ABSTRACT
The Buratto is a wooden sculpture of a Moorish Black figure, dating back to the 16th century, that stands today donning a helmet, armor, and a pair of red loafers, while brandishing a Medusa shield. 1 Its current home is the Gallery of Arms in the National Museum of the Bargello, founded in 1865 in Florence, the first capital of the newly united Italy. The wooden sculpture was fashioned in the 16th century as a theatrical prop, specifically designed to function as a target in the Saracen joust games during the 1579 wedding of the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francesco I. 2 In the centuries that followed, the prop was repurposed, transformed, moved, and displayed in four different institutions across Florence.
