8/7/2019 Notes on Italian medals. VII / by G.F. Hill

1/4

NOTES ON ITALIAN MEDALS-VIIuoBY G. F. HILL _

F the five medals which formthe subjectof these notes, threeare alreadyknown, but merelyfromprinteddescriptions.Theyare of an artistic merit which,combined with the additionalinformation now available re-specting them,mayexcuse theirreproductionin this magazine. The other two-the medal by Enzola and that which I venturewith some confidence to ascribe to Giulio dellaTorre-are now, I believe, made known for thefirst time.'

I. COSTANZOSFORZA,BY ENZOLA,1473.CostanzoSforza,in full armour,wearing helmetsurmounted by the Sforza crest,2 on horseback,galloping to r., with drawn sword in his righthand; in the background the Castelloof Pesaro,with ships in the harbourbehind it ; in thedistancehills; on the trappings of the horse an eagle (?)above a mount between CO S-F; on the ground,below, IO FR* P-; on a scroll surroundingthefield CONSTANTIVSSFORTIA ? PRINCEPS"ALEXAND RIS FO RT IAEF I L IVSPI SAVR IpVIRTUTE - MCCCCLXXIII; the whole sur-rounded by a wreath.Rev. None.Bronze,60 mm. Pierced. Collection of Mr.MaxRosenheim. Plate No. I.This is only a surmoulage,but it is of consider-able interestasrepresentingan otherwiseunknownoriginalbyGianfrancescoParmense,calledEnzola.The date on this specimen is not quite clear, butseems to be as here given; it may, however,pos-sibly be MCCCCLXXIIII. The inscription iselliptical, the words DOMINVS FACTVS, orsomething to the same effect, being understood.The style of the medal, which is thoroughlycharacteristic of Enzola, calls for no specialremark. 2. GIROLAMOCALLAGRANI.Bust of Callagranir. in close-fittingcap; around,HIERONYMVS ?CALAGRANVS?INNOCEN ?VIII CVBICVLA R"SECRET 'Rev. Female figure standing to 1.,holding up-raised in r. an astronomical globe, at which shegazes,and placing her hand on the head of a dogseated beside her; in the field, two suns; on theground,six wheat plants growing; around,SPES"MIHI SOLA- FIDES ?Bronze 57 mm. Wedge-shaped stops. ArmandII 64.14. Munich Cabinet. Plate No. 2.

This medal (of which I owe a cast to the kind-ness of Dr. Habich) must have been made before1490, when Girolamo Callagrani (who is mentionedfrom 1484 to 1490 as secretus cubicularius andsubdiaconus apostolicus) became Bishop ofMondovi and probably left Rome.3 It is one of agroup of medalsby a Roman artist,including themedals of Bernardo Gambara, who was cubi-cularius secretus of Innocent VIII,4of DiomedeCaraffa,5of Francisco Vidalof Noya,6and perhapsalso of Guglielmo Batonatti.7 The medal of theyoung Candida belonging to M. Dreyfus maypossibly also be placed in the same category,although it is finer than any of the others. Nextto it in quality, perhaps,comes the present medal.The suggestion formerlymade by me,8that it maybe by Cristoforodi Geremia,must be withdrawnon chronologicalgrounds.The allegoryof the reverse is somewhat com-plicated,for the female figure plays a double part,representing both Faith and Hope. A contem-porary Florentine medallist, of the school ofNiccolo Fiorentino, goes still further, for hemakesasingle figurerepresentFaith(bya chalice),Hope (by a ray of light from the sun falling uponher) and Charity(by an infant at her side). Herewe may suppose that the two suns (but why two ?)and the upwardglance are for Hope. The celestialsphere, as an emblem of heaven, represents theobject of both Faith and Hope. Its associationwith Fides is strikinglyshown in a North Italianplaquette in the Dreyfus collection:9 three lionsare mauling a naked man; above is the celestialsphere; around,the words ET SI CORPVS NONFIDES MACVLABITVR. The hound on ourmedal would serve for Fides in the senseof loyalty,which, however, is hardly wanted here; Of thewheat plants I can offer no explanation.All this groupof medals is of interestas showingthe strong influence of the Florentine school onthe Roman medallist, whoever he was. It isusually clear in the handling of the portrait; andin this medal of Callagraniit is obviousalso in thetreatment of the figure and its drapery on thereverse.

3. NIccoLO GIUSTINIANI. 1520.Bust 1. in gown over undergarment; beardandmoustache, short curly hair; inscr., NIP IV"PA AN XXXVIII-M 'DXX"Rev. Nude female figure (Fortune), her longforelock blown forward by the wind, with scarfheld in 1. and passing behind her back and in1Mr. Rosenheim first called my attention to the medals ofSforza, Giustiniani (whom he identified) and Charles V. Ihave to thank him for his customary help, and also Mr. Oppen-heimer for permission to publish the medal of Giustiniani.2Not to be confused with the Sforza-Visconti biscione, but: abust of an old man, wearing a chain, and decorated along theback with a crest, holding in his hand a ring. Cp. the largermedal by Enzola in Friedlander's 'Schaumiinzen,' P1. XXI,No. 8.

3BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, Aug. 19o8, Vol. xiii, p. 279.4Armand II 64.14 ; see Burchard's Diary, passim.1BURLINGTONMAGAZINE, Aug, 19o8, Vol. xiii, p. 280.6lbid.7BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, Dec. 1907, Vol. xii, p. 149.8BURLINGTON MAGAZINE, Aug. 1908, Vol. xiii, p. 297.9Vitry and others, 'La Collection de M. Gustave Dreyfus,'P. 95, No. 0o.94

8/7/2019 Notes on Italian medals. VII / by G.F. Hill

2/4

2. 1. 2.

i .,

40

Y":

4. 5z4

3. 3.

'4*

NOTES ON ITALIAN MEDALS

8/7/2019 Notes on Italian medals. VII / by G.F. Hill

3/4

Notes on Italian Medalsfront of her r. arm; she is drifting over the seaon a broken wheel.Bronze, 71 mm. Pierced. Collection of Mr.Henry Oppenheimer. PlateNo.4. Arm.III, 207 D.The obviously Venetian character of this finemedal, combined with the inscription, at oncesuggests that the person represented is one of thepatrician family Giustiniani, with the baptismalname of Niccol6. The only person of that nameof whom there seems to be a record during theearlysixteenth century is the son of Marco. Hehowever died on December 12th, 1519, at Venice,as the following extract from Sanudo's Diaries11shows: 'Died to-day, at 22 o'clock, sier Niccol6Justinian son of sier Marcoson of sier Bernardo,knight and procurator; formerly bailo at Con-stantinople where he lived as merchant andbailo twenty years; and arriving in this countryhe fell sick, and never left his house again. Hewas also in debt, and prostratedby a melancholyhumour; so that he died; he was buried.'The medal, which clearly represents a man invery bad health, is, as we see, dated 152o. Theinconsistency in dates may be due to the pre-dating of the medal. Soon afterNiccol6 arrivedin Venice, we may suppose that the medal wasbegun, with the intention of distributing it to hisfriends on a certain date in the next year (NewYear's Day, or Niccolb's birthday, let us say).Untimely death carried him off, and the medalhad to be issued as a memorial. Or the medalmay have been begun afterhis death,and the dateof its completion inscribed,without considerationof the discrepancy with the actual date of hisdeath. There seems to be no question of a differ-ence in the Calendar.According to Litta's table, the fortunes of thefamilywere indeed unhappy,so that the typeof thereversemust havebeenvery significantto Niccolb'sfriends. Niccol6 was the second son of Marco;of his younger brothers,Pietro died in 1518 inexile in Rome, Luigi died in I511, and Giovannidied as bailo at Constantinople in 1519: threebrothers thus died within a year of each other.The eldest son, Leonardo, had died in 1479 atAlexandria, in Egypt. These misfortunes are, itmay be supposed,alluded to by the brokenwheelon which the goddess stands; although, since thewheel itself is the expressionof her inconstancy,aslight but naturalconfusion of thought is involvedin the attemptto express misfortuneby breakingit.I have failed to find any other instance of thisbroken wheel.

The medallist must, for the present, remainunidentified; all that we can say is that he is anearly representative of the school of which Giuliodella Torre and Pomedello are the best knownmembers. His work is, however, less fresh and

more academic than that of the Veroneseamateur.Among Pomedello's medals, one of those repre-senting IsabellaSessa-Michielhas a reversewhichrecalls that of our medal: an exquisite standingnude figureof Fortune,fronte capillata ; she holdsthree nails and a bridle,her right foot rests on ashell, and a helmet lies at her feet.4. ANGELOMARINOREGOLO. BY GIULIODELLATORRE.Bust of Regolo r., in gown; long hair, shortbeard and moustache; inscr.,ANG "MARINVS"REGVLVS ART"E LAEG"DOCTRev. Regolo, in antique dress, leaning on acippus, in musing attitude; before him, a bear'scub seated on the ground, looking up at him;inscr., ?INTELLIGENTIA DIRIGENTE "British Museum. Bronze,63'5mm. PlateNo. 3.This apparently unpublished medal clearlybelongs to the first third of the sixteenth century,and comparison with the signed work of theVeroneseamateur,Giulio della Torre, leaves littledoubt as to its authorship. The obverse shouldbe comparedespeciallywith the portraitof Caroto,and the treatment of the figures on the reversewith the design on della Torre'smedal of himself,where he is represented in the guidance of hisguardian angel." The chief fault in della Torre'sotherwise attractive and thoughtful work is theslovenliness of his lettering, which reaches anextraordinarypitch in the medal before us. TheE in E LAEG is meant for a monogramof ET.I have not succeeded in identifying the personrepresented; that he was a doctor of artsand lawsthe inscription tells us. Since the artist himselftaught law at Padua, it is probablythere that wemust look for a record of Angelo Marino Regoloor Regoli. The quaint design on the reverse isdelightfully fresh, in spite of its academic inspira-tion. The little bear can only be the personificationof the unlicked pupils of the master. Was one ofthem an Orsini?The medal has a hole for suspension, but isotherwisea fresh casting,almost untouched by thegraver.

