Credenza thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Credenza

1550-1600 (made)
Place of origin
Italy (made)

Sideboard of carved walnut, consisting of two main elements with plain top, the whole supported on lion paw feet: 1) a lower cupboard with fluted pilasters and with an internal shelf fronted by two side-hinged doors with round knob handles (with a surrounding wreath) and one central, fixed panel, and 2) an upper frieze tier of three wide drawers alternating with four narrow drawers with volute fronts. Between the cupboard unit and the feet is a base consisting of a convex, gadrooned moulding. The top is inlaid with six small lozenges, presumably where it is fixed to the substructure.

The twin doors and central fixed panel are carved with bands of bead and reel and leaf ornament. The fronts of the three wide drawers are carved with guilloche ornament.


Object details

Categories
Furniture
Containers
Renaissance (Italian)
Medieval and Renaissance
Object type
Credenza
Parts
This object consists of 8 parts.

  • Credenza
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
  • Drawer
Brief description
Walnut, carved, with two doors and 7 drawers
Physical description
Sideboard of carved walnut, consisting of two main elements with plain top, the whole supported on lion paw feet: 1) a lower cupboard with fluted pilasters and with an internal shelf fronted by two side-hinged doors with round knob handles (with a surrounding wreath) and one central, fixed panel, and 2) an upper frieze tier of three wide drawers alternating with four narrow drawers with volute fronts. Between the cupboard unit and the feet is a base consisting of a convex, gadrooned moulding. The top is inlaid with six small lozenges, presumably where it is fixed to the substructure.

The twin doors and central fixed panel are carved with bands of bead and reel and leaf ornament. The fronts of the three wide drawers are carved with guilloche ornament.
DimensionsDimensions from catalogue (HWD): H. 3 ft. 7 in., W. 6 ft. 3 in., D. 1 ft. 8. 75 in. (109 x 190. 5 x 52.7cm)
Gallery label
  • Label text c.1930 while displayed in Tapestry Court: South-West Block. East Side. [gallery 44 ‘East Central Court’ c.1909-1952] SIDE DOOR. Carved walnut with inlaid decoration. FLORENTINE; mid 16th century. 1375-1904. (1930)
  • Sideboard (Credenza), carved walnut, Florentine; middle of the 16th century. (1967)
  • ARMADIO (CUPBOARD) Carved walnut, with inlaid top FLORENTINE; second half of the 16th century 1375-1904 Of architectural form, the Doric pilasters are surmounted by curved brackets which correspond to fluted triglyphs. These provide a frame for the cupboards and drawers above. The brass handles may be later replacements; the original handles were probably of turned wood. Previously described as a credenza or sideboard, this cupboard is of similar dimensions to the armadi mentioned in the inventories of the Medici family from the mid 16th century.(Pre-2006)
Object history
Bought for £38 from 'Manifattura di Signa' per Earls Court Exhibition, Via de Vecchietti 2, Florence (T 88143/1904).
(Note, Manifattura di Signa were a famous ceramic manufacturer who offered good quality reproduction goods.)
Historical context
On general use of the credenza see P.K.Thornton, The Italian Renaissance Interior 1400-1600 (London 1991), p.220ff

Comparable objects (a great many credenze of this basic type exist, in general of wider proportions):
Claudio Paolini: Il mobile del rinascimento – La collezione Herbert Percy Horne. (Museo Horne, Florence, 2002), nos. 61-63
Palazzo Davanzati, illustrated in Raffaella del Puglia & Carlo Steiner: Mobili e Ambienti Italiani dal Gottico al Floreale, Vols 1 and 2. (Milan, 1963) plate 36
Tuscan 1550-1600, 112.5 x 163 x 67cm in Wolfram Koeppe: Die Lemmers-Danforth-Sammlung Wetzlar. Europäische Wohnkultur aus Renaissance und Barock. (Heidelberg, 1992), M5.
Rijksmuseum: Catalogus van Meubelen en Betimmeringen. (Amsterdam, 1952), cat. nr. 392 pl. 14
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund 1916 (16. 154. 12)

Sothebys London, 29/10/2003 lot 138; 105 x 160 x 63cm c1600

Ferenc Batári, and Erzsébet Vadászi ; edited by Elvira Király : Art of furniture-making from the Gothic to the Biedermeier: European Furniture from the 15th to the 19th Century in the Nagytétény
Castle Museum ([Budapest : Museum of Applied Arts], 2002.), no. 6 p.25
Bibliographic references
  • William M. Odom, A History of Italian Furniture (New York, 1918), fig. 127 Tuscan, first half of the XVI century
  • BENN, H.P. & H.P. Shapland: The Nations Treasures. Measured Drawings of Fine Old Furniture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. (London, 1910), plate 6 p.32 ‘Sixteenth-century Italian chest. Plate 6, page 32. This Italian chest is interesting as being the prototype of many similar and cruder examples made in this country. The front is divided by four fluted pilasters, surmounted by flat console brackets between which are drawers. In this country the drawers were left out and the top was hinged, to form a deep chest. There is, however, no doubt whatever that this was the prototype of those made here. The bosses forming the door handles are boldly treated as decorative features. The knobs are of metal, the circular patera on which they stand being of wood. The carved claw feet are very well considered, being quite heavy enough to bear the apparent weight of the massive piece of furniture above’.
  • Andrea Palladio, 1508-1580: the portico and the farmyard / catalogue by Howard Burns in collaboration with Lynda Fairbairn and Bruce Boucher, London 1975, no.87 Sideboard, Italian c.1550. Carved walnut: 109 x 190.5 x 63.5cm Known as a credenza, there are two drawers above and cupboards with shelves below.
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
1375:1-1904

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O297258/credenza/
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