The practice of decorating wooden furniture wood with contrasting inlays was used by the craftsmen of Ancient Egypt. It continued to flourish during the Medieval period in Islamic cities such as Cairo and Damascus, where dense patterns were created using tiny inlaid pieces of bone or ivory and various woods. The technique seems to have been adopted in both Spain and Italy, particularly Venice from about 1450, and used particularly on boxes and chests like this one. References in Italian 16th-century inventories to chests alla veneziana (in the Venetian style) may refer to this style of decoration. During the 19th-century it came to be known as alla certosina work, because it was thought that Carthusian monks specialised in the technique, though there is no good evidence of it.
This chest once belonged to Jules Soulages (d. 1856) who created a notable collection of Renaissance artworks from about 1825, which he kept at his home in Paris, (and later in Toulouse). This chest was restored in Toulouse during his ownership. His collection was considered so important that it was exhibited in London (1857), and then purchased for the South Kensington Museum (which later became the Victoria and Albert Museum).
Physical description
Chest
Place of Origin
Barcelona (city), Spain (possibly, made)
Date
1550-1650 (made)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Walnut, and rosewood, inlaid with bone and coloured woods
Marks and inscriptions
RESTAURÉ PAR LADOUSE PÈRE & FILS CHEF D' ATELIER DE L'INSTITUT DES SOURDS-
MUETS TOULOUSE
Dimensions
Height: 56.5 cm, Width: 127 cm, Depth: 52 cm
Object history note
This new inlay technique developed in the sixteenth century and lasted into the seventeenth. It seems to have been a version of taracea produced in the lands of the Crown of Aragon, especially in Catalonia, and employs a completely different, much simpler technique, in which small shaped pieces are individually inset into carved hollows in the wood. It is possible that furniture like this chest may have been made specifically for the Italian market. (M. Rosser-Owen, 2010).
Bought for £40. Formerly in the collection of Jules Soulages of Toulouse
2008 valuation based on similar pieces passing through sale rooms 2007-8
Historical context note
Thornton notes "The patterns are directly inspired by Near Eastern models and were therefore almost certainly executed in Venice. Inside, lidded compartments and small drawers line the back and two sides.' Possibly what was described as a 'forziere alla Veneziana'
Descriptive line
Chest made using the certosina inlay technique
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Peter Thornton, Cassoni, Forzieri, Goffani and Cassette: Terminology and its problems, in Apollo vol. CXX (1984), no.272 pp.246-251, fig. 9.
"Forziere alla Veneziana (?), ...The patterns are directly inspired by Near Eastern models and were therefore almost certainly executed in Venice. Inside, lidded compartments and small drawers line the back and two sides. A chessboard often forms a central feature of the decoration of the lid on such chests."
Patricia Fortini Brown, Private lives in Renaissance Venice : art, architecture, and the family (New Haven and London, 2004), p. 104, fig. 109
J.C.Robinson, Catalogue of the Soulages Collection: being a descriptive inventory of a collection of works of decorative art, formerly in the possession of M. Jules Soulages of Toulouse; now, by permission of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, exhibited to the public at the Museum of Ornamental Art, Marlborough House (London 1856), no. 667, p. 175
[with no. 666, 7223-1860)]Two coffers in tarsia work. Same style and period as the preceding piece [Also still in M. Soulages' possession.]
LONDON, South Kensington Museum: Intro. John Hungerford Pollen: Ancient and Modern Furniture & Woodwork in the South Kensington Museum. (London, 1874), p. 133
Coffer or toilet case. Walnut wood inlaid with marquetry of ivory and coloured woods in geometrical patterns: three circles on the lid. Italian. About 1500. Bought (Soulages Coll.), 40l
The front is divided into three flat panels. The general decoration is a repetition of stars, circles, etc., formed out of minute squares, triangles, or diamond shapes, having one long point. It is a piece of Certosino work, and the Indian character of this portion of the work will be recognised at once. In this instance there are, combined with the star-like compositions, rolling lines and curves representing scrolls and pots of flowers, adding the Persian and Turkish element, of decoration to the severer work. The inside is surrounded with receptacles for ornaments, cosmetics, etc., on three sides, some being tiny drawers, and some covered compartments; these are of various sizes. Few of the Museum specimens of Certosino inlay surpass this for completeness, or as a specimen of effect obtained from the hand of traditionary workers without the advantages of artistic training or knowledge of design in the higher sense.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Fifty masterpieces of Woodwork (London 1955), plate 10
BODE, Wilhelm: Die Italienischen Hausmöbel der Renaissance . (Leipzig, n.d., c. 1915), p.68
Suggests Lombard, late 15th century
M. Rosser-Owen. Islamic Arts from Spain (London: V&A Publishing, 2010) p. 90.
Labels and date
CHEST (cassone)
ITALIAN; about 1500
Coffer of wood inlaid with marquetry of ivory and coloured woods
7224-1860
From the Soulages Collection [Pre-2006]
Production Note
Certosina was traditionally thought to be made in northern Italy, in Genoa or the Veneto. More likely to be Spanish production - the designs are always non-figurative, based on abstract geometric ornament, especially starbursts, and sometimes floral motifs. The sixteenth-century date is indicated by the occasional use of Renaissance motifs, such as the elaborate flower pots on the front of this chest. (M. Rosser-Owen, 2010).
Materials
Walnut
Techniques
Inlay
Subjects depicted
Chessboards
Categories
Containers; Furniture
Collection code
FWK
