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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
76 INTRODUCTION
edition, though without any information as to its history. A
handsome bust, by Augusto Gamba, has lately been placed
among the illustrious Venetians in the inner arcade of the Ducal
Palace.* There is also a mosaic portrait of Polo, opposite the
similar portrait of Columbus in the Municipio at Genoa.
49. From the short series of documents recently alluded to,t
we gather all that we know of the remaining history of Marco
Further Polo's immediate family. We have seen in his will an
t indication that the two elder daughters, Fantina and
Family. Bellela, were married before his death. In 1333 we
find the youngest, Moreta, also a married woman, and Bellela
deceased. In 1336 we find that their mother Donata had died
in the interval. We learn, too, that Fantina's husband was
MARCO BRAGADINO, and Moreta's, RANUZZO DOLFINO.+ The
name of Bellela's husband does not appear.
Fantina's husband is probably the Marco Bragadino, son of
Pietro, who in 1J46 is mentioned to have been sent as
Provveditore-Generale to act against the Patriarch of Acqui-
leia.§ And in 1379 we find Donna Fantin.a herself, pre-
sumably in widowhood, assessed as a resident of S. Giovanni
Grisostomo, on the Estiino or forced loan for the Genoese war,
at 1300 lire, whilst Pietro Bragadino of the same parish her son
as I imagine--is assessed at 1500 lire. H [See vol. ii., Calendar.]
The documents show a few other incidents which may be
briefly noted. In 1326 we have the record of a charge against
one Zanino Grioni for insulting Donna Moreta in the Campo
of San Vitale ; a misdemeanour punished by the Council of
Forty with two months' imprisonment.
* In the first edition I noticed briefly a statement that had reached me from China
that, in the Temple at Canton vulgarly called " of the 500 gods," there is a foreign
figure which from the name attached had been supposed to represent Marco Polo !
From what I have heard from Mr. Wylie, a very competent authority, this is
nonsense. The temple contains 500 figures of Arhans or Buddhist saints, and one of
these attracts attention from having a hat like a sailor's straw hat. Mr. Wylie had
not remarked the name. [A model of this figure was exhibited at Venice at the
international Geographical Congress, in 1881. I give a reproduction of this figure
and of the Temple of 500 Genii (Fa Lunt Sze) at Canton, from drawings by Félix
Régamey made after photographs sent to me by my late friend, M. Camille Imbault
Huart, French Consul at Canton.—H. C.]
t These documents are noted in Appendix C, Nos. 9-12, 14, 17, i8.
$ I can find no Ranuzzo Dolfino among the Venetian genealogies, but several
Reniers. And I suspect Ranuzzo may be a form of the latter name.
§ CaptAellari (see p. 77, +) under Bragadino. II Ibid. and Gallicciolli, II. 146.
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