Cassone thumbnail 1
Cassone thumbnail 2
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Not on display

Cassone

about 1520 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown (makers)
Place of origin
Veneto (made)

Cedar wood cassone, the top painted with a scale pattern, the sides with armorial shields, the front gilt and carved with sphinxes, leaf mouldings, and warriors

Object details

Categories
Furniture
Containers
Renaissance (Italian)
Medieval and Renaissance
Object type
Cassone
Materials and techniques
Cedar
Painting
Brief description
Cassone, Italian, 1511
Physical description
Cedar wood cassone, the top painted with a scale pattern, the sides with armorial shields, the front gilt and carved with sphinxes, leaf mouldings, and warriors
Dimensions
  • Height: 107.3cm (Note: converted from department file)
  • Width: 219.7cm (Note: converted from department file)
  • Depth: 83.8cm (Note: converted from department file)
Gallery label
(1930)
Label text c.1930 while displayed in Tapestry Court: North-West Block. North Side. [gallery 44 ‘East Central Court’ c.1909-1952]

MARRIAGE-CHEST (cassone)
Pine-wood with decoration painted in colours and in carved and gilt gesso reliefs. Hercules overcoming Antaeus (left) and the Arms of Valvasone di Friuli (Venetia) and on the sinister end those of San Daniele of Udine. On the lid, San Daniele impaling Valvasone, for the marriage in 1511 of Count Beltrame da San Daniele with Vittoria, daughter of Count Erasmo da Valvasone.
VENETIAN; about 1511.
278-1869.
(Pre-2006)
MARRIAGE CHEST
Cedar wood, carved and gilt, with painted details
ITALIAN (Venice); about 1520
278-1869

On the front: (centre) a battle scene; (left) Hercules and Antaeus; (right) the devotion of Marcus Curtius
On the ends: (left) the arms of Valvasone of Friuli; (right) the arms of San Daniele of Friuli
On the lid: the arms of San Daniele impaling Valvasone.

On the basis of the heraldry, the chest appears to have been made for the marriage of Count Beltrami da San Daniele and Vittoria da Valvasone.
Object history
Acquired via William Blundell Spence, Florence. The chest appears to have been made for the marriage of Count Beltrami da San Daniele and Vittoria da Valvasone
Historical context
Thornton suggests that this was a cassone 'a sepoltura' or 'a moda di tomba'
Bibliographic references
  • 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
  • John Fleming, Art Dealing in the Risorgimento, II The Burlington Magazine, Vol. CXXI [August 1979]; and III, Vol. CXXI [Sept. 1979], p.568-580. See part III.
  • Peter Thornton, Cassoni, Forzieri, Goffani and Cassette: Terminology and its problems, in Apollo vol. CXX (1984), no.272 pp.246-251, fig. 11.
  • Peter Thornton, 'Italian Furniture in the Victoria and Albert Museum', in Arte Illustrata (1971) pp.116-125
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
278-1869

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Record createdMay 4, 2006
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O123707/cassone-unknown/
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