01 - fondazione torino musei · ha-nasi in the second century, when, due to the persecution by the...

01. The Origin and Spread of Homo Sapiens 1 / 45

01 The Origin and Spread of Homo Sapiens

The earliest members of the genus Homo emergedfrom Africa by 1.8 million years ago and occupied partsof Europe and Asia.Modern man (Homo sapiens) originated in Africaabout 200,000 years ago and gradually spread to allthe inhabitable areas of the planet. The expansion ofour species was facilitated by the introduction ofagriculture and animal husbandry, which developedwhen the last Ice Age came to an end, about 12,000years ago.

1Skull of Homo georgicus (cast)Turin, Museum of Human Anatomy, University of Turin

Discovered in 1999 in the Dmanisi site in Georgia, theskull dates from about 1.8 million years ago. Togetherwith other finds from the same site, it is one of theoldest specimens of a skeleton from the groups ofhumans who migrated from Africa to the gates ofEurasia.

2 Skull of Homo neanderthalensis (cast)Turin, Museum of Human Anatomy, University of TurinDiscovered in La Ferrassie (Dordogne, France) in 1909,the skull Dates from about 50,000 years ago. The individual, of which we have almost the completeskeleton, was intentionally buried.


3 Skull of Homo sapiens (cast)Turin, Museum of Human Anatomy, University of TurinThe skull was found in the Carpathians in south-western Romania, in Pestera cu Oase (the “Cave withBones”). Dated to 37,800 years ago, it is from one ofthe first anatomically modern human populations tocome to Europe.

4 Skull of Homo sapiens (cast)Turin, Museum of Human Anatomy, University of TurinDiscovered in the Dordogne (France) in 1868, in theCro-Magnon cave, this is a classic specimen of humansin the Upper Palaeolithic in Western Europe. It datesfrom about 28,000 years ago.

5 Skull of Kennewick Man (cast)Turin, Museum of Human Anatomy, University of TurinDiscovered in 1996 on the Columbia River inWashington state, in the north west of the UnitedStates, it dates back about 9,000-9,500 years and isone of the oldest examples of Homo sapiens to havearrived in America from Asia. DNA studies have shownsimilarities with Native American populations, and inparticular with the Ojibwa and Algonchini.


6 The double burial at Qafzeh (Israel) (cast)Turin, Museum of Human Anatomy, University of TurinThe burial site contains the skeletons of an adultwoman and of a child aged about six, classified asHomo sapiens. This is one of the oldest knownintentional burials (about 92,000 years ago), andshows that anatomically modern humans were alreadyin the Middle East during the Middle Palaeolithicperiod.

7 The Venus of Laussel (cast)Turin, Museum of Human Anatomy, University of TurinThe original bas-relief was engraved on a block oflimestone about 25,000 years ago in the Laussel rockshelter in Dordogne (France). It shows a female figureholding a bison horn in her right hand.

8 AxesMiddle to recent Neolithic (5th Millennium BC)Alpine green stone (eclogite or garnet omphacite)Turin, Royal Museums of Turin – ArchaeologicalMuseum

Probably found in Puglia, the axes show how Alpinegreen stones circulated in southern Italy. At least fromthe Middle Neolithic, they also circulated in the formof the raw material, which was then worked by localartisans to satisfy the functional and symbolic needsof the communities in these areas. In the south, these objects were generally placed invotive or funerary settings, and particularly in caves:their small size shows that they were used forsymbolic purposes in religious contexts.


9 Skull of a Roaschina (or Frabosana) sheepTurin, Museum of Human Anatomy, University of TurinIndigenous to the valleys above Cuneo, this was themost common breed of dairy sheep in Piedmont. It is a relatively archaic breed, in which the femaleshave flat horns that point backwards.

q (out of the showcase)The bulls of the Romito Cave (Papasidero, Cosenza)(cast)Turin, Museum of Human Anatomy, University of TurinThe two profiles of an aurochs (Bos primigenius) werecarved about 12,000 years ago on a large boulder inthe cave, which has also yielded seven intentionalburials from the Upper Palaeolithic. The engraving, inthe style of Franco-Cantabrian Palaeolithic art, datesfrom the end of the Upper Palaeolithic (LateEpigravettian).

02. The Voyages of Ulysses and Aeneas 5 / 45

02 The Voyages of Ulysses and Aeneas

Homer’s Odyssey is the archetypal literary voyage ofWestern civilisation: its protagonist, Odysseus orUlysses, is a man of wide ranging intelligence and thefirst literary character who always thinks beforeacting. The very destruction of the city of Troy is due tohim, for it is he who understood how it could be takenby deception, with the famous wooden horse. Two keylegendary personalities depart from the ruins of Troy:one is the Trojan Aeneas, from the losing side, whosimply needs to survive and who emigrates in order tofind a place where he can found a new city of Troy. Theother is Ulysses, one of the victorious Greeks whoneeds to face the dangerous journey home. Both ofthem roam far and wide across the seas, and oftentheir destinies almost intersect. The devout Aeneas,who obeys the gods and abandons Dido whencommanded to do so, actually appears like the realprototype colonialist, who fights the Latins and settlesin Latium. Ulysses, on the other hand, has no desirefor conquest. He is ungodly, like all the Greeks, and isopposed by the gods. His is a voyage of survival, butalso of knowledge and interaction with others. As theancients viewed it, the extraordinary encounters hehas during his voyage are tests to which he is put,which in the Christian world are seen as temptations:of the senses, of oblivion, of intelligence, and ofimmortality.


