THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
VENICE FESTIVAL -- An 11 leaf manuscript notebook, early 19th century, 8°, containing 22 pen-and-ink and watercolour designs of piramida umana, with a manuscript note to each design giving the location in Venice, the director's name and year of the display (page size 228 x 150mm). The first design is dated 1750. The album appears to have belonged to the Nicolottis, and records their achievements up to 1787 (some soiling and staining, one leaf detached). Old marbled boards (spine worn).
Details
VENICE FESTIVAL -- An 11 leaf manuscript notebook, early 19th century, 8°, containing 22 pen-and-ink and watercolour designs of piramida umana, with a manuscript note to each design giving the location in Venice, the director's name and year of the display (page size 228 x 150mm). The first design is dated 1750. The album appears to have belonged to the Nicolottis, and records their achievements up to 1787 (some soiling and staining, one leaf detached). Old marbled boards (spine worn).
A faded date on the verso of the final leaf may read "30 Aguosto 1826," but the year is near to being indecipherable.
The origin of these human pyramids lies in 12th-century military practice, but by the 13th century they were continued as a game only. The game was called Hercules' Forces and was played throughout the year, but especially on Shrove Tuesday in the Piazza San Marco. It became a contest between two factions in Venice -- the Castellani, who lived east of the Grand Canal, and the Nicolotti, who lived to the west. They can be distinguished by the colour of their caps and cummerbunds -- red for the Castellani and black for the Nicolotti. The game was played either on a board laid down on barrels, or on barges, visible in these illustrations. The base of the pyramid was called saorna; the position in which men hold up others without beams is called banchetti; and the levels are called ageri. The last person on top was a child.
A faded date on the verso of the final leaf may read "30 Aguosto 1826," but the year is near to being indecipherable.
The origin of these human pyramids lies in 12th-century military practice, but by the 13th century they were continued as a game only. The game was called Hercules' Forces and was played throughout the year, but especially on Shrove Tuesday in the Piazza San Marco. It became a contest between two factions in Venice -- the Castellani, who lived east of the Grand Canal, and the Nicolotti, who lived to the west. They can be distinguished by the colour of their caps and cummerbunds -- red for the Castellani and black for the Nicolotti. The game was played either on a board laid down on barrels, or on barges, visible in these illustrations. The base of the pyramid was called saorna; the position in which men hold up others without beams is called banchetti; and the levels are called ageri. The last person on top was a child.