1698 Observations on Ancient Medallions

Buonarroti, Filippo. OSSERVAZIONI ISTORICHE SOPRA ALCUNI MEDAGLIONI ANTICHI ALL’ALTEZZA SERENISSIMA DI COSIMO III, GRANDUCA DI TOSCANA. Roma: Nella Stamparia di Domenico Antonio Ercole in Parione, 1698. 4to, later full tan morocco; sides with raised panels; spine with five raised bands; maroon spine labels, gilt. Exquisite frontispiece title engraved by Perrus Sanctes Barrolus bound before plates; engraved printer’s device on title by Barrolus; (8), xxviii, 495, (1) pages; engraved and woodcut headpieces, tailpieces and initials, some of them signed; engravings of coins, gems, statuettes, reliefs, etc. in the text; 2 engraved folding plates of reliefs; superbly engraved folding portrait plate of Augustus by Robert van Audenaerde after Carlo Maratta; 30 irregularly numbered full-page engraved plates, 29 depicting 90 Roman and 38 Greek Imperial medallions, the final plate illustrating a patera. Old institutional stamp on opening blank, with early ownership signature; collation notes in modern ink on closing blank verso. Very good or better. A particularly handsomely produced late 17th-century numismatic work. The engravings are highly accurate, the text is learned and penetrating, and the work itself is still of importance. The medallions described and depicted were in the possession of Cardinal Campegna. They later passed to the Vatican Collection and, thanks to Napoleon, reside today in Paris. Brunet 29620 (mis-dated 1694): “Dissertation très-estimée.” Dekesel B 289. Lipsius 63.