Physical description
A large rectangular chest with a decorated front panel showing in the middle a man and a woman meeting before a tripartite temple, their respective cortege being behind them; on the left is a chariot before a landscape with various figures and winged putti while on the right, is a group of men standing before a palace; each lateral panel shows two putti playing musical instruments on a dark background.
Place of Origin
Florence, Italy (made)
Date
1450-1475 (made)
Artist/maker
Apollonio di Giovanni, born 1411 - died 1465 (Circle of, production)
Materials and Techniques
tempera on walnut
Dimensions
Height: 97.5 cm, Width: 213.3 cm, Depth: 31 cm
Object history note
Purchased in 1862 for £80
Historical significance: The front panel of this Florentine cassone (wedding chest) represents the Meeting of King Salomon and the Queen of Sheba who, intrigued by King Salomon's wisdom and wealth, undertook a long journey from Sheba (traditionally situated in modern Ethiopia) until Jerusalem to test him. Two winged putti playing musical instruments are represented on each side. The attribution of this painting has long debated: it was originally attributed to Dello Delli and successively to a follower of Pesellino (Schiaparelli, 1908), to the Cassone Master (Schubring, 1915), to the Master of the Jarves Cassoni (Berenson, 1932) and to Apollonio di Giovanni (Berenson, 1963).
The panel is divided into narrative sequels from left to right: after crossing a mountainous landscape, the chariot of the Queen of Sheba with her suit arrives in Jerusalem, King Salomon and Queen of Sheba meet before a tripartite temple with an altar, King Salomon cortege is on the far right.
According to E. Callmann (1974), 7852-1862 reproduced a compositional idea that belongs to a small group of similar cassone panels among which some were made in the workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni, the leading workshop in Florence in the mid 15th century. Unlike Apollonio's works, E. Callmann retained that the present painting is flatter and is lacking of Apollonio's typical lively movement in space. Compare with the other compositions, the figures are smaller and appear more proportionally adapted to the architectural setting. It seems however reasonable to think that this panel was painted by a contemporary imitator.
The inside of fifteenth-century wedding chests was generally decorated with reclining nude figures, respectively a man and a woman in each chest, whereas sometimes there was a textile pattern imitating a cloth lining. E. Callmann noted that the present inside lid appears rather unique and imitated a textile pattern consisting in three floral sprigs in soft colours and not stencilled.
Historical context note
The term cassone stands in Italian for chest and relates to large and ornate pieces of furniture made in Italy from the 14th to the end of the 16th centuries. They were generally made on the occasion of a relatively important wedding and contained the bride's trousseau. Writing in the mid-sixteenth century, Vasari describes cassoni thus:
'…citizens of those times used to have in their apartments great wooden chests in the form of a sarcophagus, with the covers shaped in various fashions…and besides the stories that were wrought on the front and on the ends, they used to have the arms, or rather, insignia, of their houses painted on the corners, and sometimes elsewhere. And the stories that were wrought on the front were for the most part fables taken from Ovid and from other poets, or rather stories related by the Greek and Latin historians, and likewise chases, jousts, tales of love, and other similar subjects…'.
(Giorgio Vasari, translated Gaston du C. de Vere, Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, vol. 1, London 1996, p.267)
These lavishly decorated cassoni, often combined with pastiglia decoration, were generally commissioned in pairs. Florence, which specialised in the decoration of the front panel, was at that time the main centre of production, even though Siena and the Veneto also supplied cassoni. The painted decorations usually represented episodes from classical or biblical history or mythology appropriate for the newly wed.
The most flourishing cassone workshop in Florence was run by Marco del Buono Giamberti and Apollonio di Giovanni but major artists such as Domenico Veneziano and Botticelli may have decorated cassoni on occasion. Painted cassoni went out of fashion towards the end of the 15th century when carved oaken chests came into vogue.
