Casket
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
Bone plaques with wood and bone marquetry, mounted on a wooden core
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
Medieval and Renaissance, room 10a, case 4
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The casket is a product of the Embriachi workshop, a famous ivory-carving family who originated in Florence but had a workshop in Venice by the 1430s. There they were able to employ local workers specialising in certosina (inlay of stained woods, bone and horn), and the workshop produced items carved in bone (usually horse or ox) with wood and bone marquetry, as in this example.
As well as altarpieces, the workshop also made caskets as bridal gifts to hold jewels or documents, and these were often decorated with scenes from mythology. This example is decorated with scenes from the legend of Jason. This ancient Greek tale tells how, to win the throne of his native Iolcus, Jason led the Argonauts on a voyage to capture the Golden Fleece from Aeetes, king of Colchis. The narrative starts on the front of the casket, with the events leading up to the exile of the young Jason from Iolcus. It continues around all four sides, detailing his flight by boat and his eventual arrival at Colchis, where Aeetes refused to give up the fleece until Jason performed a set of tasks. First, as shown, he had to yoke two fire-breathing bulls to a plow and plow the field of Ares. Then he had to sow the field with dragon’s teeth, from which armed men sprang up. Jason overcame all these obstacles to claim the Golden Fleece, which is shown in the top corner of the final scene of the casket.
Physical description
Casket of bone plaques with wood and bone marquetry mounted on a wooden core, decorated with scenes from the legend of Jason. The narrative starts on the front with events leading up to the exile of the young Jason from Iolcus and continues around all four sides: his faked death and flight by boat is shown on the adjoining side, and on the back and other side the Argonauts yoke the pair of fire-breathing bulls, plough a fields, sow it with teeth from Cadmus' dragon, and overcome the warriors who spring up. The Golden Fleece, shown in the top corner of the final scene, was then claimed.
Place of Origin
Venice (city) (made)
Date
1395-1404 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown
Materials and Techniques
Bone plaques with wood and bone marquetry, mounted on a wooden core
Dimensions
Height: 28.2 cm (plus 5.3cm with handle upright)
Width: 38.9 cm
Depth: 20.6 cm
Weight: 3.6 kg
Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries
Object history note
This casket was listed in the 1791 inventory of the treasury of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, before passing into the collection of Alexandre Lenoir in the early 19th century.
Historical context note
The Embriachi workshop was known for producing religious and secular objects decorated with their trademark plaques of bone, carved in low relief. This box may have been a bridal gift, used to hold jewellery or documents.
Descriptive line
Casket, bone plaques with wood and bone marquetry mounted on a wooden core, Italy (probably Florence), Embriachi workshop, about 1400
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Gaborit-Chopin, Danielle. Ivoires du Moyen Age. Fribourg : Office du livre, cop. 1978. NAL Pressmark: 37.S.155
M. Tomasi. Baldessare Ubriachi, le maître, le public. Revue de l'art. No. 134, 2001, pp. 51-52, fig. 1.
Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1856. In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 31.
Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929, p. 65.
Tomasi, M. "Miti antichi e riti nuziali : sull'iconografia e la funzione dei cofanetti degli Embriachi." In: Iconographica, II, 2003, pp. 126-45, figs. 6, 11-13.
Attribution Note
Attributed to the workshop of the Embriachi.
Materials
Bone; Poplar
Techniques
Carving; Inlay (process); Marquetry
Subjects depicted
Jason; Golden Fleece
Collection code
SCP
