Tavoletta di biccherna del camarlengo Ranieri Pagliaresi

This biccherna panel by Dietisalvi di Speme records the tenure of Camarlengo Ranieri Pagliaresi, one of the civic financial officers of the Sienese Republic. Biccherna covers are among the earliest examples of secular Italian panel painting, commissioned twice yearly to adorn the account books of Siena's treasury. Dietisalvi di Speme was an early Sienese painter active in the 1270s-1280s whose work bridges the gap between the rigid Byzantine manner and the emerging Gothic naturalism that would culminate in Duccio.

Painted in egg tempera on a small wooden panel, the work combines an official portrait of the camarlengo with heraldic and accounting imagery. The flat, schematic treatment of the figure contrasts with the careful rendering of the coat of arms and inscriptions, reflecting the documentary function of these civic commissions.