R.F CONTINUED
Someone was looking for period documentation on umbrellas a while ago. Alas I can't remember who, so I'll post the info here. Assuming it's correctly translated, it seems a fine umbrella sent to the Ottoman court in 1637, along with a matching pavillion (padiglione, translated as tent, but I wonder if it might mean a portable baldachin?):
Among the items given to the Ottoman court are armor suit, candles, silver candleholders and snuffers, confectionary, cheese, orange flower water, alcohol, both a tent and an umbrella made of damask cloth, scarlet cloth, and a gold chain.
http://documents.medici.org/document_details.cfm?entryid=18124&returnstr=orderby=SendName@is_search=1@result_id=20