1 Bust of the Cyclops PolyphemusSecond half of the 2nd century AD (front part of thehead) second half of 16th century (reintegration)Luni marble Turin, Royal Museums of Turin - ArchaeologicalMuseum

2 Ulysses and the SirensRoman lapicide - 1st century ADAntique red marbleUrbino, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche

The relief portrays a famous episode in the twelfthbook of Homer’s Odyssey, with Ulysses Listening tothe Song of the Sirens. The hero had been warned bythe sorceress Circe about these monstrous beings -half women and half birds whose songs enticedsailors, who became their prey - and he had his mentie him to the main mast of his ship so that he couldlisten to their sweet melodies without being killed.

3 Vase with the Blinding of Polyphemus Painter from L’Aquila - about 520 BCBlack-figure potteryRoma, Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia

4 Apulian helmetFrom a burial site near Ortona (Chieti) - 5th century BCBronze sheetTurin, Museo Storico Nazionale d’Artiglieria


5 Aeneas Fleeing Burning TroyPompeo Batoni (Lucca 1708-1787 Rome) - 1754-1756Oil on canvasTurin, Royal Museums of Turin - Galleria Sabauda

Inspired by the second book of the Aeneid, the paintingshows Aeneas escaping from Troy with his ageing fatherAnchises, who brings with him the sacred Penates, andhis son Ascanius by his side. Behind them, his wifeCreusa turns around in fear, lingers a while and isforever lost: she later appears to him in a dream,revealing his destiny to found a great civilisation. The imagery, had been popular in antiquity, is anopportunity for eighteenth-century European paintingto portray a great example of moral virtue.

03. The Jewish Diaspora 8 / 45

03 The Jewish Diaspora

For twenty centuries, ever since the destruction ofJerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, the Jews have beenscattered across the world. In the diaspora, they havepreserved their sense of unity and their links with thePromised Land, even though they have often beenbarbarically persecuted. And yet they have alsointegrated into society, producing great flourishingcultures and playing an important role in their hostcountries. They arrived in Piedmont in about 1400,settling in about sixty towns. In the eighteenth century they were forced intoghettos, from which they escaped only with theemancipation decreed by the Statuto Albertino in1848. The Jewish people now have a state of their own,Israel, set up in 1948.

1 Sepher Torah (Scroll of the Law)Northern Italy - 18th century Parchment (gevil), wood, silverTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

2 Me’il (mantle for the scroll of the Torah) Italian workshop - 18th centuryCut silk velvet, thread and gilded foil braidTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica


3Pair of crowns for the Torah scrollMoise Vita Levi - 1759/1775Silver, embossed and chasedTurin, Jewish Community

4 Tas (medallion for a Torah scroll)Moise Vita Levi - 1759/1787Silver, embossed and chasedTurin, Jewish Community

5 RimmonMoise Vita Levi - 1759/1787Silver, embossed and chasedTurin, Jewish Community

Torah scrolls can be decorated with a single crown orwith two rimmonim (literally, pomegranates), which inJewish tradition have auspicious meanings and alsorecall the golden bells that adorned the robe of theHigh Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem.

6 Case for rimmonimItalian workshop - 18th centuryCarved wood and paperCasale Monferrato, private collection


7 The first part of the Mishnayot, orders of seeds, of festivals, of women[Cheleq rishon meha Mishnayot Zera’im, Zemanim,Nashim]Amsterdam, printed by Eliahu Aboab, 5404 [1643-1644CE] - 18th centuryBook printed on paper; leather binding, Bottega deiRegi Archivi, TurinTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

The Mishnah (plural Mishnayot, literally “repeatedstudy”) contains the prescriptions and rules of Jewishoral tradition that were written down by Rabbì Judahha-Nasi in the second century, when, due to thepersecution by the Romans, the wealth ofinterpretations of the Torah that had accumulated overthe centuries was clarified and organised.

8 Tallit (prayer shawl)Piedmontese workshop - 18th centuryEmbroidered silkCasale Monferrato, Jewish Art, History and CultureFoundation in Casale Monferrato and East PiedmontNon-profit Association

The tallit is worn by men during morning prayers andon special, solemn occasions. Its use dates back to thebiblical command: “bid them that they make themfringes in the borders of their garments... that theymay remember all the commandments of the Lord, anddo them”. The tallit was in the Ottolenghi family,originally from Acqui, from the eighteenth centuryuntil 2013.


9 Shofar (horn)Italian workshop - 18th centuryRam’s hornCasale Monferrato, Jewish Community

Recalling the biblical episode in which a ram issacrificed by Abraham in place of his son Isaac, theshofar is sounded a number of times in the liturgy ofRosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, after the fastingat the very end of Yom Kippur and at moments when theJewish people are called together for special occasions.

10 Yad (ritual pointer)Piedmontese workshop - second half of 18th centurySilver, embossed and chasedInscription: “... esaltate con me il Signore” (Psalms 34,4)Casale Monferrato, private collection

The Yad, (literally, “hand”) is used to mark the placewithout using hands while reading the Sepher Torah(the scroll of the Law), the handwritten text of whichmust never be touched by the reader’s fingers.

11 Book of prayers with the liturgy for Rosh Hashanahand Kippur, in accordance with the Ashkenazi ritualRaffaele Luzzati, son of Mordechai MoshèAsti, 11 Iyyar [5]640 [22 April 1880]Manuscript on paperCasale Monferrato, Jewish Art, History and CultureFoundation in Casale Monferrato and East PiedmontNon-profit Association

On the Sabbath and at all festivals, there is a set canon ofblessings and prayers, to which many liturgical


compositions of various ages and by various authors,depending on local customs, are added. Rosh Hashanah,the Jewish New Year, is in September-October, on the firstday of the month of Tishrei. It is followed by ten days ofpenance, which ends on the Kippur, the solemn day offasting and prayer for the expiation of individual sins.

