Material culture, marriage and gender in Renaissance Italy
evidence of increasingly elaborate marriage rituals to establish the way that marriage gifts were used to solidify family ties in an increasingly intricate set of ceremonies. 9
Material culture has contributed to our understanding of how marriages were negotiated in two ways. The first is that records showing the increasing spread of cassoni and other objects associated with the marriage festivities serve as evidence for the idea that, through the 15 th century, marriage rituals became more elaborate. Moreover, given that there is evidence that many families, including the middle-class, rented out objects during the marriage rituals, the increasing prevalence of objects associated withmarriage suggest more extravagant marriage ceremonies not just for those in Patrician society but for the middle-class. 10 This is especially important, as the catasto has been shown to neglect certain groups, not least women, with names and ages of daughters much more likely to be missing from the records than for sons. 11 Moreover, the ricordanze, family records, create a bias towards the literary parts of society, most prominently the wealthy and, while examining records detailing finely painted chests or plates does not solve this problem, the prevalence of renting means it does provide an insight into the artisan-class who might have rented such items to further their prestige. 12 The second way material culture enhances our understanding is in terms of the transactional nature of marriage in Renaissance Italy. It is by reconstructing the marriage process in terms of the gifts given and received, along with the literary evidence that exists, 13 that a historian can understand the way marriage was viewed and the purpose it served within society. The prevalence of gifts and family heraldry on these gifts, along with the rise of the dowry and counter-dowry further the impression that marriage served not the interests of the two individuals involved but wider familial interests. 14 The exchanging of gifts, adorned with the familial coat of arms, represented the combination of not just two individuals but two complex familial networks. 15 These general observations about marriage are derived from the etic analysis that Grassby proposed as one of the two key analyses to material history. In considering some more specific examples of objects involved in marriage in Renaissance Italy, emic analysis, considering the perspective of the viewer is required. However, this can be difficult as reconstructing specific responses from viewers is virtually impossible, especially female viewers who were not able to create the same literary records as male viewers. Thus, it is instead more profitable to use the narrative structures featured in these objects, most prominently cassoni, to try and identify patterns of identification. 16 The next ritual is the ring ceremony, which, as other ceremonies, differed from in particular details from region to region but remained present throughout the ricordanze . 17 In Florence it involved the husband and his family members, including often a majority of women, gifting the young bride with
9 Ibid. 10 Hay and Law 1989: 36-37. 11 Ibid. 39. 12 Randolph, A. (2008) in Baskins 2008: 15-30. 13 Klapisch-Zuber 1985: 220
14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Baskins 1998. 17 Klapisch-Zuber 1985: 231-237
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