‘Instructions of Marino Grimani to Zuanne Lippomano […]’

The binding that covers this manuscript on vellum is decorated in the Oriental style, with relief interwoven bands forming several compartments. The surface of these compartments, which develop from circular central medallions, is covered with mother-of-pearl ornamented with elegant branches and flowers. On the front cover the central medallion is decorated with the winged lion of St Mark’s holding a book, the symbol of the city of Venice, while on the back cover, the corresponding area is filled by a representation of the Lippomano coat-of-arms.

On the spine, next to the foot, the dogal bull, no longer in existence, was suspended from a plaited fillet. The splendour that the art of bookbinding attained in renaissance Venice, largely due to new techniques and ornamental motifs brought from the Orient, is very much in evidence in this piece.