12 DishManufacture “Vedova Besio e Figlio” - Mondovì, thirdquarter of the XX centuryEarthenware Inscription: “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King ofthe universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, andenabled us to reach this season” Mondovì, Fondazione Museo della Ceramica VecchiaMondovì / Estate Marco Levi

13 Lamp for HanukkahEmanuele Luzzati (Genoa, 1921-2006)Celle Ligure, 2000Painted terracotta Casale Monferrato, Jewish Art, History and CultureFoundation in Casale Monferrato and East PiedmontNon-profit Association, The Museum of Lights

The lamp is lit during the eight days of the Hanukkahfestival (literally, “rededication”), which celebrates therededication of the Temple of Jerusalem after thevictory of the Maccabees over Antiochus IV of Syria in164 BC. Emanuele Luzzati has chosen to represent thelamps in the form of rabbis, to recall that “as masters,they are containers of knowledge and they hand ontraditions”. The nine figures reproduce clothes andhairstyles common in Eastern Europe.


qThe five books of the Torah (lit. teaching) are theessential text for Judaism. For the ritual and public readings the text written on aparchment scroll is rolled up around two ornatewooden shafts, sometimes garnished by silverhandles.When the scroll is closed, it is protected and adornedwith a mantle (‘me’il’) and it is enhanced with silvercrowns, breastplate and pinnacles (‘rimmonim’).

Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this songunto the Lord, and spoke, saying: I will sing unto theLord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and his riderhath He thrown into the sea.The Lord is my strength and song, and He is becomemy salvation; this is my God, and I will glorify Him; myfather's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man ofwar, The Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and hishost hath He cast into the sea, and his chosencaptains are sunk in the Red Sea.The deeps cover them, and they went down into thedepths like a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, glorious inpower, Thy right hand, O Lord, dasheth in pieces theenemy.And in the greatness of Thine excellency Thouoverthrowest them that rise up against Thee; Thousendest forth Thy wrath, it consumeth them asstubble.And with the blast of Thy nostrils the waters werepiled up, the floods stood upright as a heap; thedeeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.The enemy said: 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I willdivide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them;


I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them;they sank as lead in the mighty waters.Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the mighty? whois like unto Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful inpraises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out Thyright hand, the earth swallowed them.Thou in Thy love hast led the people that Thou hastredeemed; Thou hast guided them in Thy strength toThy holy habitation.

Shemot / Exodus 15, 1-13

04. The Roman Empire 15 / 45

04 The Roman Empire

The last of the great realms of antiquity, the RomanEmpire reached the height of its expansion in thesecond century AD, when it included theMediterranean basin, part of northern Europe and theNear East, absorbing populations that were verydiverse in terms of culture, language, and religion. Unlike any previous power system, the Roman Empirehad an extraordinary ability to assimilate vanquishedpopulations, encouraging their social, political, legal,linguistic and religious integration, which was madepossible, in part, by the development of a roadnetwork, monetary and administrative union, and thefacilitation of trade.

1Fragmentary relief with a gig (cisium)Second half of the 1st century AD Penteli marble Turin, Royal Museums of Turin – ArchaeologicalMuseum

2 The Minerva of StradellaFrom an excavation near the Torrente Versa (Asti)First half of the 2nd century ADCast bronze, cold finishedTurin, Royal Museums of Turin – ArchaeologicalMuseum


3 Medallion with the Portrait of a Young Woman(known as Marcia Otacilia Severa)Mid-3rd century ADGold leaf engraved and painted between two layers ofglass with a blue groundTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

Fashionable between the third and fourth century AD,the portraits were engraved on gold leaf and thensandwiched between two layers of glass. They showhow the fashion imposed by the Emperor and hisconsort, in this case visible in the hairstyle, wasadopted in private portraiture throughout the RomanEmpire.

4 Peytral (chest armour for a horse) with the scene of a battle between the Romans and barbarians Aosta, excavations of insula 59Mid-2nd century ADBronze, cast, modelled plate fairingAosta, Regional Archaeological Museum of the Valled’Aosta (MAR)

This peytral may have been applied to the statue of ahorse or to an equestrian statue group. On the left wesee the imperator on horseback, with his right handraised in the gesture of acclamatio, while around andbeneath him is the frightening battle scene, closed onthe right by a rider towering over a dying barbarian. Itcan be seen that, unlike the Roman soldiers, thebarbarians have beards and wear breeches.


5 Statue of a Priestess 2nd century ADPenteli marble, black stoneTurin, Royal Museums of Turin – ArchaeologicalMuseum

The figure, stiffly facing forward, might be an idol, orpossibly a priestess of one of the many mystery cultsof the East that formed part of Hellenistic cultureunder the Roman Empire, and that spread during thesecond and third century AD. Not even the attributes –the ibis or the bees – help identify the figure.

05. The Barbarian Invasions 18 / 45

05 The Barbarian Invasions

Between the fifth and seventh century, the frontiers ofthe Roman Empire gave way under pressure from themassive migration of nomadic and seminomadic“barbarians” – the Visigoths, Vandals, Huns, Franksand Alemanni – from Central Asia and from the Danubeand Germanic areas. The first to settle in Italy were the Goths (in 480) andthen the Lombards (in 568), who integrated with theRoman population in different ways. Recentarchaeological excavations in some areas of Piedmonthave shed light on how and when these processes ofassimilation and acculturation took place.

