Unicorns and Bezoars in a Portuguese house in Rome. António da Fonseca’s Portuguese Inventories

Abstract

The article deals with lists of objects which belonged to an important Portuguese banker in Rome, Antonio da Fonseca. The inventories, compiled some months before his death in February 1588, reveal a man of refined tastes and interests. In particular they indicate an abundance of objects of oriental provenance which can be deemed exotic, bezoar stones and some supposedly made from unicorn horns. The items contained in his home reflect his interests and activities as a prominent Portuguese merchant banker, linked to an empire which extended itself to the orient, to Africa, and the Indian Ocean.