Reply to: RE>Planks and Chasubles
Dear Konrad,
I'm worried about those chasubles.
You write "pianatas" (not "pianetas") and I would suspect that they are 10
planed planks (piane) alongside the 20 pine planks. They often occur together:
Per bracia 4 d'assi di 1/2 e per ii piane d'albero per lo Monte chonperai
fuori della Porta a San Friano da -, chostorono cholla ghabella soldi 26; Per
1 piana per ispieghare e per 1 asse di 1/2 a 1 fuori della Porta a San Friano
soldi xii e per ghabella soldi 1, soldi 13 in tutto (Sant'Agnese, 1442)
On the other hand, they could be chasubles, but in the fifteenth-century
inventories (Spirito Santo and Sant'Agnese) they are called "paliotti" rather
than "pianeta". They are worn by the apostles, and you need 11 or 12
(depending on Judas). Ten does not seem enough.
I do not think they are yet another meaning of "le pianete", namely the
planets that revolved around heaven. Cyrilla Barrhas already touched on them.
They were purpose-blown squat flasks ("fiaschi schiacciati") which were filled
with water (sometimes coloured with saffron) and suspended in front of a lamp
at the circumference of a vertical rotating wheel.
Cheers,
Nerida