1 The Settlement and Necropolis of FrascaroLate 5th – early 6th century ADSilver gilt and almandines, bronze, amber, opalescentglass and vitreous paste, iron, unglazed and glazedceramicsSoprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio perle Province di Alessandria, Asti e Cuneo

A Gothic settlement, with its cemetery area, in use inthe late fifth and early sixth century, was found inFrascaro, in the province of Alessandria, in 1998.Excavations have yielded up everyday ceramic itemsand funerary objects for men (with a knife and belts)and women (just one bow fibula, in the Roman style,earrings and necklaces)


2 The Desana Treasure450-530 AD Gold, cast and engraved, silver, green glass, garnets,green vitreous pasteTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

The treasure was found in the province of Vercelli in1938, and it consists of 47 objects of Roman andOstrogothic art, probably hidden by the owner duringa time of difficulty. The Ostrogothic jewels, whichbelonged to high-ranking personalities, includeobjects worn both by women (earrings and fibulae –clasps used to the fasten the shoulder) and men (beltbuckles). The ring, which bears the names of Stefanusand Valatrud – a Latin and a Germanic name – showshow the Goths and Romans were integrated.

3 Necropolis of Sant’Albano Stura7th century ADCast bronze, damascened iron, iron, worked flintSoprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio perle Province di Alessandria, Asti e CuneoThe Lombardic necropolis of Sant’Albano Stura, nearCuneo, was unearthed between 2009 and 2017 duringwork on building the Asti-Cuneo motorway. Used forabout a hundred years (in the seventh century and sometime into the eighth), it contains over 800 tombs and isone of the most important archaeological finds of recentyears. The funerary objects of a Lombardic warriorconsist of a sword, a dagger (called a scramasax), a beltfor carrying weapons, and sometimes a lance and ashield, while in the women’s tombs we find necklaces,brooches and the buckles of belts.


qTabula Itineraria ex Illustri PeutingerorumBibliotheca Quæ Augustæ Vindelicorum BeneficioMarci Velseri Septemviri Augustani in lucem editaAmsterdam, Nicolas Bergier, 1622Engraving on 8 sheetsTurin, private collection

The Tabula Peutingeriana is an illustrated mapshowing the road network of the Roman Empire andthe roads of the known inhabited world in about 350AD, from Spain and the British Isles all the way toIndia and China. The original has been lost but a 6.8-metre-long thirteenth-century parchment copy, lackingthe initial segment, has survived. Formerly owned bythe German humanist Konrad Peutinger (after whom itis now named) and Prince Eugene of Savoy, this copyis now in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek inVienna.It has been reproduced in a number of printed editionssince the sixteenth century.Drawn on a roll to make it easy to transport andconsult while travelling, the map is designed to give aclear view of the road network rather than an accuraterepresentation of the geographic features, which areelongated and compressed. Since this is a road map, itshows not only the cities and places of worship, butalso the stopping points and distances between them,and as well as the staging posts, inns, taverns andbridges over rivers.

06. The Spread of Islam 21 / 45

06 The Spread of Islam

Islam arose in the early seventh century in the ArabianPeninsula, from the teachings of the ProphetMuhammad, first in Mecca and then in Medina. Thiswas the start of the conquest of the Persian Empireand of much of Byzantium by Arabic and Islamicarmies, who also took Syria, Egypt, and Palestine withJerusalem (638). The unified Muslim empire reached its greatest extentunder the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750), whichconquered Spain between 711 and 732, expanded intoCentral Asia as far as north-western India, and movedits capital to Damascus. The Abbasids took power in 750, ushering in a goldenage of administrative and religious unification, with aflourishing of the arts and sciences, putting Baghdad,the new capital, at the heart of an authentic culturalrenaissance. The caliphate began to break apart in theeleventh century, when vast areas escaped centralcontrol and ethnic Turkish nomads began to establishtheir own state and replace the Arab dynasties. The Turkish dynasties of the Seljuqs, the Mamluks andthe Ottomans, together with the Safavids and theMughals, spread Islam into increasingly remoteregions, though without ever regaining its original unity.

1 Mosque lanternEgypt, Mamluk Dynasty - 14th centuryBlown glass with polychrome enamel and golddecorationsTurin, Museo d’Arte Orientale (MAO)


2 Saddle-coverKonya, Anatolia - Early 19th centuryEmbroidered wool felt, embroidered leather Turin, Taher Sabahi Collection

3 Vase in the form of a horse and riderCentral Iran, Seljuq dynasty - 12th-13th century Glazed terracottaTurin, Museo d’Arte Orientale (MAO) (permanent loanfrom Regione Piemonte)

The rider is a hunter or a soldier from one of the armedescorts that protected caravans of merchants andpilgrims between Damascus and Mecca. The vase wasused for flowers or it may have been placed on the tableat a banquet, sometimes with others to represent thepeople in the caravan (the merchant, the musician, thearmed escort) in order to bring good luck.

4 Celestial globeSyria or Egypt - 1225 ADBronze, nielloed and damascened in silver and copperNapoli, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte

The globe is one of the most ancient display objects andit shows the position and size of the constellations andstars: the forty-eight constellations established byPtolemy in his Almagest are engraved and damascenedin copper with double outlines. The size of the stars,which are represented by a silver dot, indicates theirbrightness. The most important stars have their namesnext to them. There are two other similar globes – in theBritish Museum in London, and in the Louvre in Paris.


