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Not currently on display at the V&A

Cassone

1540-1560 (made)
Place of origin
Italy

Chest or cassone of walnut wood, carved in high relief, and parcel gilt; in the centre of the front is a shield of arms supported by cupids, and on either side of this is a cartouche with a cupid in a chariot drawn by horses and lions.


Object details

Categories
Furniture
Containers
Renaissance (Italian)
Medieval and Renaissance
Object type
Cassone
Parts
This object consists of 4 parts.

  • Frieze
  • Frieze
  • Frieze
  • Cassone
Materials and techniques
Carving
Carving
Brief description
Walnut, carved and gilded, Italy c1550
Physical description
Chest or cassone of walnut wood, carved in high relief, and parcel gilt; in the centre of the front is a shield of arms supported by cupids, and on either side of this is a cartouche with a cupid in a chariot drawn by horses and lions.
Dimensions2ft 6ins. x 6ft x 1ft 10ins. (76 x 182.9 x 55.9cm)
Gallery label
  • CHEST. ITALIAN (probably ROMAN); about 1560. Carved chestnut and partly gilt. The coat-of-arms not identified. 4415-1857(pre-2006)
  • CASSONE Walnut with gesso and gilding ITALIAN; about 1560 4415-1857 From about 1550, cassoni (literally large boxes), used for storage and often associated with marriage, were being carved rather than painted. This cassone is decorated with amorini driving dogs and bulls in strapwork cartouches. Mythological and ancient historical themes were popular, often derived from engravings of paintings by Raphael and Michelangelo or illustrations to popular versions of classical texts. The amorini driving lions and horses may have been derived respectively from the Genius of Cybele and Genius of Mars motifs from the Villa Lante murals, recently attributed to Raphael, in Rome. The provenance and coat-of-arms are unknown, but museum records indicate that this cassone came from Florence.(pre-2006)
Object history
Bought for £110 in Paris (No further information given in the early register).
Object sampling carried out by Jo Darrah, V&A Science; drawer/slide reference 1/69

Conservation treatment was carried out in 1991: epoxy to stabilise old woodwork; apron refixed; dark varnish removed

The amorini driving lions and horses may be derived from (respectively) the Genius of Cybele and Genius of Mars motifs from the Villa Lante murals in Rome, recently attributed to Raphael.

Heraldry
Research (c2005) did not identify the coat of arms on 4415-1857.

Sources consulted:

Il codice araldico degli stemmi personali : compilato su ordine dell'imperatrice Maria Teresa d'Austria e successori / a cura di Andrea Borella D'Alberti. Studio araldico genealogico diplomatico italiano, 1998.

Stemmario italiano delle famiglie nobili e notabili. A cura di Adalberto Ricotti Bertagnoni. Presentazione di Giacomo C. Bascapè
Ricotti Bertagnoni, Adalberto. Bassano del Grappa, La remondiniana, 1970-

Blasone veneto, descritto ne'xxxv tomi della Biblioteca Universale.
Coronelli, Vincenzo, 1650-1718.

Le Arme, overo, Insegne di tutti li nobili della città di Venetia.
Bologna : SEAB, 1978.
Historical context
Comparable cassoni

North Italian c1550, 167 x 56 x 68cm; Museo Poldi Pezzoli di Milano, Maria Teresa Balboni Brizza: Stipi e cassoni. (Turin, 1995), no. 5
Cassone (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence), illustrated in Mina Gregori, Renato Ruotolo, Lisa Bandera Gregori, Il Mobile Italiano dal Rinascimento agli anni trenta (Milan, 1981),
Associated object
4414-1857 (Ensemble)
Bibliographic references
  • Wilhelm Bode, Die Italienischen Hausmöbel der Renaissance, p.78
  • London, South Kensington Museum: Ancient and Modern Furniture & Woodwork in the South Kensington Museum, described with an introduction by John Hungerford Pollen (London, 1874) “The subjects of the carving are different from those of the preceding number, but the two coffers are a pair, and may from the nature of the subjects he concluded to have been part of a bride’s dower, or the marriage furniture of the family”
  • Frieda Schottmüller, Furniture and Interior Decoration of the Italian Renaissance (Stuttgart, 1928), p.62
  • H.Avray Tipping, Italian furniture of the Italian Renaissance as represented at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Country Life March 31st 1917, pp. 3-8
  • 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. “Sarcophagus shaped . The shield is charged with a fess of three lines , of which the middle is wavy. In chief are five descending rays and in base a fleur-de-lis. Winged harpy figures turning into foliage scrolls with masks, are carved on the angles. The bottom is cut into scrolls and rests on claw feet. The plinth is a flat platform with guilloche ornament cut round the edge. The ground of the carved portions is gilt. It is Florentine, and belongs to the middle of the 16th century."
  • Wilhelm von Bode, Italian Renaissance Furniture (originally published as Die Italienischen Hausmöbel der Renaissance, Leipzig 1902) translated by Mary Herrick (New York, 1921). P.78
  • Eric Mercer, The Social History of the Decorative Arts – Furniture 700-1700 (London, 1969), fig. 108
  • Franz Windisch-Graetz, Möbel Europa. 2. Renaissance-Manierismus (Munich, 1982), fig. 59
  • Clive Wainwright, edited for publication by Charlotte Gere, The making of the South Kensington Museum III. Collecting abroad, in Journal of the History of Collections 14 no. 1 (2002) pp.45-61 On p.48 n.9 notes that 4414 to 4417-1857 were purchased in Paris, (apparently by Cole or Robinson).
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
4415A/3-1857

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Record createdDecember 23, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O180724/cassone/
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