Page 149 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

28 The fact that this Manueline hourglass seems
so similar to the instrument depicted in Albrecht
HOURGLASS Diirer's Melencolia i (cat. 199) may not be coin-
cidental. Diirer's engravings influenced Portu-
c. 2517
Portuguese guese painting of the period, particularly the
silver-gilt and glass works of Vasco Fernandes (see cat. 32), in whose
2
height 18.5 (j /4J; diameter 10.7 (^Vs) painting of Jesus at the House of Mary and
references: A. Caetanos de Sousa 1752; Raczynski Martha the figure of Mary reflects the figure in
1846; Vasconcelos 1904; 1929; Wollf 1962; Panofsky Melencolia i. It may be that this hourglass also
2967; Guye 1970; Couto and Gonqalves 1970; Attali reflects Diirer's model. J.T.
1982; Matoso 198}; Le Go//19^4; Markl and
Pereira 1986
Museu National de Arte Antiga f Lisbon
^9
Like the solar quadrant and the clepsydra, or LISBON BIBLE
water clock, the hourglass is among the oldest
non-mechanical instruments for measuring time. 14^2
It consists of two conical glass bulbs, one of Sephardi
which is filled with sand, connected by a small illuminated manuscript on vellum, 184-1-11 folios
5
channel, which in this example is adorned with a 30.5x24.4 (l2X9 / 8)
So; Sed-Rajna
Narkiss
1969,
filigree knot. references: Narkiss 1982,141-144, no. 42; 1970, 24-
Sed-Rajna
29, no. 2;
The gilt silver framework architecturally resem- 1988; Cohen 1988
bles a circular miniature temple. Eight small col-
umns are sectioned half-way up the shaft, and The British Library Board, London, MS Or. 2626,
repeat the pseudo-capitals in the shape of a fols. yb-8a
cupping-glass. In the extremities of the frieze the
rims are adorned by a wreath accompanied by a This illuminated Bible is one of the masterpieces
threadlike molding, which is followed by a hollow of a Hebrew manuscript workshop active in
panel of fleurs-de-lis. Also in the friezes, blending Lisbon from no later than 1469, the year of its
with the concave frame, small double-S shaped earliest preserved dated work, until 1496. It was
lizards rest upon the end of each small column. presumably disbanded at the time of the enforced
At either end of the drum of the hourglass, the collective conversion of the Portuguese Jews; the
royal Portuguese coat-of-arms and the armillary official Edict of Expulsion was promulgated on 5
sphere are engraved. The armillary sphere was December 1496.
the emblem of Dom Manuel i, "because mathe- hourglass is similar to that example. The presence The volume displayed here is the first of a set of
maticians portray the shape of mechanism of of the emblem of the "marvel-of-Peru" (Mirabilis three (MS Or. 2626-2628) containing all twenty-
heaven and earth, with all the other elements, Jalapa) in low relief indicates that it belonged to four books of the Bible, as well as certain addenda.
which is astonishing" (Gois 1566, ch. v). the second wife of Dom Manuel i, Queen Maria According to the colophon at the end of the man-
Used by sailors to measure the speed of their (1482-1517). Her emblem, the bough of "marvel- uscript, the text, which is written in light brown
ships and to mark the shifts of the watch, the of-Peru," appears in several sculpted medallions in ink in square Sephardi script, was executed by
hourglass appears on the frontispiece of Lucas the monastery of the Jeronimos in Lisbon. It is Samuel the scribe, son of Samuel Ibn Musa, and
Janzoon's Spieghel der Zeevaerdt..., published in therefore thought that the two hourglasses were completed in Lisbon between 12 November and 10
Leyden in 1584, together with the astrolabe, the made for Dom Manuel and Dona Maria prior to December 1482. The patron was Joseph, son of
quadrant, the terrestrial and celestial globe, the 1517, the date of Dona Maria's death. The hour- Yehuda al-Hakim.
magnetic compass, and other instruments of navi- glass described as being in the trousseau of the The manuscript is illuminated throughout with
gation. Given Dom Manuel's own association Infanta Dona Beatriz in 1521 was presumably the a luxurious system of decoration that emphasizes
with the maritime world, it is clear why the hour- one that had belonged to her mother, Dona Maria. the major divisions in the text. The opening illus-
glass was chosen as an object to be presented to Just as cartography in the Renaissance changed trated here is from an introductory section,
him. It was during his reign that the most impor- from rendering the symbolic and sacred space of preceding the Biblical text, which lists the 613
tant events occurred in the history of Portuguese the Christian religion to the representation in the precepts contained in the Bible in the order in
navigation and exploration. portolan charts of the direct observation of the which they are mentioned in the Old Testament.
During that period rare and precious objects of world, so did the concept of time change from a The decoration on these pages consists of full-
this type formed part of the royal collection. A hierarchy of events related to divine history. The page frames filled with floral motifs, which can be
similar instrument was part of the trousseau of new Portuguese chronicles reflected the actual related to contemporary styles of Portuguese illu-
the Infanta Dona Beatriz (1504-1538) when she historical events of the monarchy and of the mination, panels of filigree penwork surrounding
married Charles in of Savoy in 1521. The list nation, seen from a humanistic perspective. the text, and burnished gold ornamental script.
given to her treasurer describes a number of gold- Mechanical clocks came to replace the church bells Unlike scribes, the artists and craftsmen in charge
smith's works, including "a white silver clock with as regulators of social life. The hourglass itself of the decoration rarely signed their work, and the
six staffs, and it has above and below it the came to be associated with the philosophical con- decoration in the Lisbon Bible in fact appears to be
emblem of daisies in low relief with a knot in the cept of Time, which was revived by Petrarch, the work of a team of artists, among whom several
middle, also of silver" (A. Caetano de Sousa, whose Triumphs were a popular theme in human- different hands can be distinguished. The Lisbon
Provas, vol. n). The description suggests that this istic illustration. workshop's productions are characterized by the

148 CIRCA 1492