Dr. Richter in the Art Journal, 1895, p. 90. Mr. Claude Phillips, in his Earlier Work of Titian, p. 58, note, objects that Vasari's "giubone di raso inargentato" is not the superbly luminous steel-grey sleeve of this "Ariosto," but surely a vest of satin embroidered with silver. I think we need not examine Vasari's casual descriptions quite so closely; "a doublet of silvered satin wherein the stitches could be counted" is fairly accurate. "Quilted sleeves" would no doubt be the tailor's term.
It is not quite clear whether the single letter is F or T.
A curious fact, which corroborates my view, is that the four old copies which exist are all ascribed to Giorgione (at Vicenza, Brescia, and two lately in English collections). See Crowe and Cavalcaselle, p. 201.