Venetian doctoral diploma, illuminated manuscript on vellum.

£8,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A handsome diploma certificate, lavishly illuminated and bound, conferring a doctorate in philosophy on Francesco Maria Ferro from the Collegio dei Medici, Venice. The diploma opens with an extravagant, full-page frontispiece, hand-painted, with central arms held by the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, presumably in reference to Frederick III, who granted the Collegio its charter in 1469. Two half-length female figures stand below, and above are portraits of St Mark with the lion, the Virgin Mary, and, appropriately for a higher medical degree, St Julian the Hospitaller. Following pages are each adorned with a wide border of leafy foliage and flowers in blues, oranges, pinks and gold. The diploma is contained within a wonderfully preserved, Italian red morocco binding, elaborately gilt. This 4to format with elaborate binding and illumination is found principally in degree certificates awarded at universities in the north of Italy, especially Venice, and Padova from the sixteenth century onwards. A tradition that persisted into the eighteenth century, it is the earlier examples, such as this one, that tend to be the most elaborate. While the text and elements of the format were relatively formulaic, they were commissioned by the graduating student and therefore are each unique. The text of the document, pro-forma in nature, describes the process by which Ferro was examined for and awarded his degree. Named at the beginning are Nicolò Caopena, prelate of San Giovan

• Year: 1644

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