.
Now, about those strange little fur pelts, that women obsessively draped over their arms & necks & waists or just simply held in their hands in the 1500s. The Italians called these innocent victims zibellini which was the word for sable.
Actually, sable & marten fur were used most often, but ermine, mink, & even lynx were sacrificed for fashion. Natural heads we often chopped to be replaced with bejeweled faces & paws of gold, silver, sometimes embeded with enamel-work.
Some clever artisans used jet or crystal instead of precious metals. Unadorned full-body pelts were also acceptable. Gold & silver zibellini faces were embellished with precious diamonds, rubies, & pearls.
These little fur adornments are said to have originated in Northern Italy in the early 1500s, and then spread to the rest of Europe. The first known mention of the zebillino is in the 1467 inventory of Charle the Bold Duke of Burgundy "a marten ofr putting around hte neck, the head and feel of gold with ruby eyes, with diamonds on the muzzle and paws."
This jeweled marten's head at the Walter's Gallery in Baltimore is nearly identical to that attached to the fur held by the countess in Veronese's portrait of Countess da Porto, also at that museum. No coincidences there. The curators at the Walters tell us that the marten was associated with childbirth, and that wearing its fur was believed to increase a woman's fertility & to protect her during pregnancy.
Since antiquity, the marten had been thought to conceive through its ear or mouth, and if that were so, a mortal woman might be able to conceive the same way & remain technically chaste. The dove on the Walter's marten's snout may have represented the Holy Ghost & allude to Mary's virgin conception.
The sisters d'Este, Isabella and Beatrice, popularized this fashion throughout the 16th century.
Zibellini surely came to England before Mary, Queen of Scots, brought fur pieces on her return to Scotland from France in 1561. Mary Queen of Scots documented faux pelt in 1561 - being documented as "the other of plush silk with a head of jet covered in gold and a chain enameled in black"
The fur pelts became a hot fashion statement there, when Elizabeth I of England received a "Sable Skynne the hed and fourre featte of gold fully furnyshed with Dyamondes and Rubyes" as a New Year's Gift from the Earl of Leicester in 1585.
There are accounts of clocks being set into the heads of these little fur adornments. A married woman worrying about her clicking clock or producing an heir might not have totally appreciate this constant reminder.
Because marten & sable Zibellini were connected to fecundity, they became popular wedding gifts & components of fashionable dowries. Lynx Zibellini seemed to be associated with chastity.
When an artist was painting a gentle lady's portrait, the type of fur draped over her body, might send a signal to informed viewers about both her sexual availability & perhaps her past.
In Bologna, the excessive decoration of zibellini got so out of hand the government was forced to issue a decree banning the decoration of zibellini heads with gold, pearls or precious stones. Soon thereafter, Milan banned use of pearls & stones on zibellini, and finally, in 1575, Cesena, Italy banned carrying zibellini all together.
By middle of the 1500s, zibellini were more expensive than cloth of gold. This made the zebillino a luxury item, & sumptuary laws followed, to restrict the amount spent on the items of fashion.
1545: (Bologna) "in order to avoid any superfluous costs and to get used to some ornaments honest and proper, it is ordained and ordered that regarding zibellini and fans, they cannot make heads, or handles, or other ornaments in gold, silver, pearls, or jewels but it is tolerated that they can be attatched with a gold chain if the said chain doe not exceed 15 and 20 scudi and not more"
1545; 'except that it is permitted to who wants it, to wear zibellini with gold heads and a gold chain and have fans with gold handles, also with a gold chain without pearls or gems of any sort. But it is encouraged that the gentlewomen content themselves with the first ordinance rather than to use this new license.' Additionally, zibellini with gold head were allowed only to Bolognese women who had been married a minimum of two years.
1565 - Milan noblewomen restricted from wearing "pearls or any kind of jewels on the ... headdress, not at the belt, not on a handles, not in heads or on collars of a zibellino"
1575- Cesena - "zibellini, lynx, marten and other pelts that are whole or ornamented with the heads in gold or silver or without and the same for the fan with handles, to all women of any status or condition even if their husbands want it, no matter who, it is prohibited and forbidden."
Note: The Walters’ website refers to Galanthis in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, & also the Epistle of Barnabas. Also see The Aberdeen Bestiary & a 15th century French bestiary [MMW 10 B 25, fol. 24v], and in the Queen Mary Psalter.