5. CHARLESV. BY LEONE LEONI.Bust of CharlesV to r., wearing low flat cap,and loose cloak with deep collar; around, IMPeCAES "CAROLO?V" CHRIST* REIP" INSTAV-RAT AUG On the truncation of the bust,LEO'F"Rev. Salus, holding a long staff (spear or sceptre)sacrificing with patera at an altar (decorated withmasks of Ammon) on which a serpent is upreared;the altar is flanked by two columns (the pillars ofHercules); behind it, a building with figures seenin an archway. In the exergue, oak-leaves andacorns. Around, SALVS PVBLICA.

'OVol.28, col. I5s. Litta is wrong in saying (' Giustiniani'Tav, X) that he died at Constantinople, SBoth are reproduced by Friedlander, .'Schaumiinzen,'P1, XX, 14,andXIX, x.97

8/7/2019 Notes on Italian medals. VII / by G.F. Hill

4/4

Notes on Italian MedalsBronze, 52 mm. Collection of Mr. MaxRosenheim. PlateNo. 5. Cp.Arm.II, I81.6.Armandin his descriptionof this medal as byan anonymous master has either nodded-whichhe rarelydoes-or used a very poor example; foron this specimen, as well as on an indifferent leadcast in the British Museum, the signature of the

artistis plain and large.12Little comment is called

for; the medal is an admirable example ofLeone's style. His signature is usually simplyLEO; and the only other medal on which hesigns as on the present piece is one of Philip,the son of Charles,which was made at Brusselsin 1549,13 and which represents on its reversethe Choice of Hercules. This, however, is notsufficient to allow us to assign our piece to thesame date.12NeitherPlon ('Leone Leoni et Pompeo Leoni') norKenner(in 'Jahrb.der Kunstsamml.des allerh. Kaiserhauses'XIII)noticesit amongthe works of the artist. 13Arm. I, 164 II; III, 68 n. Plon xxx, 9 and Io.

NOTES ON ORIENTAL CARPET PATTERNS-VIMEANDER AND KEY PATTERNS

SBY CHRISTIANA J. HERRINGHAM crsHE keypatternproper,whichis, I suppose,continuous spiralbands become square, isscarcely met with to the westof the Caspian or in Persiaproper. It occurson Yarkandcarpetswhere Chinese influ-ence is very dominant, andon others from central parts of Asia but not,as far as I know, on the Tekke carpets whichusually pass as Bokhara productions. TheGreek key patterns have no addition to whatI have called squared spirals except that some-times this is in sections with a conventionalflowerat intervals-Chinese patterns are drawn with amore attenuatedline and with more convolutions.Japanesetypes are still more erratic,especially indiagonal varieties. Classic key patterns wereadoptedby Romanesquebuilders and arecommonin France and to be found in England, but this

class of geometricalornamentseems to have beentoo severe for the Saracen artist in its simplerquadrangularforms. I have heard on very goodauthority that General Pitt Rivers had collectedbefore he died an immense number of meanderand key patternsof differentperiodsand countries.If these were accessible, the modificationsof themotive might be traced.In rugs from the Shirvan district, just west ofthe Caspian,there occurs a peculiarvarietyof thepattern,calledbysome authoritiesthe Chinesecloudband. In the Januarynumber of this magazinesome rugs were figuredhaving this kind of border(in the second plate),and I mentionedthat Lessingfound it on two picturesof about the date 1500.This rather seems to me to belong to theTuranian or Mongolian culture,of which there isso much evidence on the trade routes near theCaspian. Compareit as given in fig. I with fig. 2,an archaic Chinese bronze pattern. Theories ofpatterndevelopmentwhich evolve the continuousspiralor meanderfrom the lotus should similarly

trace the Shirvan border to the S form, and thatagain to dragonsor snakes.

lih00/4T-,,t, }Y 1_, ,\\a

2O\Z.

The meshes of mattingor other coarse weavingmay also claim to have a say in the staircase-likemeander. It is remarkablethat the only patternsof the design which are closely similar are to befound, or, rather, were to be found, in Mexico.(See late examples from feather work. Figs. 3and 4, totems or 'heraldic' devices.) But thegreatmosaicpanels(see Pefiafiel's'Mexico') on thefour faces of a strange platform-like temple atMitla are perhapsthe fiost extraordinaryexamplesof such ornamentknown anywhere in the world.The mosaics have perished, but were carefullydrawnwhile they still existed (see figs. 5-15). Itis consideredto be a very ancient building, and itis, I believe, conjectured that the pattern may besymbolical of water or waves. The effect musthave been very strange,of panels thirteen feet inlength of these enormous geometrical patternsonthelong fagadesof the parallelogramof the temple.That an archaicChinese bronze pattern has insome way to do with both Mexico and Shirvandoes not seemimpossible. PaceAmericannationalor Continental pride, opinion, following the

98