Acquisitions round-up: a rare early Italian portrait of a Black man, a record-breaking Kiddush cup, and a limewood sculpture of the Madonna

"The Uffizi Galleries have acquired this unusual portrait of a Moor by the Italian painter Giacomo Ceruti (1698-1767). The painting, depicting a beggar, is one of the earliest known portraits-as opposed to generic depictions-of a Black man in Italian painting. Ceruti was known as Il Pitocchetto ("the Little Beggar"), due to his interest in painting the poor and working class of Lombardy. But it would have been unusual to see a Black man wandering rural northern Italy; most Africans brought to Italy were household servants."

"When the 11th- or 12th-century Kiddush Cup of Joy sold for $4m (with fees) at Sotheby's in October, it set an auction record for a ceremonial object of Judaica. Kiddush cups, often made of silver (like this one), are used to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. This example is thought to have been made in a workshop in the Central Asian region of Khorasan."

The Uffizi Galleries acquired an unusual portrait of a Moor by Giacomo Ceruti (1698–1767), depicting a beggar and representing one of the earliest known individual portraits of a Black man in Italian painting. Ceruti earned the nickname Il Pitocchetto for his focus on the poor and working class of Lombardy. An 11th– or 12th-century Kiddush Cup of Joy from Eastern Khorasan sold for $4 million at Sotheby's, setting an auction record for a ceremonial Judaica object and reflecting Central Asian silversmithing traditions. The Bode-Museum recently acquired an early 16th-century limewood nursing Madonna now central to a current exhibition.

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