Cassone thumbnail 1
Cassone thumbnail 2
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Not currently on display at the V&A

Cassone

ca. 1570 (made)
Place of origin
Italy (made)

Coffer. Carved chestnut wood. On the front is represented scenes from the history of David, carved in full relief; at each angle is a statuette of a prophet, and on the ends representations of the seasons.




Object details

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

  • Cassone
  • Plinth
Materials and techniques
Carving
Carving
Physical description
Coffer. Carved chestnut wood. On the front is represented scenes from the history of David, carved in full relief; at each angle is a statuette of a prophet, and on the ends representations of the seasons.


DimensionsDimensions from catalogue (HWD): 3 ft. 3 in. x 6 ft. 3 in. x 2 ft. 1 in. (99 x 190.5 x 63.5cm)
Gallery label
Cassone. The Triumph of David. Unknown Tuscan artist c.1560. Walnut. A household chest (cassone). The figures on the sides represent two of the four seasons. This is a companion piece to the cassone decorated with the Story of David and Goliath, also in this room. L31.4. [National Gallery, London] (1998)
Object history
Bought (Soulages Collection), £250
A photograph of this chest (without the carved plinth associated with it at accession) was taken in 1855 by museum photographer Charles Thurston Thompson, while it was still in possession of Soulages. Pressmark MX12A X181 / 32.800 (2006AH1676).

Lent (with 7212-1860) to the National Gallery (returned 2004) where they were displayed on their low wooden plinths with wave pattern decoration.
Historical context
Comparable cassoni
See a pair of walnut cassoni with carved scenes of the story of Judith (NGV (Australia) Accession Number1547.1-2-D4): dims. (1) 74.3 × 180.2 × 60.7 cm and (2) 75.7 × 180.2 × 62.2 cm; acquired 1955 (Anna Drummond, ‘Marriage and murder: two wedding chests with representations of Judith’ in the National Gallery of Victoria, Art Journal 53, 2014)

Cassone on loan to the V&A 1969-1980
Gallery label: 'Chestnut, partly gilt. Italian (probably Roman); second half of the 16th century.
On the ends, figures emblematic of Autumn and Winter; on the front, scenes from the life of David; (left) the annointing of David; (right) David before Saul. Both scenes are also found on a pair of cassoni belonging to the Victoria and Albert Museum (7212-3.1860), now on loan to the National Gallery.
Lent by the Countess of Sutherland

Sotheby's London, 6/7/2016 lot 7 Pair of cassoni, probably Rome 1550-75 (73 x 191 x 62cm)
Associated object
7212-1860 (Ensemble)
Bibliographic references
  • Paul Schubring, Cassoni; truhen und truhenbilder der italienischen frührenaissance. ein beitrag zur profanmalerei im quattrocento (Leipzig: K.W. Hiersemann, 1915); cat. no. 862, plate CLXXX
  • Italian furniture of the sixteenth century by Eveline B. Mitford, from The Connoisseur, December 1906, pp.227-232
  • 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. 143. Coffer. Carved walnut wood. On the front are represented scenes from the history of David, carved in full relief; on the two front angles are statuettes of prophets, and on the ends representations of Autumn and Winter. Italian 1550. Bought (Soulages Coll.), 250l. The front is formed of solid wood. The carvings are cut out of the mass, into which a panel is thus sunk without containing rails or mouldings. The left composition represents David, the shepherd, bearing the head of Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, in triumph, and that on the right, the anointing of David by Samuel, the prophet, for the future king of Judah. There is between these sculptures a central escutcheon without charges; it is supported by female figures, gracefully designed. One holds a column representing Fortitude. The other caresses an eagle and represents Power. The whole stands on a bold concave base, gadrooned below. There are harpy figures at the angles. It is raised on a low plinth, with the sides worked over with guilloche ornament.
  • 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), Nos. 655, 656, p. 172. Two carved chestnut-wood coffers. Italian work – circa 1550-60. Length of each 6 ft. 3 in., width 2 ft. 3 in. Height 3 ft. 3 in. These magnificent pieces of furniture are a well-known Italian cinque-cento type, they are usually styled, marriage coffers, or bride’s chests, and are generally supported to have contained the bride’s wardrobe. That they were articles of bedroom furniture is certain, as they may be seen represented in use in many Italian pictures and prints.* The present specimens are said to have been presented to a Countess Della Porta. The subjects forming the friezes or sides of these specimens represent scenes from the history of David, the figures being carved in full relief in the most masterly style. At each angle is a statuette in the round, of a prophet, and the ends of the chests are sculptured with allegorical representations of the seasons. These coffers are evidently the work of an artist sculptor, and not of a mere cabinet maker. [*Footnote – In the celebrated picture called ‘Titian’s Venus’, engraved by Sir Robert Strange, an attendant is seen taking linen from a similar chest, in a bedroom interior].
  • Fred Roe, A History of Oak Furniture (London, 1920), plate XXXVIII
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20230503121510/https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/marriage-and-murder-two-wedding-chests-with-representations-of-judith/
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
7213:2-1860

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Record createdMay 13, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O154486/cassone/
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