Ar. botm) as forming part of the present which Joseph’s brethren took with them from Canaan, and in Egypt it is still often placed along with sweetmeats and the like in presents of courtesy. The nut is used in various ways; but the simplest plan is to boil it with salt. PISTOIA, or Pistoja, a well-walled ancient city, 21 miles north-west of Florence, on a slight eminence near the Ombrone, one of the tributaries of the Arno; it now contains about 12,500 inhabitants. The chief manufacture of the place is iron-working, especially fire-arms. It is on the site of the Roman Pistoria, of which little trace remains. During the Middle Ages Pistoia was at times a dangerous enemy to Florence, and the scene of constant conflicts between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines: it was there that, in the year 1300, the great party struggle took place which resulted in the creation of the Bianchi and Neri factions (see Dante, Infer., xxiv., 1. 121 to end). In the early development of architecture and sculpture Pistoia played a very important part; these arts, as they existed in Tuscany before the time of Niccola Pisano, can perhaps be better studied in Pistoia than anywhere else; nor is the city less rich in the later works produced by the school of sculptors founded by Niccola. In the 14th century Pistoia possessed a number of the most skilful artists in silver work, a wonderful specimen of whose powers exists now in the cathedral,— the great silver altar and frontal of St James, originally made for the high altar, but now placed in a chapel on the south side (see Metal Work, vol. xvi. p. 65, fig. 4). The cathedral is partly of the 12th century, but rebuilt by one of the Pisani, and inside sadly modernized in the worst taste. Besides the silver altar it contains many fine works of sculpture; the chief are the monument of Cino da Pistoia, lawyer and poet, Dante’s contemporary (1337), and Verrocchio’s finest work in marble, the monument to Cardinal Forteguerra (1474), with a large figure of Christ, surrounded by angels, in high relief. Unhappily two of the principal figures were destroyed not many years ago, and replaced by worthless modern ones. Among the very early churches the principal is Sant’ Andrea, enriched with sculpture, and probably designed, by Gruamons and his brother Adeodatus, in 1136; in the nave is Giovanni Pisano’s magnificent pulpit, imitated from his father’s pulpit at Pisa. Other churches of almost equal interest are S. Giovanni Evangelista, also with sculpture by Gruamons, about 1160, and S. Bartolomeo in Pantano by the architect Rudolfinus, 1167. S. Piero Maggiore and San Paolo are also churches begun in the 12 th century. San Francesco al Prato is a fine church of the school of Niccola Pisano, end of the 13th century. San Domenico, a noble church built about 1380, contains the beautiful tomb of Filippo Lazari by Bernardo di Matteo, 1464. In addition to its fine churches, of which the above is a very incomplete list, Pistoia contains many noble palaces and public buildings. The Palazzo del Commune and the Palazzo Pretorio, once the residence of the podestà, are both fine specimens of 14th-century domestic architecture, in very good preservation. The Ospedale del Ceppo, built originally in the 13th century, but remodelled in the 15th, is very remarkable for the reliefs in enamelled and coloured terra-cotta with which its exterior is richly decorated. Besides various medallions, there is a frieze of figures in high relief extending along the whole front, over its open arcade. The reliefs consist of a series of groups representing the Seven Works of Mercy and other figures; these were executed by the younger members of the Della Robbia family between 1525 and 1535, and, though not equal to the best work of Luca and Andrea, are yet very fine in conception and modelling, and extremely rich in their general decorative effect.