.

I might make some time to pore over the Met's image database in greater detail, and do some researching and cross referencing, but I've got a strong feeling I'm right, or at the very least, on the right trail.

May 20, 2023 at 11:23 PM
John said...

Very cool suggestion.

May 21, 2023 at 1:08 PM

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