Descriptive line
A Florentine cassone with 'The Meeting of King Salomon and the Queen of Sheba', Circle of Apollonio di Giovanni, 1450-1475
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
James R. Lindow, 'For use and display: selected furnishings and domestic goods in 15th century Florentine interiors', Renaissance Studies vol. 19 no. 5 pp.634-646; FWK info section F4711
Callmann, Ellen, Apollonio di Giovanni, Oxford, 1974, p.26, n.10, and p. 29, n. 21, and p. 32, n. 33.
Listed under "Chests that have survived substantially in their original form...(mouldings below level of floor board modern, the whole chest regilded)". p.26
"The inside of the lid...is unique. It consists of three floral sprigs that are upright when the lid is open and look like enlargements of the sprigs used on mille-fleur tapestries. They are painted in soft pastel colours, not stencilled." p.29
Paul Schubring, Cassoni; truhen und truhenbilder der italienischen frührenaissance. ein beitrag zur profanmalerei im quattrocento, Leipzig, 1915, cat. no. 193, plate XLI.
The so called Dini-Cassone with the meeting of Salomos and the Queen of Saba.
The Cassone-master
On the left you can see the empty wagon with the golden baldachin. On the stays you see naked Amoretti (putti) with wings, also seated on the Trunks which the horses carry. Surrounded by six noble women, the richest Queen of the Orient is getting closer to the wisest ruler, (in front of the Templum Salomonis, there is an altar decorated with a golden) they shake hands. Surrounded by little naked boys holding a festoon above the roof of the temple. The Jews behind Salomon with urban and priests hat, are astonished by the ceremony. On the right there is the palace of Salomo,
where you can see girls looking out of the window.
On the upper left side of the picture, there is a little extra scene: where you see the Queen not wanting to cross the bridge because she already knows that this is made of the wood that will be later used for the cross of Jesus/redeemer.- on the side fields you see puttis playing all sorts of instruments.
C.M. Kauffmann, Catalogue of Foreign Paintings. Before 1800, London, 1973, pp. 106-107, cat. no. 121
The following is the full text of the entry:
Florentine School, third quarter 15th century
121
CASSONE, PAINTED WITH: front:
SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA;
side: TWO PAIRS OF PUTTI PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS;
inside lid: THREE BUNCHES OF FLOWERS
Tempera on walnut
H. 38 1/2 (97.8); L. 84 (213.3); W. 31 (78.8)
7852-1862 (F. & W.)
The Queen of Sheba is seen arriving on the left, the meeting with Solomon occupies the centre and right hand side of the panel. On each end there are two putti playing musical instruments.
Schiaparelli attributed this cassone, originally ascribed to Dello Delli, to the follower of Pesellino responsible for the Continence of Scipio panel (5804-1859; no. 9. Workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni) and various other related works. Schubring, however, placed these two in different categories, calling the Scipio panel 'Master of the Tournament of S. Croce' and this one 'Cassone Master', in common with various other Florentine cassoni depicting Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Schubring, nos. 194-97). Subsequent authorities criticized Schubring's multiplicity of categories, and in his list of 1932 Berenson attributed this cassone as well as the Scipio panel to the studio of the Master of the Jarves Cassoni, subsequently identified as Apollonio di Giovanni. However, although this cassone follows a composition current in the Apollonio workshop it does not exhibit the characteristic features of Apollonio's style. It differs in the modelling of the faces, the gold tooling and the treatment of the architecture and it has therefore, not been accepted by Ellen Callmann in her oeuvre Catalogue of Apollonio's workshop (oral opinion, 1971).
