Some Oriental Pseudo-Inscriptions in Renaissance Art

Abstract

Inscriptions are legible, prominent public displays intended for reading. Two major groups of pseudo-inscriptions are identified: disguised inscriptions, which, at first glance, do not convey a text but appear to be real things such as an embroidery of pearls, and proper psuedo-inscriptions, which may have clearly delineated individual letters that taken together, make so sense. A study of Renaissance pseudo-inscriptions could uncover little-known facets of the encounter between East and West. That Venice and the Netherlands were, respectively, centers of Arabic and Hebrew pseudo-inscriptions coincides with the scholarly publishing concerns which they were known for during the Renaissance.