Box
1500-1550 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Small softwood box with pastiglia decoration
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Box, Italian, 1480-1500, with pastiglia decoration |
| Physical description | Small softwood box with pastiglia decoration |
| Credit line | Given by Dr W.L. Hildburgh, F.S.A. |
| Object history | Given by Dr W.L.Hildburgh, F.S.A. (RP 53/1314), inside W.23-1953 PASTIGLIA BOXES Gilt pastiglia boxes were mostly made in Venice and Ferrara from about 1480 until 1550. Pastiglia or pasta is the name given to white lead paste, bound with egg white. This was often scented and described in contemporary inventories as pasta di muschio (musk paste). The pastiglia figures and motifs were shaped with a lead mould and then glued to the gilt surface of the box - hence their frequent recurrence on other boxes. The boxes are decorated with legends of Ancient Rome and the scenes copied from woodcuts such as Jacobus Argentoratensis' Triumph of Caesar (Venice, 1504) or illustrations of Livy's Roman History. (Label text, circa 2000, from old Medieval & Renaissance Galleries) |
| Production | Venice or Ferrara |
| Associated object | W.23-1953 (Ensemble) |
| Bibliographic reference | Patrick de Winter: "A little-known creation of Renaissance decorative arts: the white lead pastigilia box", Saggi e Memorie di Storia dell' Arte, 14 (1984), pp. 9 - 131. Cat. no. 56 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.23A-1953 |
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| Record created | November 14, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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