5/6 Base of a pumpkin-shaped huqqa (water pipe)Base of a bell-shaped huqqa (water pipe)India – Mughal workshopLate 18th – early 19th centuryZinc alloy, Bidri technique Rome, Museo delle Civiltà

Islam reached the north-western regions of India inthe eighth century and completed its expansion underthe Mughal dynasty in the late seventeenth. The useof water pipes, which were often made for thetrousseaux of upper-class Muslim brides, spreadthrough India after the introduction of tobacco by thePortuguese. They were particularly popular in theeighteenth and nineteenth century. The “bidri”technique, which takes its name from the city of Bidar,in central-southern India, involves damascening on azinc-based alloy. Silver, gold or brass wires are placedon furrows on the surface and then hammered intoplace. The technique was also used for trays, vases,ewers and hand basins.

7 Armour with sun-shaped studsConstantinople - 15th-16th centuryLeather, ironTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

8 Miniature with court sceneIndia - 18th centuryTempera on paperRome, Museo delle Civiltà


9 Section of the Qur’an Egypt, Mamluk Dynasty - 15th century Paper, ink, pigments and gold, with leather coverTurin, Museo d’Arte Orientale (MAO)

10 Dish with IHS monogramSpain, Manises - about 1450Maiolica with lustre decorationTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

07. The Crusades 25 / 45

07 The Crusades

Launched by the popes from the eleventh to thethirteenth century, the eight Crusades were wars inwhich Western European Christians were called upon toliberate the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem from theMuslims. The first was preached in 1096 by Pope UrbanII, who presented it as a holy war in which Christianprinces would fight against the enemies of the Faith.However, the Crusades acquired many other meaningsfor those who took part: feudal aristocrats wereinterested in taking possession of new lands andsources of income in the East, while others saw them aspilgrimages to holy places, or as a means to traveloverseas and discover new worlds. Yet others hoped tofind better prospects for life in the Holy Land. Those whoreturned from the Crusades often brought preciousByzantine or Islamic objects with them: reliquaries firstand foremost, but also jewellery, metal objects,glassware and textiles, which were often donated tochurches in France, Germany, England and Italy.

1 Drinking glass VeniceFrom an excavation in Turin - Late 13th / early 14thcenturyFree-blown glass, enamel paintedTurin, Royal Museums of Turin – Archaeological Museum

The glass is of a type that was popular in Venice fromthe late-thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth century. Duringthis period, the master glassmakers in the city wererefashioning stylistic and technological models from the


Islamic world, which were brought to the city bycrusaders and traders. This specimen, which was foundin Turin in Via Porta Palatina 19 on the corner of Via dellaBasilica, might have belonged to the aristocratic Brogliafamily, who in 1323 became the owners of the nearbysite of the Albergo della Corona Grossa or Casa Broglia.

2 Aquamanile France or Italy - Early 14th centuryBronzeFlorence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello

3 The Pisa Griffin Islamic art - about 11th century Engraved cast bronzePisa, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (for the original)

The item on show is a copy of the original owned bythe Opera della Primaziale Pisana. It was made in2006 by Ditta di Restauro Giovanni Morigi (Bologna)together with Fonderia d’Arte Massimo Del Chiaros.n.c. (Pietrasanta, Lucca).

The Pisa Griffin, which may have come from IslamicSpain or from the Iranian or Fatimid area, adorned theeastern pediment of Pisa Cathedral in the Middle Ages.It arrived in the city with the spoils of war after one ofthe battles won by the Pisans against the Muslims in theeleventh or twelfth century: most probably from theCrusade led by the Republic of Pisa, together with theCount of Barcelona, against the Islamic kingdom in theBalearic Islands (1113-1116). The inscription engraved onthe lower part wishes for happiness and eternal peacefor the owner of the work.


q (out of the showcase)Tombstone of Jehan de Soisy Sculptor from the Île-de-France - after 1282SandstoneVercelli, Museo Camillo Leone

The coat of arms and the inscription that frames thestone refer to Jehan de Soisy, who was born around1230 in the village of the same name in theMontmorency region, who became a knight at thecourt of Louis IX, King of France. In 1270 he took partin the Eighth Crusade, during which Louis IX died atthe gates of Tunis. Dated on the basis of its stylisticfeatures to between 1260 and 1275, it is the oldestknown tombstone south of the Alps, made by an artistfrom the Île-de-France.

08. Pilgrimages 28 / 45

08 Pilgrimages

Throughout the ages, pilgrimages have been a featureof all the great religions. People set out in search of acloser contact with the divine, to fulfil a religious dutyor a personal, spiritual desire, but also to honour avow or to take part in a collective ritual. The destinations of these journeys are places sacredto the various religions, and the paths taken oftenbecome well established over the centuries. Often it isnature itself that suggests the place of worship:mountains are a symbol of the sacred in all cultures,and the ascent to the summit brings man closer to thetranscendent. The journey is an opportunity for understanding, butfor many it is also an inner pilgrimage that is part of apersonal, spiritual journey. Millions of pilgrims movearound the world every year, towards Rome, Mecca,and Jerusalem, to places linked to the lives of Buddha,Christ and Muhammad, as well as to sacred rivers andmountains, or Shinto shrines.

