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Not currently on display at the V&A

Cassone

about 1500 (made)
Place of origin
Florence (made)

Cassone; marquetry of coloured woods, on the top are two shields of arms within a laurel wreath.



Object details

Categories
Furniture
Containers
Renaissance (Italian)
Medieval and Renaissance
Object type
Cassone
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Cassone
  • Lid
Physical description
Cassone; marquetry of coloured woods, on the top are two shields of arms within a laurel wreath.

Dimensions87.5 x 211 x 77.5cm (Thornton)
Gallery label
CASSONE Intarsia of coloured woods NORTH ITALIAN; early sixteenth century 5924-1859 From a villa belonging to the Rospigliosi family, near Pistoia. The top has two defaced sheilds of arms within a laurel wreath. The base and panels of the front and sides are executed in a style which reveals a new branch of geometric perspective but set in a naturalistic border. Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) commented that intarsia 'was practised by those persons who possessed more patience than skill in design.' The lower stand is a later addition.(Pre-2006)
Object history
Bought (J.C.Robinson) for £20. Supposed to have come from a residence of the Rospigliosi family near Pistoia
Historical context
Thornton suggests that this might have been called a "cassone or forziere intarsiato". He suggests that 'the pattern on the plinth, leaning to the right, suggests that this chest had its pair with a similar pattern leaning left - in which case it may be a marriage chest.

Comparable objects
Claudio Paolini: Il mobile del rinascimento – La collezione Herbert Percy Horne. (Museo Horne, Florence, 2002), no. 6: bancone da segrestia (Florence, 1450-1500), walnut and various woods, 93 x 229 x 79cm, pp.61-63

Cassone nunziale (Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti), 1450-1500; in Graziano Manni., Mobili in Emilia : con una indagine sulla civilt`a dell'arredo alla corte degli Estensi (Modena : Artioli, c1986), no. 14, p.44; and another no. 13 (Monselice, Castello), p. 42

Walnut inlaid with other woods, 76 x 183 x 53cm, Minneapolis Institute of Art, accession no. 22.16.5
Bibliographic references
  • Peter Thornton, Cassoni, Forzieri, Goffani and Cassette: Terminology and its problems, in Apollo vol. CXX (1984), no.272 pp.246-251, fig. 10.
  • Peter Thornton, 'Italian Furniture in the Victoria and Albert Museum', in Arte Illustrata (1971) pp.116-125
  • London, South Kensington Museum: Ancient and Modern Furniture & Woodwork in the South Kensington Museum, described with an introduction by John Hungerford Pollen, (London, 1874), p.135 Coffer. Marquetry of coloured woods; on the top are two shields of arms within a laurel wreath; a marriage coffer. Brought from a villa of the Rospigliosi family, near Pistoria. Italian. First half of the 16th century. H. 2 ft. 10 in., L. 7 ft., W. 2 ft. 9 in. Bought 20 l. In this instance the base and lid are furnished with moulded edges, unlike the smaller inlaid coffers of Certofino work. A central panel rises above the outer edges of the lid. The front and ends are divided into panels, and these have borders of ribbon, and centres filled with geometrical inlay and inlaid fretwork. The centre panel inlaid in squares with finer work. A rolling border in scrolls of fine inlaid work surrounds the whole of these panels. The shields on the top are of two coats impaled, the dexter coat bearing two lozenges; the sinister two stars bendwise. Incised edges have been made to complete the heraldry. This has worn away; the old woodwork, however, has not been disturbed. The original lock remains, but is not remarkable. The internal drawers or receptacles have disappeared. It is noticeable that some of the inlaid work represents perspective step work, as the border round the base. The small six-pointed stars that form a border to the top are set each point with the grain running in a separate direction, and this gives the brilliancy almost of gilding or metallic decoration to what is mere play on the natural grain. Frieda Schottmüller, Furniture and Interior Decoration of the Italian Renaissance (Stuttgart, 1928), NAL 603.AE.0062 Figure No. 102. ‘Tuscany, beginning of the 16th Century: Inlaid Chests’, p. 46. Instarsias, geometrical motifs, perspectively foreshortened on the plinth. On the lid the arms of the Rospigliosi in Rome. Came from a villa belonging to this family near Pistoria. See also related object: Figure No. 98. ‘Florentine Table-Chest with Instarsias at the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin’, p. 44.
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
5924:2-1859

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Record createdOctober 12, 2007
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O139970/cassone/
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