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Landucci was an apothecary who kept an account of daily events in Florence between 1450 and his death in 1516. In the present extract he details diplomatic gifts from the Mamluk Sultan Qaytbay in Cairo to Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence in 1487. The account is taken from Diario fiorentino dal 1450 al 1516, continuato da un anonimo fino al 1542, I. Del Badia (ed.), Florence: Sansoni, 1883, translated by Kathleen Christian, pp. 52–3. (See also IC1).

[…] And on the 11th of November, certain animals arrived here which it was said were sent by the Sultan […]. The animals were these: a very large giraffe which was very beautiful and gentle; one can get a sense of its appearance from paintings found in many different places in Florence. And it lived here many years. And a large lion, and goats and horses which were very strange [antelopes or buffaloes?].

And on the 18th of November 1487, the abovementioned ambassador of the Sultan presented to the Signoria [Florentine government] the abovementioned giraffe, lion, and other animals, and they went to sit in the Signoria, on the ringhiera of the Signori [the platform in front of the Palazzo della Signoria], speaking and thanking each other by means of an interpreter. A large crowd had gathered that morning in the piazza to witness such an event taking place. The platform was decorated with banners and carpets, and all the principal citizens were seated there….

And on the 25th of November 1487 the said ambassador presented Lorenzo de’ Medici with certain aromatics in beautiful vases in Moorish style, and jars filled with balsam, and a beautiful and large striped tent in the Moorish manner that opens up, which I saw.