ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the Medici’s relationship with exotic artefacts and natural specimens in the seventeenth century and the underlying strategies of self-promotion which encouraged their practices of patronage and sponsorship through their relationship with the Cospi Museum in Bologna. Cospi, indeed, relied on the Medici to increase his collection and prestige as much as the Medici relied on the Cospi Museum to showcase their cultural superiority outside Florence. Islamic weaponry also played a significant role in the Medici’s exhibiting scheme, and it is therefore unsurprising to see exotic items featured among the Medici’s donations to the Cospi Museum. Knives and daggers such as “two most refined knives with damascened blades and heliotrope handles, one larger and one smaller, both in sheathes, a gift of the most excellent Prince Cardinal Leopoldo of Tuscany were among these gifts. Medici patronage of the Cospi Museum not only extended to artefacts but also encompassed the natural collecting.