The theme of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the meeting of the wisest man from Asia and the wealthiest woman from the south, was by far the most popular of the relatively few biblical subjects depicted on Renaissance marriage chests. Similar compositions from the same workshop are to be found on the cassoni formerly with Boehler, Munich; in the Jarves Collection, Yale University; belonging to Lord Crawford (Schubring, nos. 194-97, pls, xl, xlii); Museum of Fine Art, Boston and Ellen Callmann collection, New York. The central part of the composition is ultimately derived from Ghiberti's panel on the 'Gates of Paradise' of the Florentine Baptistery (R. Krautheimer, Lorenzo Ghiberti, 1956, pl. 117). It survives in Florentine engravings (A. M. Hind, Catalogue of early Italian engravings ... in the British Museum, 1910, p. 124 f., no. B.III.4; repr. B.III.9) as well as on cassoni.
Condition. Paint surface considerably damaged; cleaned and restored by S. Isepp in 1950.
Prov. Bought in 1862 for £80 (when known as the 'Dini Cassone').
Lit. J. H. Pollen, Ancient and modern furniture, 1874, p. 126; Duc de Rivoli in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, xxxv, 1887, p. 312 (Dello Delli); A. Schiaparelli, La casa fiorentina, 1908, p. 185, fig. 167; Schubring, Cassoni, p. 267, no. 193, pl. xli; B. Berenson, Italian pictures, 1932, p. 347; ibid., Florentine School, i, 1963, p. 18 (as Apollonio di Giovanni); E. H. Gombrich in J. W. C. I., xviii, 1955, p. 23, n.; E. Callmann, Apollonio di Giovanni (forthcoming). For the iconography of the scene, see A. Chastel in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, xxxv, 1949, p. 99 ff.
J. H. Pollen, Ancient and modern furniture, 1874, p. 126.
Duc de Rivoli in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, xxxv, 1887, p. 312.
As Dello Delli.
A. Schiaparelli, La casa fiorentina, 1908, p. 185, fig. 167.
B. Berenson, Italian pictures, 1932, p. 347.
B. Berenson, Florentine School, i, 1963, p. 18.
As Apollonio di Giovanni.
E. H. Gombrich in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute, xviii, 1955, p. 23.
A. Chastel in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, xxxv, 1949, p. 99 ff.
For the iconography of the scene.
Labels and date
CASSONE: THE MEETING OF SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
Carved and gilt walnut, painted in tempera, the gilding of later date
Workshop of APOLLONIO DI GIOVANNI (1415-1465)
FLORENTINE; about 1475, the lid and feet of later date
7852-1862
Apollonio di Giovanni ran the largest of the Florentine workshops to produce painted chests from 1450 to 1475 but he also painted miniatures in books. The gilding was undertaken in the same workshop.
The subject depicted is almost certainly the story from the Old Testament Book of Kings of the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon, son of David and the King of Israel, bearing extravagant gifts in a great procession; in return he gave her 'all she desired, whatever she asked.' The meeting of the wisest man in Asia and the richest woman of the south was a highly suitable and very popular subject for a cassone. [Pre-2006]
CHEST (CASSONE) WITH THE MEETING OF SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
Carved and gilt gesso on wood; painting in tempera.
Workshop of FRANCESCO DI GIORGIO MARTINI (b.1439, d. 1501/2)
SIENESE, second half of the 15th century.
Given by H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll.
W.68-1925
On the back is a monochrome brush drawing of a reclining woman. The coats of arms on the sides are unidentified. The lid, base and feet are of later date. [before 2004]
MARRIAGE CHEST (CASSONE) with the Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
About 1475
Workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni (1415-65)
This painting shows the Queen of Sheba arriving on her visit to Solomon in a great procession and bearing extravagant gifts. In return he gave her 'all she desired, whatever she asked'. Apollonio di Giovanni ran the largest of the Florentine workshops, producing painted chests as well as painted miniatures in books.
Italy, Florence
Walnut, carved and gilded, painted in tempera; the lid, feet and gilding of later date.
Museum no. 7852-1862 [before 2006]
Materials
Walnut; Gold leaf; Tempera
Techniques
Painting; Gilding; Joinery
Subjects depicted
Putti; Musicians; Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
Categories
Furniture; Woodwork
Production Type
Unique
Collection code
FWK
