Details

Subjects:

Medici, House of -- Archives.
Medici, House of.
Cooking, Italian -- History.
Cooking, Italian.
History.
Food habits -- Italy -- Florence -- History -- 17th century.
Accounting -- Italy -- 17th century.
Accounting.
Food habits.
Italy.
Italy -- Florence.

Form/Genre:

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

Language:

Italian.

Summary:

Ledger of miscellaneous accounts of an unidentified member of the Medici family for the years 1695-1697 written by the bursar, referred in the manuscript as the spenditore, Luca Mecocci and other. It contains a detailed list of expenses related to food and drink and records the amount of every transaction. All the foods that appear throughout the ledger are typical Tuscan foods and the most frequent are bread and cakes; pasta (including lasagne); meat (roast veal, pork and pigeon, geese, lamb, ham, sausages, giblets, fatty chicken liver, quails, larks); fish (salted or boiled cod, oysters, anchovies, eel, tuna eggs); fruit and vegetables (artichokes, asparagus, cherries, lettuce, mushrooms, peas); cheese (ricotta, parmesan, sheep's cheese); salt and sugar. Sometimes the recipe for which the ingredient is purchased is also mentioned (for example, minced beef to make meatballs, of a specific shape of pasta to prepare a baked dish, vegetables to make minestrone). Expenses related to household management that do not concern food and drink, such as money spent for clothes, shoes and furniture, also appear in the ledger, but not very frequently. In certain cases the names of the counterparts (farmers, butchers, tailors) are also recorded. There are also a few tax-related transactions (generally to be paid to the Medici family).

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Foliation: Paper, i (paper) + 272 + i (paper); each folio has the same number on both recto and verso; rectos numbered 1-272, contemporary numeration in ink, upper right recto; versos numbered 1-272, contemporary numeration in ink, upper left verso (leaves 76-145, 209-224, 227-257 and 266-272 are blank but ruled).
Layout: Written in 2 columns with vertical bounding lines in lead; the large column on the left with the description of the transaction, and the smaller one on the right with its amount. Sometimes long lines are used to write a closing statement (usually one for each month).
Script: Written in a cursive script, perhaps by multiple hands.
Watermark: Unidentified watermark containing a human figure.
Binding: Contemporary parchment, no. 56 on spine; the heading Quad[erno] di spese on upper cover; lower cover wraps around upper cover with leather ties; decorative leatherwork on spine.
Origin: Written in Italy, between 1695 (f. 1v) and 1697 (f. 167v).
Forms part of: Gondi-Medici Business Records.

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. 205 (Ms. Lea 297).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1359

OCLC:

301804674