Details

Subjects:

Medici, House of -- Archives.
Medici, House of.
Accounting -- Italy -- 17th century.
Textile industry -- Italy -- Early works to 1800.
Dyes and dyeing -- Italy -- Early works to 1800.
Dyes and dyeing.
Textile industry.
Accounting.
Italy.

Form/Genre:

Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, European.
Codices.
Accounts.
Ledgers (account books)
Archives.

Language:

Italian.

Summary:

Ledger of forward contracts between the brothers Andrea and Vincenzo de' Medici, sons of Carlo de' Medici, and members of the Florentine guild of dyers for the years 1605-1626. Often includes the nature of a given transaction and its amount, as well as listing the names of the individuals that act as counterparts in the transaction. Transactions are related to the textile business, which was of crucial importance for the Medici family. More precisely, the ledger contains detailed summaries of contracts to sell a standardized quantity of a textile product of standardized quality (agreed between the counterparts) at a certain date in the future, at a price determined at the time of writing of the contract. The future date in which the transaction is to be settled and the price at which the textile product is to be sold are also noted.

Contents:

1. f.1v-4v: Ricordanze.
2. f.31r-149r: Tintori.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Foliation: Paper, i (paper) + 159 + i (paper); each folio has the same number on both recto and verso; rectos numbered [1-3], 4, [5-30], 31-77, 77-149, [150-159], contemporary numeration in ink, modern numeration in pencil, upper right recto; versos numbered 1-4, [5-30], 31-77, 77-148, [149-159], contemporary numeration in ink, modern numeration in pencil, upper left verso (leaves 5-30 and 150-159 are blank but ruled).
Layout: Written in 3 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the smaller column on the left with the transaction number, the large central column with a brief description of the transaction, including the name of the counterparts and the settlement date, and the smaller one on the right with the amount of the settlement in arabic numerals. In certain cases the large central column contains itemized accounts of a transaction within one entry. Memoranda written in long lines.
Script: Written in a cursive script, perhaps by multiple hands, including some of the counterparts, who signed their names at the end of the memoranda.
Watermark: Similar to Briquet, Aigle 207 (Siena, 1594); and Homme 7629 (Rome, 1566).
Binding: Contemporary vellum, no. 64 on spine; faded heading Ricordanze e tintori, letter C with decorative penwork and no. 29 on upper cover; lower cover with remnants of leather ties wraps around upper cover; decorative leatherwork on spine.
Origin: Written in Italy between 1605 (f. 1r) and 1626 (f. 149r).

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Bernard M. Rosenthal, 1961.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 199 (Ms. Lea 256).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1310.

OCLC:

298462690