Terracotta, leathers, decorative papers, weights and measures
Exemplary models
The exhibit hall has always housed heterogeneous collections and today constitutes one of the places where the Museum’s role as a repository of models of craftsmanship and industry is most evident.
The terracotta collection documents a salient aspect of the Gothic and Renaissance architecture of the Po River Valley and includes items such as frames, capitals, fragments of friezes, printed bricks and bas-reliefs from the city and the surrounding area. There are also painted tablets with illustrious women and ornamental motifs, traditionally hung to decorate beams and ceilings in the city’s houses and mansions.
The collection of stamped, painted and gilded leathers document the various uses of leather in furniture and bookbinding in the 16th and 17th centuries. Alongside several bindings and cases of various types, the collection offers samples of tapestries and antependia that represent various types of ornamental design: gilding, punching, oil-painted embossed patters, printed monochrome decorative patters and gold print.
The decorative papers collection was donated by Count Luigi Alberto Gandini and for the most part come from paperback book covers and flyleaves. Dating from the late 17th to the mid-19th centuries, the papers come from Italian and German manufacturers and document various production and decorative techniques, from embossing to woodcut to marbling.
On exhibit is also the collection of antique 18th and 19th century weights and measures from the Archivio Segreto della Comunità (Secret Archive of the Community) and from the Ufficio della Bona Opinoine (Office of Good Opinion), which saw to the periodic verification and stamping of the weights and measures used in the Este Duchy; in addition to these, there are several series of glass weights, monetary scales and lever scales.