Beschreibung:

BENEDICT XIII (Pope, 1724-30). Diploma of appointment of Giovanni Antonio Gambinio as Protonotary Apostolic. ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM. Rome: 15 August 1726. 237 x 175mm, 12 leaves (last blank) plus preliminary leaf on paper, folios 2 and 3 pasted together, written in a very fine book script in brown ink, dedication on f.4 and capitals throughout written in liquid gold. Each page encadré in gold and red rules, large decorated initial, vignette of painted overflowing fruit, 3 full-page portraits and 3 armorials. Last 4 pages with notarial and chancery additions, Bishop Braschi's paper seal on f.10v. CONTEMPORARY ROMAN BINDING BY THE VATICAN BINDERY, dark-red morocco gilt, on sides a border of fillets and narrow rolls, large cornerpieces composed of curved leafy and tulip tools, surrounding on upper cover the Braschi arms, the tassels of the prelate's hat supported by winged putti, on lower cover Gambinio's arms, with prelate's hat, liners of gilt-embossed floral paper. Provenance : Ing.Roberto Almagia, (bookplate). The full-page illustrations are: Engraved, hand-coloured portrait of Benedict XIII, on the preliminary paper leaf; his emblazoned arms on facing vellum leaf. Engraved hand-coloured oval portrait of Bishop Braschius, on paper pasted within a gold-painted frame on vellum; his emblazoned arms on facing vellum leaf. Portrait of Gambinio in body colour and wash; his emblazoned arms on facing leaf. A VERY ATTRACTIVE ILLUMINATED PAPAL DIPLOMA IN A HANDSOME BINDING. Gambinio had been Canon of Sarsina in Umbria and a protegé of Giovanni Battista Braschi, who had been bishop of that town. In 1725 Braschi went to Rome, following his elevation to titular bishop of Nisibis by Benedict XIII. Braschi then secured Gambinio's appointment as Protonotary Apostolic, an office conferring on the incumbent the rank of a prelate. Comparable bindings are described by A.Petrucci, "Legatoria Romana del XVIII sec." in La Bibliofilia , 1961, pp.165-195, plates I-V.