1 Model boatFirst Intermediate Period – Middle Kingdom, 10th-11thDynasty (2118-1980 BC)Painted woodTurin, Museo Egizio


2 Funerary stele of Djehutynefer New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Thutmose III(1479-1425 BC)Limestone, carved and paintedTurin, Museo Egizio

3 Mishnayot, Seder KodashimVienna, 1815Printed book, published by Anton Schmid Vercelli, Jewish Community; on permanent loan to theCommunity of Turin

The Mishnah (or Mishnayot) is a collection ofteachings from Jewish oral tradition. The volumecontains a plan of the Temple in Jerusalem, thedestination of pilgrimages during the festivals ofPesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

4 Rukmini on Her Way to the Ambika TempleJodhpur School (Rajasthan, India) - Second half of the18th century Miniature on paper painted in temperaRome, Museo delle Civiltà

5/6 Two sanctuaries in miniatureWestern India, Maharashtra - 18th centuryBronzeRome, Museo delle Civiltà


7 The Parinirvana of the BuddhaIndia, Madhya Pradesh, Bhārhut area - 2nd centuryBC, Śuṅga periodRed sandstone, carved in reliefTurin, Museo d’Arte Orientale (MAO)

The relief shows the Parinirvana, the moment of theearthly death of the Buddha and his definitiveliberation from the cycle of rebirths. Buddha himselfasked that, after his death, his ashes should be placedin a funerary mound known as a stupa. The monumentis not just a reliquary, for it is also a diagram of theuniverse. In Buddhism, the idea of the sacred journeytowards a stupa or to one of the places linked to thelife of the Buddha or to those of venerable masters, isconsidered to be not just an external act of devotionbut also an authentic inner pilgrimage.

8 Perfume burner with mountain-shaped coverKilns in Shaanxi Province, northern China - Late 1stcentury BC / early 1st century AD Red terracotta, lathed and moulded, green and amberlead glazingTurin, Museo d’Arte Orientale (MAO); on permanentloan from the Compagnia di San Paolo

9 Little reliquary model of the Holy Sepulchre inJerusalemWoodworker monks in Jerusalem - Mid-17th centuryWood (from Gethsemane), mother-of-pearl, ivoryTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica


10 Processional CrossGold-smith from Lombardy or Ticino - 1480-1500Wood and copper (engraved, chiseled and gilt) Turin, Palazzo Madama - Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

11 Ostention of the Holy Shroud on 4 May in PiazzaCastello, TurinAntonio Tempesta (Florence 1555-1630 Rome) - about1613EtchingTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

12 Fragment of textile from the tomb of the ProphetMuhammad in MedinaTurkey, Bursa (?) - 17th-18th centurySilk lampas and golden thread on satin groundTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

09. Explorations 32 / 45

09 Explorations

The history of travel and exploration is not just one ofgeographical discoveries. Contacts between Europeand newly discovered lands, which often entailedmassacres and destruction, also enabled commercialand cultural exchanges that led to the rise of newcivilisations and societies. In December 1492, Christopher Columbus reached theBahamas and then landed in the Greater Antilles, onan island he named Hispaniola, starting what was tobecome the conquest of the Americas. At the sametime, the Portuguese were forming close traderelationships with African societies in the Gulf ofGuinea. Travel literature tells us about new discoveries, oftenin the form of world descriptions and cosmographiae,with stories told by missionaries, explorers, scholars,and archaeologists. At the same time, progress incartography meant that the physical world could beshown with its oceans and mountains, cities anddistances. Depictions of the world, and especially of Africa,originally had vast empty spaces referred to simply as“unknown land” or “places full of wild animals” – terraincognita and loca ferarum plena – and with otherscary notes like “here be lions” – hic sunt leones.These gradually gave way to more realisticdescriptions, becoming essential guides for merchantsand, still in the early years of the twentieth century,means for preparing colonial conquests.


1 Cosmographia universale, nella quale, secondo chen’hanno parlato i più veraci Scrittori, son designati isiti di tutti gli paesiSebastian Münster (Ingelheim 1488-1552 Basel) -Cologne: heirs of Arnold Byrkmann, 1575Leather binding (not original) Turin, Fagnola Collection

2 Terzo volume delle navigationi et viaggi nel quale sicontengono le Navigationi al Mondo Nuovo, alliAntichi incognito, fatte da Don Christoforo ColomboGenovese… con Tavole di Geographia … et Figurediverse…Giovan Battista Ramusio (Treviso 1485-1557 Padua)Venice, heirs of Lucantonio Giunti, 1556Paper; parchment bindingTurin, Archivio di Stato, Biblioteca Antica

Giovanni Battista Ramusio was not a sailor, but he didhave the merit of collecting a series of texts of varioustypes and ages, which gave an understanding of thenewly explored lands. His Navigationi thus containedancient works such as Marco Polo’s Travels along withmore recent texts. The third volume is devoted entirelyto the New World and to travel reports of Spanish,Portuguese and French voyages in the Americas.

3 Latin planispheric astrolabe Italy - 14th centuryEngraved brassTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica


4 TheodoliteItaly - Second half of the 16th centuryEngraved brass with traces of silveringTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

5 Athanasii Kircheri e Soc. Jesu China monumentis,qua sacris qua profanis, nec non variis naturae etartis spectaculis, aliarumque rerum memorabiliumargumentis illustrata, …, Athanasius Kircher (Geisa, Fulda 1602-1680 Rome)Amsterdam: Johannes Jansson van Waesberge andElizaeus Weyerstraet, 1667PaperNovara, Biblioteca Civica Negroni, Ferrandi Collection

6 Ragguaglio del viaggio in Egitto fatto per ordine diS.S.R.M. nell’anno 1759Vitaliano Donati (Padova 1717-1762 Indian Ocean) -18th centuryPaper manuscript Turin, Royal Museums of Turin – Royal Library

The book contains a report on the journey by VitalianoDonati through Egypt and the East between 1759 and1762, when he was commissioned by King CharlesEmmanuel III to build up a collection of naturalisticand archaeological finds. The scholar sent someantiquities from Egypt to Turin, where they helpedform the first collection of what became the city’sMuseo Egizio.


