Dogale, appointing the mayor of Mestre, manuscript on vellum, 1578 [and later], Venetian red morocco gilt with arms of Zane

4to (222 x 150 mm), written in a fine humanist hand in sepia ink, 21 lines, 155 leaves (of 158, lacking f.1, f. 4, f. 6, blank f. 2v, 3r, 5r); first page inscribed in golden Roman Capitals with black and red accent colours creating a trompe-l'œil effect, pen trials on 3v and 4v, original 1578 commission initialled by Grand Chancellor 'FSR', and attested by ducal notary Gabriel Gabrielius, page setting annual salary of 500 ducats drawn of the Camera of Treviso signed by Agustin Sp[ine]lli; final 5 leaves in a different, possibly somewhat later, hand recording votes of December 1577 Magg. Concilio, first quire replaced under Doge Erizzo between 1631-1646, as Dogali were frequently reused on account of their expensive bindings, the illuminated first leaves containing the owner’s arms are often missing; here the first quire was replaced for Zane’s commission and later Zane’s illuminated f. 1 and its conjugate f. 6 were removed. (Yellowing and slight traces of damp in upper margins of some leaves, worming to inner margin of first few leaves.)

binding: Venetian dark red morocco in an oriental style (230 x 161 mm), c. 1578, gilt over double pasteboards with sunk compartments blocked in gold lacquer heightened with enamel, outer border of angular and shaped rectangular compartments, oriental corner pieces, large central ovoid panel blocked, on upper cover, with Lion of St Mark, on lower cover with a cartouche containing painted arms of Zane in white and blue, small teardrop-shaped compartments above and below centrepiece, all sunk compartments outlined by single fillets and 2 versions of an orientalising bird’s foot tool, 4 raised bands on spine, the compartments divided by diagonal gilt fillets and the resulting triangles filled with parallel fillets, minor repairs to joints and corners, traces of 4 pairs of ties, gilt edges, in a cloth case. (Recornered, spine ends repaired, small neat repairs to edges of boards removing traces of ties.)

provenance: Luigi Grassi, Florentine connoisseur and art dealer (1858- c. 1917), stamp on upper pastedown "LG"—Sotheby's, 28 February 1966, lot 149, £300 to Maggs—Jean Fürstenberg (1890-1982), exhibition label —Martin Breslauer Inc., New York, Catalogue 108 (1986), no. 14. acquisition: Purchased in 1986 from Martin Breslauer Inc., New York. references: EA Cicogna, Delle inscrizioni Veneziane , vol. II, fasc. 12, Venice, 1830, pp. 440-441; IBI, 7, p. 2621. exhibited: Musée d'art et d'histoire, Collection Jean Furstenberg: 3 mai-5 juin 1966 (Geneva 1966), no. 82