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# 74 •nECEMBER 14 , 2015
The jewellery of the era
also had to be a feature:
“granatelle” garnets with
gold emblems, “laccetti” (laces), “incannature”
(spools) made of gold and
coral and silver filigree
buttonholes, all made
by artisans who created
miniatures of the actual
jewels owned by the nobles or the bourgeois nouveau rich.
20 | WE THE ITALIANS
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The presence of so many
oriental characters in the
nativity may seem to contradict the efforts made to
represent the traditional
aspects of the situation
at the time faithfully, but
Naples' historic tolerance
and hospitality towards
other nations has always
been a special characteristic of this kingdom.
The frenzy for enriching
and embellishing was
such that everything was
recreated and depicted:
fruitbowls, taverns with
their ‘sperlonghe’ (large
oval plates), tureens for
soup, saucers, tankards
“co’ pizzo ’e papere” and
the product of toil in the
fields, created by skilled
modellers.