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Not currently on display at the V&A

Casket

1500-1550 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Italy (made)

During the Italian Renaissance period, the groom-to-be filled a small box with gifts and jewellery at the time of the betrothal. The bride then took it to her husband’s house at the time of their wedding. Such boxes that have survived are usually richly decorated. This example depicts instructive stories from classical antiquity celebrating the virtues of marriage.


Object details

Categories
Containers
Woodwork
Medieval and Renaissance
Object type
Casket
Materials and techniques
Softwood (probably poplar) with pastiglia decoration and water-gilding, lined with (later) red baize
Softwood
Gilding
Brief description
Italian, 1500-1550, pastiglia, Hildburgh Coll.
Physical description
Wood with decoration in relief in a paste (pastiglia) of white lead and egg-binder on a rouletted and gilt ground. Gilded fields with punchmarks in either a diamond or a palmette pattern.
Rectangular form; truncated pyramid-shaped lid decorated with foliated designs, antique vases, sphinxes and other hybrids, and a wreath at each corner. On the front and back are three scenes from Roman history divided by pilasters, and one both ends are two Roman scenes divided by a pilaster. The interior lined with later red baize.

On the front: Oath of the Horatii; combat between the Horatii and the Curiatii before the Romans and the Albans; Titus Manlius Torquatus ordering the beheading of his son
End: triumph of Titus with the spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem, including the seven-armed candelabra (probably derived from a relief on the arch dedicated to Titus in the Forum, Rome);
Back: Lucretia on a podium stabbing herself before Collatinus, Brutus and warriors; Scipio Africanus brandishing his sword; equestrian battle;
End: the Romans rejoicing(?); Gaius Mucius Scaevola holding his right hand in the fire before King Porsena and his court.
Dimensions
  • Height: 19cm
  • Width: 31cm
  • Depth: 22.5cm
Gallery label
  • Small display curated by James Yorke, gallery 126, 1984-1985 This elaborate box, with exclusively classical scenes, has a truncated pyramidal lid, similar to those on Embriarchi caskets. The box is most likely (pace de Winter) to come from the Cardinal Cles workshop. There are very strong similarities in the sphynxes, dragons, scrolls and laurel wreaths. The vegetation, on which the figures stand, is identical on both this and Cardinal Cles’ casket. The pilasters, decorated with the same candelabra, do not join up to form a pier.(1984-1985)
  • PASTIGLIA BOXES Gilt pastiglia boxes were mostly made in Venice and Ferrara from about 1480 until 1550. Pastiglia or pasta is the name given to white lead paste, bound with egg white. This was often scented and described in contemporary inventories as pasta di muschio (musk paste). The pastiglia figures and motifs were shaped with a lead mould and then glued to the gilt surface of the box - hence their frequent recurrence on other boxes. The boxes are decorated with legends of Ancient Rome and the scenes copied from woodcuts such as Jacobus Argentoratensis' Triumph of Caesar (Venice, 1504) or illustrations of Livy's Roman History. (2000)
  • Gift Box with Scenes from Roman History 1500-50 At the time of the betrothal, the groom-to-be filled a small box with gifts and jewellery. The bride then took it to her husband's house at the time of their wedding. The box was often decorated with instructive stories from classical antiquity celebrating the virtues of marriage. [47 words] Ferrara or Venice Softwood (probably poplar) with pastiglia decoration and water-gilding; the baize lining a later replacement V&A: W.23-1953(5 Oct 2006 - 7 Jan 2007)
  • BOX (CASSETTA) Gilt wood (alder) with white lead based pastiglia decoration NORTH ITALIAN, about 1500 W.23-1953 Given by Dr. W.L. Hildburgh, F.S.A. The box is decorated on the back and front with a series of biblical and Ancient Roman stories, including the Judgement of Solomon and the Rape of Lucretia. On the sides are triumphal scenes reminscent of those painted by Mantegna. The pyramidal lid is decorated with arabesques and harpies.(before 2006)
Credit line
Given by Dr W.L.Hildburgh, F.S.A.
Object history
Given by Dr W.L.Hildburgh, F.S.A. (RP 53/1314), with W.23a-1953

Historical context
Comparable objects

15 x 28 x 25cm, Ferrara or Padova, 1500-1550 (Rome, G.N.A.A. Palazzo Barberini, inv. no, 2107), in Pastiglia Boxes, hidden treasures of the Italian Renaissance (Cofanetti in Pastiglia), catalogue from the exhibition Pastiglia Boxes: hidden treasures of the Italian Renaissance from the collection of Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome: Lowe Art Museum, Miami, Feb. 13 - April 28, 2002, cat. 3
Production
Venice or Ferrara; attrributed to the
Summary
During the Italian Renaissance period, the groom-to-be filled a small box with gifts and jewellery at the time of the betrothal. The bride then took it to her husband’s house at the time of their wedding. Such boxes that have survived are usually richly decorated. This example depicts instructive stories from classical antiquity celebrating the virtues of marriage.
Associated object
W.23A-1953 (Ensemble)
Bibliographic references
  • Dr W.L.Hildburgh, On some Italian Renaissance Caskets, The Antiquaries Journal, vol. XXVI 1946, plates XVIII and XXII, and pp. 125-7
  • J. Fleming and H. Honour, The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts, London 1977, p. 591
  • Patrick de Winter: "A little-known creation of Renaissance decorative arts: the white lead pastigilia box", Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell' Arte, 14 (1984), pp. 9 - 131. Cat. no. 53, pl. 53
  • Ajmar-Wollheim, Marta and Flora Dennis, At Home in Renaissance Italy, London: V&A Publishing, 2006.
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
W.23-1953

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Record createdOctober 20, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O117785/casket-unknown/
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