il Campiello

[babeth]

J'emprunte au toujours captivant site de Alain Truong l'image d'un bouclier de parade du XVIème siècle, de Venise, en cuir travaillé suivant la technique du cuoridoro. (Objet vendu par Sotheby's)



une note faisant partie de la description de l'objet explique la fascination de Venise pour les arts de l'Empire Ottoman du Cinquecento :

Note: Locked in an enduring bittersweet relationship driven by commerce and trade as much as looting and war, Venice and the Christian kingdoms of Europe regarded sixteenth-century Ottoman Turkish culture with a mercurial blend of enmity and covetous respect. In this regard, Venetian leatherworker’s guilds reflected a wider European fascination with Turkish aesthetics, producing helmets, shields and quivers lavishly decorated with Ottoman motifs as exemplified by the present shield. Distinguished by its refined design and bold sense of colour which has its origin in Turkish book-bindings of the period, this shield is coated using a technique known by the Italian name cuoridoro where lacquer is applied on silver-coated leather to create a gold effect. For a discussion comparing Venetian lacquer-work to Ottoman leather bindings, see Ernst J. Grube; ‘Venetian Lacquer and Bookbindings of the 16th Century’ (Grube 2007, pp.231-243).