One Pope, Three Bindings
Description
Dumbarton Oaks owns three bindings executed for Pope Clement XIV, pope from 1769 to 1774. These bindings have all been tooled in gold to display Clement XIV’s papal coat of arms. But they appear to have been decorated by different finishers working with different sets of tools. The tools used for specific elements (the crossed keys, the papal tiara, the stars and the hills) are not identical, creating an opportunity to observe variations on a theme.
Credits
© 2010 Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections