Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Images of the Orient-Weapons included-XVI century

fernando · 18th September 2007, 06:50 PM

This is about the Portuguese Codice at the Casanatense Library.
I have found at the flea market this reproduction work printed by the National Press House in 1985.
For those not aware ( lkike i wasn't ) Cardinal Casanata ( 1620-1698 ) has donated 25 000 volumes and a large sum of money for the institution of an Italian public library, to be ran by Dominicans. These kept enlarging its contents and, when in 1873 the library became in controll of the Italian State, it already had 200 000 printings, including 2100 incunabulums and more that 5000 manuscripts, a hundred of them from the Renaissance period.
This is all to say that manuscript nr. 1889, concerns a Portuguese work. After being ignored for four centuries, this incunabulum came alight some fifty years ago, and from then on several studies took place and some of the images were already published. The codice is composed of 76 folios, containing as many aquarelles, with images of the most varied peoples the author found in Asia and also Africa. In Asia, only Japan is not represented, which means that this Album most probably dates from the XVI century. The legends, in lettering of such period, were no doubt inserted by the author. According tho the introductory text, he is not considered a genious as a painter, but very efective, and the material as such, considering the period it was made, has no paralel.
Apart from the introduction, the book has several supporting pages, relating to each image, with corresponding fascinating interpretations of the peoples depicted, often dedicated to how they were armed and would fight, written by the various chronicle authors of the same period. As most of the images represent armed persons, i here include some of them, considering that the shape of the weapons may not be faithfull, but still a subject of particular interest, as situations of this degree are not often observed. I have scanned all images to my computer, in a much larger and legible resolution. If anyone interested, i will be glad to either post in here some more examples in 800x600 format, or email larger ones, bunch by bunch, as the whole thing is very heavy.
Or maybe i set up some kind of link, if i learn how to do it.
I am sorry the examples i attach here are a few too many, but i found it rather dificult to select the ones for posting, as they all are fascinating ... at least to my eyes

fernando

18th September 2007, 06:50 PM	#1
fernando Lead Moderator European Armoury Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portugal Posts: 9,643	Images of the Orient-Weapons included-XVI century This is about the Portuguese Codice at the Casanatense Library. I have found at the flea market this reproduction work printed by the National Press House in 1985. For those not aware ( lkike i wasn't ) Cardinal Casanata ( 1620-1698 ) has donated 25 000 volumes and a large sum of money for the institution of an Italian public library, to be ran by Dominicans. These kept enlarging its contents and, when in 1873 the library became in controll of the Italian State, it already had 200 000 printings, including 2100 incunabulums and more that 5000 manuscripts, a hundred of them from the Renaissance period. This is all to say that manuscript nr. 1889, concerns a Portuguese work. After being ignored for four centuries, this incunabulum came alight some fifty years ago, and from then on several studies took place and some of the images were already published. The codice is composed of 76 folios, containing as many aquarelles, with images of the most varied peoples the author found in Asia and also Africa. In Asia, only Japan is not represented, which means that this Album most probably dates from the XVI century. The legends, in lettering of such period, were no doubt inserted by the author. According tho the introductory text, he is not considered a genious as a painter, but very efective, and the material as such, considering the period it was made, has no paralel. Apart from the introduction, the book has several supporting pages, relating to each image, with corresponding fascinating interpretations of the peoples depicted, often dedicated to how they were armed and would fight, written by the various chronicle authors of the same period. As most of the images represent armed persons, i here include some of them, considering that the shape of the weapons may not be faithfull, but still a subject of particular interest, as situations of this degree are not often observed. I have scanned all images to my computer, in a much larger and legible resolution. If anyone interested, i will be glad to either post in here some more examples in 800x600 format, or email larger ones, bunch by bunch, as the whole thing is very heavy. Or maybe i set up some kind of link, if i learn how to do it. I am sorry the examples i attach here are a few too many, but i found it rather dificult to select the ones for posting, as they all are fascinating ... at least to my eyes fernando Attached Images