Ignazio Paterno' Castello - De’ vasi murrini ragionamento - 1781

(GLASS; ARCHAEOLOGY;ILLUSTRATED; FIRST EDITIONS) Ignazio PATERNÒ CASTELLO PRINCE OF BISCARI (1719-1786)
De’ vasi murrini ragionamento (Florence), 1781.
§ 4to (258 x 195); [2], 39, [3] pp., 2 engraved plates. Engraved title page. Contemporary vellum, gilt title piece on spine. Very fine, very large copy.
Only edition, privately printed. One of the most interesting books written by the reknown antiquarian Ignazio Paternó Castello, prince of Biscari. He was born in Catania and studied in Palermo; in 1744 he founded the “Accademia degli Etnei”. He was instrumental in the excavation of the archaeological remnants of Catania and other nearby towns and assembled a rich museum. He obtained a Royal gift in 1779, linked to the tasks to perform new excavations and to restore the previously discovered buildings, which were becoming dilapidated. The work is dedicated to Mario Guarnacci, bishop of Volterra and author of a series of important essays on Etruscan art. “Paternò reviews previous writings on the troubling problems of the identity of the murrine material and expresses the opinion that it may have been amber. The two plates depict vases, one of which is labeled ‘vaso di opale’ and obviously of Renaissance workmanship … Rare” (Sinkankas).
 MIRA II, pages 193-194; CICOGNARA, 1750; SINKANKAS 5004; GIUSEPPE GUZZETTA Per la gloria di Catania: Ignazio Paternò Castello Principe di Biscari In: Agorà VI (a. II, July-September 2001).