Excerpted From

Excerpted from ©2002 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. May not be copied or reused without express written permission of the publisher. click here to BUY THIS BOOK Introduction Really all Christendom could be supplied for a year with the merchandise of Damascus.... There are such rich and noble and delicate works of every kind that if you had money in the bone of your leg, without fail you would break it to buy of these things. —SIMONE SIGOLI, FLORENTINE PILGRIM, 13841 A WEALTHY FLORENTINE LIKE SIMONE SIGOLI DID NOT foreign objects they admired. In the contemporary con- have to travel to the bazaars of Damascus to acquire the text, therefore, the term “Oriental” for all the art objects alluring merchandise he described, because Italian coming to the Italian market from Islamic lands and Asia merchant galleys were bringing huge quantities to continues to have some merit because of its imprecision. European markets. Between 1300 and 1600, the interna- The period of this study encompasses the develop- tional luxury trade had a broad impact on Italian artistic ment of Italian Renaissance culture, in particular the fine taste and development, inspiring tremendous improve- and decorative arts, and Italy’s predominance in trans- ments and new variety in the decorative arts—textiles, Mediterranean trade. The very paintings that revolution- ceramics, glass, leatherwork, lacquer, and brassware. ized Italian art about 1300 also reflect the dynamic rise in Even after Italian Renaissance versions of these luxury overseas trade and travel. The Italian textile industry soon objects attained international renown, Italians continued began to compete with Oriental silks, and Venetian late to collect, imitate, and adapt imported Oriental art Gothic architectural decoration began to advertise the objects. Republic’s commercial connections in the East. During The imports here called Oriental came from China and the fifteenth century, the imports inspired rapid develop- from Islamic lands stretching from Spain across North ment in various Italian craft industries. By 1600, when the Africa to Syria, Anatolia, Persia, and the vast Mongol em- role of Italy as an international carrier of luxury goods pire in Asia. Because Islamic countries included almost was diminishing, it had become a leading producer. three-quarters of the Mediterranean’s shores, and the It is no mere coincidence that Italy became an artistic international luxury trade on land and sea became in- superpower during its most active and profitable engage- creasingly multidirectional, both the term “East-West” ment in the international luxury trade. Western scholar- for this trade and traditional semantic distinctions be- ship, however, has underestimated the importance of this tween Europe (or the West) and the Orient (or the East) relationship for two reasons. First, the critical evaluation oversimplify. The imported art objects popular and influ- of Italian Renaissance art has long focused on painting, ential in Italy during the three centuries that are the focus sculpture, and architecture. Indeed, these “major arts” of this study varied considerably in origin, type, and style. were the principal concern of the publication that shaped Today, they are classified by their place of manufacture— subsequent Renaissance art history, the 1568 edition of often regional rather than local—and period style as well The Lives of the Most Famous Italian Painters, Sculptors, and as medium. Then, however, Italians understood little Architects by the Tuscan painter and architect Giorgio Va- about the dierent geographic and artistic origins of the sari. He based his theory of continual progress in Italy’s 1 Introduction 2 visual arts from about 1300 to their peak in his own time on a return to nature and the classical tradition inherited from ancient Rome, emphasizing native artistic genius and sources of inspiration. Vasari knew of both developments in the decorative arts and foreign styles. For example, he sincerely admired inlaid brassware decorated with arabesques made “in Damascus and all over the Levant,” rightly crediting it with inspiring recent improvements in Italian metalwork. Undoubtedly because the influence of Islamic metalwork was inconsistent with his theory about the sources of Italian Renaissance art, he disingenuously called the technique antique.2 Second, developments in Italy’s various decorative arts have rarely been viewed collectively. Specialized studies have identified numerous instances of Islamic and Asian influence. But a true measure of how many foreign, Ori- ental objects, techniques, and styles of decoration were absorbed into Italian crafts during the three crucial centuries of their development requires a synthetic approach. In addition, to assess the period’s