Beschreibung:

OATH OF OFFICE of Paolo Belegno, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Venice, c.1670s] A fine illuminated 17th-century copy of a 14th-century oath of office, likely an homage to an ancestor by a member of the Belegno family. 219 x 147mm. iv + 32 leaves (modern foliation 1-32 followed here), complete, 22 lines, ruled space: 149 x 87mm, one page with coat of arms of Paolo Belegno on f.ii, full-page illumination on f.1. Contemporary Venetian morocco over pasteboards tooled in gold with the lion of St Mark on the upper board and the coat of arms of the Belegno family on the lower (edges lightly scuffed, a little worming). Provenance : Paolo Belegno was elected to the prestigious lifetime appointment of Procurator of San Marco de Ultra Canale on 9 March 1367, one of the highest honours the Most Serene Republic of Venice could bestow on its leading citizens: his coat of arms on f.ii and on binding. The original 14th-century oath is in Venice, Biblioteca del Museo Correr, ms. Classe III 315. The script of the present manuscript is 17th century and in the margin of f.24 a 17th-century hand calculates the number of years elapsed since the election of Paolo Belegno and, most likely, the production of the manuscript (‘1674-1367 = 307’). It is tempting to think that this copy could have been produced as an homage to Paolo Belegno by one of his descendants, perhaps Catterin Belegno, son of another Paolo, who, in addition to his later appointment as ambassador to Spain, also served as Procurator of San Marco from 1649.