7 Salt-cellar or pyxAfro-Portuguese workshop, Sapi-Portuguese style(Africa, Sierra Leone) - 15th-16th centuryCarved ivory Rome, Museo delle Civiltà

8 Description de l’Afrique, contenant Les Noms, laSituation & les Confins de toutes ses Parties, leursRivieres, leurs Villes & leurs Habitations, leursPlantes & leurs Animaux; les Moeurs, lesCoûtumes, la Langue, les Richesses, la Religion &le Gouvernement de ses PeuplesOlfert Dapper (Amsterdam 1635-1686) - Amsterdam:Wolfgang, Waesberge, Boom and van Someren, 1686Leather bindingTurin, Fagnola Collection

9 SpoonBini workshop, Kingdom of Benin (now Nigeria) - 16thcenturyCarved elephant ivoryTurin, Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica

10 Hunting olifantSapi (Sierra Leone) - Late 15th-early 16th centuryCarved elephant ivoryTurin, Royal Museums of Turin – Royal Armoury

The first objects to reach Europe from Africa in thefifteenth century were ivory spoons, hunting horns,and salt-cellars commissioned from local craftsmen byPortuguese merchants. About two hundred of these


objects entered the collections of European courts inthe fifteenth and sixteenth century: this olifant, in theArmoury since 1833, might have entered the Duke ofSavoy’s collection at the time of the wedding ofBeatrice of Portugal, the daughter of Emmanuel I, withCharles II of Savoy in 1521.

11 Terrestrial globeGilles Robert de Vaugondy (Paris 1688-1766) - Paris,1824Etching and wash on cherry wood baseTurin, Royal Museums of Turin – Royal Library

q (out of the showcase)Nautical chart of the Indies and MoluccasNuño Garçia de Toreno - Valladolid, 1522Coloured drawing on parchmentTurin, Royal Museums of Turin – Royal Library

q (out of the showcase)Nautical chart of the Mediterranean Jacopo Russo - Messina, 1565Coloured drawing on parchmentTurin, Royal Museums of Turin – Royal Library

The chart contains a large number of fantastical,colourful elements that would have been useless fornavigation, but that are of great visual impact.Geographical and naturalistic elements are coupledwith pictures of cities embellished with towers, andtheir rulers. The winds are shown as putti blowing withtheir cheeks puffed out, while the Virgin and Childoffer protection to seafarers.

10. Colonisations 37 / 45

10 Colonisations

By the end of the eighteenth century, Europeancolonists had covered the world. English, Spanish,Portuguese and French were spoken in the Americas,while the native populations, decimated by violenceand diseases brought by the Europeans – andsmallpox in particular – had been replaced asmanpower by slaves imported from Africa. India, from Pakistan to Bengal and Ceylon, was soon aBritish colony, the Philippines were Spanish, andSoutheast Asia was split between the British andFrench, while the Dutch had commercial outposts inthe Indian Ocean and in America. The French, British,Germans, Italians, and Belgians dominated Africa, andEuropean ships sailed the length and breadth of allthe oceans. Colonial empires have always produced more or lessconsistent migrations, sometimes voluntary,sometimes forced, with settlements of newpopulations but also more or less intentionalgenocides, with often a severe imposition of theChristian faith. With them they always brought newmaterial resources, from the minerals of SouthAmerica and Africa to precious foodstuffs, such as thepotato, maize, tomatoes, tea, coffee, chocolate, andtobacco, making them everyday commodities aroundthe world.


1 Funeral urn (Zemi)Pre-Columbian Taino culture of Hispaniola (GreatAntilles) - Second half of the 15th century ADCotton fabric containing human remainsTurin, Anthropological and Ethnographic Museum ofthe University of Turin

When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492,Hispaniola (the island now divided between Haiti andthe Dominican Republic) was inhabited by the Tainopeople, whose religion, which died out after theSpanish conquest, centred around Zemis. The ritual system was based on spiritual symbolscalled zemis, or cemis, deity figures made of stone orcotton, that kept alive their ancestors’ spirits. The zemi in Turin contains a human skull and it is theonly cotton specimen dating from pre-Columbiantimes that has managed to survive destruction.

2 Relief with Saint Michael the Archangel, Mary Magdalene, and the Fountain of LifeIndia, Portuguese colony of Goa- about 1650Carved ivoryTurin, Royal Museums of Turin – Royal Palace

3 Ceremonial Elephant with Senior OfficialsIndia, Rajasthan - mid-19th centuryIvory, carved and perforatedTurin, Museo d’Arte Orientale (MAO)


4 Well in the indigenous village of Amornin,MogadishuLidio Ajmone (Coggiola, Biella, 1884-1945 Andezeno,Turin) - 1926Oil on canvasMilan, UniCredit Art Collection

The painter Lidio Ajmone stayed in Italian Somaliafrom 1925 to 1928, where he was commissioned todecorate the government building, the colonial club,and the theatre in Mogadishu. When he returned toItaly in 1931, he took part in the internationalexhibitions of Colonial Art in Paris and Rome, wherehe enjoyed a good degree of success among colonialentrepreneurs looking for souvenirs of Africanlandscapes.