transcultural artistic ex- change overall, the decorative arts should be considered alongside paintings, sculptures, and architecture that reflect Oriental trade and travel. Such is the approach undertaken in this study. The one characteristic common to the various popular 1 and influential Oriental objects was their portable size, which meant they could arrive in quantity and spread widely. Ceramics that were mediocre by Islamic standards were long admired throughout Italy and had a significant impact on Italian pottery. The Cathedral of San Miniato near Pisa (Fig. 1), built at the end of the twelfth century, epitomizes the many late-tenth- to early-fourteenth- century church facades and towers in Italy that are decorated with the Islamic earthenware bowls commonly called bacini. On this facade, only the shadowed recesses left when the bacini were removed show their original location. Most of these bacini now in the Museo Nazio- nale di San Matteo, Pisa, are crudely painted with traditional Islamic animal, plant, and geometric motifs (Fig. 2) and stylized Arabic script in brown and blue over an opaque white tin glaze. They probably came from North Africa: many sherds comparable in design and technique 2 have been excavated in Carthage, a suburb of Tunis, where Pisa had strong trading connections. Excavations Introduction 3 in Pisa indicate that such bowls arrived in large quantities 1 Facade showing locations of inset bacini and were used as kitchenware.3 Most of the bacini else- (now removed), Cathedral of San Miniato, Pisa, end of the twelfth century. where in Italy are also humble objects that probably arrived by ordinary commerce. They contributed color and 2 Bowl painted in blue and brown (bacino from the Cathedral of San Miniato, Pisa, end sheen to brick facades—more cheaply than the marble of the twelfth century). North Africa, late and mosaic inlay popular in contemporary Italian Roman- twelfth century. Museo Nazionale di San esque architecture. The importation and use of the bacini, Matteo, Pisa. in addition to demonstrating the di usion of Islamic 3 Pisa Griffin (from a gable of the cathedral of Pisa), bronze, Spain (?), eleventh century. domestic utensils during the late Middle Ages, show that Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Pisa. Italians appreciated their aesthetic qualities and were quick to employ them ornamentally, even in their most important religious buildings. Among the early bacini are a few high-quality Egyptian or Syrian vessels that may have been brought back from the Holy Land or Constan- tinople by crusaders and other travelers, who donated them to local institutions and building projects, in which case the origin may have been significant.4 The bacini inspired local imitations (see Fig. 89) and widespread improvements in Italian pottery. In contrast, two exceptional examples of monumental Oriental art seized during the late Middle Ages and pub- licly displayed thereafter had no artistic influence. The superb Pisa Gri‹n (Fig. 3), the largest surviving example of Islamic bronze sculpture, was probably brought back from one of Pisa’s many conquests on western Mediter- ranean Muslim shores during the late eleventh and early twelfth century.5 The gri‹n was soon installed on a gable atop the new cathedral of Pisa, which was begun in 1064, and remained there until 1828; it is now in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. Inscriptions on the cathedral’s facade commemorate the victories that had yielded booty to finance its construction as well as the city’s commercial advantages and Christian honor. But the gri‹n as a vic- 3 tory trophy was raised too high above the public eye for its artistry to be appreciated. The Lion of Venice, a rare antique bronze rendition of a fantastic Oriental beast, probably came from the eastern Mediterranean.6 From at least 1293 to 1985, it crowned a huge monolithic column at the quayside entrance to the Piazza San Marco in Ven- ice, the city’s ceremonial gateway (see Fig. 10). Though the lion originally had wings, technical analysis indicates that they no longer existed when Venetians acquired the statue and transformed it into a symbol of Saint Mark, the patron saint of the Republic, by adding new wings Introduction 4 and a book beneath one of its forepaws. Although a replicated, their distinctive decoration was imitated in the winged Lion of Saint Mark eventually became the city’s Islamic world from about 1400, and in Italy from about emblem, Venetian images of the emblematic lion (see, 1500. for example, Fig. 143) were never modeled on the statue, A second characteristic that increased the popularity which was approximated only in representations of the of Oriental objects was their decoration. Because of the piazza with its

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