Milan (Italy) -- Description and travel; Milan (Italy) -- History
The case in the middle of the room contains a collection of beautiful
objects of the goldsmiths’ and kindred arts, chiefly of the fourteenth,
fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries—tabernacles, paxes, reliquaries of
precious materials chiselled and adorned with enamel; cups and vases and
basins of crystal and agate; exquisitely worked spoons and forks, etc.,
etc. One very lovely pax (unnumbered) of silver, decorated with enamel,
has a Resurrection on the front—the figures in grisaille upon a blue
background—and heads of saints in medallions, and on the back the Pietà
figured in mother-of-pearl. Another pax (161 _bis_), of characteristic
Lombard workmanship, is in the form of a little tabernacle, and has
sacred subjects and figures of saints exquisitely worked in enamel. A
fourteenth century crystal cup (163) is of most graceful form and
beautiful workmanship; upon the foot episodes from the story of Tristan
and Isolda are figured in enamel. It is suggested that this may have
been a tourney prize. A cup with a cover of agate (169) and decorated
with silver gilt, chiselled and enamelled and with precious stones, is
specially noticeable for beauty of material and shape. The enamel (180)
with a representation of the Resurrection, is a very precious fifteenth
century work, probably Milanese. A tiny diptych (214) of gilded bronze
is particularly interesting for the two little figures in _niello_ on
the outside, representing Lodovico il Moro and Beatrice d’Este. Within
there are subjects depicted in enamel—St. George and the Dragon, and the
Deposition—in the style of the painter Foppa.
In the large case nearer the window there is a wonderful display of
jewellery, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. No. 286 is a
miniature of the Duke of Monmouth. In the other large case, near the
fireplace, there are numerous treasures of Roman, Etruscan, and Greek
art. A smaller case holds gold ornaments, chiefly of the Roman epoch.
There are also in this room suits of armour, some fine pieces of
seventeenth century furniture, tapestries, bronzes, etc.
Gabinetto del Salone Dorato.—Here are pictures of the late Flemish and
Italian schools, and an Annunciation (436) of Tuscan style, attributed
to Pesellino.
Sala Nera.—Among the pictures in this room are St. Mary Magdalen (473),
attributed to Luca Signorelli, but with doubtful justice, and a very
charming little triptych (477) by Mariotto Albertinelli, Madonna and
Child, with SS. Catherine and Barbara, which shows how good his work can
be on a small scale, like that of his fellow-worker Fra Bartolommeo,
whose style he much resembles. Here are also some fine pieces of
furniture, notably a cabinet (481) of sixteenth century Italian
workmanship, and another (482) of Florentine production in the
seventeenth century.
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