Dubrovnik Annals : The study room (studio) in the Ragusan houses of the first half of the fifteenth century

Abstract

Woodwork contracts made in the period 1425-1435 provide valuable evidence on the interior space and decoration of the Ragusan houses. The furnishing determined the purpose of each room in the house, among which was a studio or study. This word may denote a separate room as well as a piece of furniture consisting of a writing desk, seat and bookshelves. A parallel has been established between the Ragusan houses of the period where the study room was usually on the first or on one of the upper floors with the house of a “perfect merchant” as described in the treatise of a Ragusan Benedikt Kotrulj from 1458. With regard to terminology, he distinguishes a “common scriptorium appropriate for business affairs” (scriptore or scrittoio comune), which is on the first floor, from a “small scriptorium” (scriptoreto separato or studiolo aparte), which is in the “bedroom or adjoining”, its purpose being to accommodate those “who take pleasure in books”.