11. Emigrations 40 / 45

11 Emigrations

The nineteenth century was a watershed period forEuropean migrations. Between 1815 and 1914, about 60million Europeans left the continent as a result of theliberalist migration policies and incentives offered bycountries like the United States, Argentina and Brazil.Immigrants found work on plantations, colonisingempty territories, and in mining and building urbaninfrastructure, as well as in various industrial sectors.Migration across the oceans was also encouraged byovercrowding in Europe, by the farming crisis that hitthe rural population (such as the 1845 famine inIreland), and by the advances in transport broughtabout by the Industrial Revolution. At the same time,migration within Europe was also on the rise, both as aresult of the abolition of serfdom in 1861, which freedmillions of peasants in Russia, and due to the openingof great engineering works – railways, roads and Alpinetunnels – that attracted huge numbers of labourers.

1 Jug for sangria and San Carlo glasses Sociedad Anónima Industria Cristal Artístico (SAICA),San Jorge, Argentina - 1948/1952Blown glassAltare, Museo dell’Arte Vetraria Altarese

2 Vase painted with Igreja de Santo Antônio in Recife Cristalería Zatto, Recife, Brazil - 1953/1954Milk-white glass cased in clear glass, hand-paintedAltare, Museo dell’Arte Vetraria Altarese


3 Vase with lid, Torino model Cristalería La Liguria, San Carlos Centro, Argentina -1959/1987White crystal cased in red, wheel-engraved and acid-polishedAltare, Museo dell’Arte Vetraria Altarese

4 Vase with lid, Carcarañá model Cristalería La Liguria, San Carlos Centro, Argentina -1959/1987White crystal cased in blue, wheel-engraved and acid-polishedAltare, Museo dell’Arte Vetraria Altarese

5 Punch bowl with ladle Cristalería La Liguria, San Carlos Centro, Argentina -1959/1987White crystal cased in blue and carved Altare, Museo dell’Arte Vetraria Altarese

6 Large Chiriguano vase with stylised owl Cristalería San Carlos, San Carlos Centro, Argentina -1970/1987White crystal cased in blueAltare, Museo dell’Arte Vetraria Altarese

The large Chiriguano vase with the stylised owlepitomises the work of Anselmo Gaminara, theyoungest member of the Gruppo TOVA. In the 1970s,he took inspiration from pre-Columbian indigenousart, such as that of the Chiriguana in northernArgentina (though also in Bolivia and Paraguay) to


create his Autoctona collection. He was inspired inparticular by the discovery of ceramics in Santiago delEstero Province. The form of the decoration recalls that of ceramicitems in museums but, unlike the originals, here thegraphic design is created with geometrical precision.In its stylised form, the owl was also present inSunchituyoc culture (700-900 AD) as a reincarnation ofthe shaman called upon to accompany the deceasedbeyond life.

7 Large Chiriguano vase with lama Cristalería San Carlos, San Carlos Centro, Argentina -1970/1987White crystal cased in redAltare, Museo dell’Arte Vetraria Altarese

8 Large Chiriguano vase with indigenous femaleheads 1970-1987Cristalería San Carlos, San Carlos Centro, Argentina White crystal cased in brownAltare, Museo dell’Arte Vetraria Altarese


q (out of the showcase)Mechanical barrel pianoBuisson-Rond factory1913-1930Wood, carved and painted; painted canvas, metal Chambery, Musée Savoisien – Conseil Départementalde la Savoie

Italian frontier workers found work and a welcome inthe areas of Nice and Savoie, two major centres for theproduction of mechanical pianos, where the customsand traditions were very similar to those of theirhomeland. The first workshops were founded byItalians in about 1880 and some of them went on toacquire industrial dimensions after 1910: the Buisson-Rond, set up by Désiré Jorio (in Chambery andModane) and those of Nallino, Foray-Storace and JulesPiano in Nice.

q (out of the showcase)Emigrants 1896Angiolo Tommasi (Livorno 1858 - Torre del Lago 1923)Roma, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna

12. Migrations Today 44 / 45

12 Migrations Today

The contemporary world constantly and dramaticallyconfronts us with issues arising from migration, fromthe movement of populations, and from the interactionbetween different peoples and cultures.Anyone who does not want to feel like an outsiderthese days needs to understand these changes and, insome cases, change their own view of the world.Both those who arrive in another country and thosewho live in the same place need to interact with the“other”, and with very different cultures, traditionsand customs that might make them fear the loss oftheir own original identity.Migrations very often lead to clashes, wars,expropriations, and violence, but we also know thatthe meeting of peoples can give rise to new societies,new cultures, and new civilisations. These twoopposing forces have always existed in the history ofmankind.The public are invited to a personal “reflection” by awork that is part of a larger project by MichelangeloPistoletto, Love Difference: Movimento Artistico peruna Politica InterMediterranea.The mirror, which is a key element in Pistoletto’sartistic vision, takes up the outline of theMediterranean Basin, involving the viewer, who isreflected in it, and thus forming a link with theuniversal function of art as a means to understand thepresent.

12. Migrations Today 45 / 45

q Love DifferenceMichelangelo Pistoletto (Biella 1933) - 2002 Acrylic enamel on polished steel Courtesy Galleria Continua (San Gimignano / Beijing /Les Moulins / Habana)

qPirogueEastern PanamaBefore 1877Turin, Palazzo Madama - Museo Civico d’Arte AnticaThe sail reproduces the original one which equipedthe pirogue at the time of its entry in the museum.

01 - fondazione torino musei · ha-nasi in the second century, when, due to the persecution by the...

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