Coffer
1460-1480 (made)
| Place of origin |
Carved wood (possibly birch) coffer, mounted with brass clamps, hinges, hinged and lock, on raised plinth carved with Gothic tracery.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | wood, carving |
| Brief description | Carved wooden box (coffer) mounted with brass clamps, possibly German or Swiss, 1460-1480 |
| Physical description | Carved wood (possibly birch) coffer, mounted with brass clamps, hinges, hinged and lock, on raised plinth carved with Gothic tracery. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Object history | Purchased for £6. (No further information recorded in V&A registry.) Apparently a miniature version of a type of south German chest, late 15th century (see for example, Heinrich Kreisel, Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels (Munich, 1970) Vol. 1. Von den Anfagen bis zum Hochbarock, fig. 125 |
| Bibliographic reference | Ancient and Modern Furniture & Woodwork in the South Kensington Museum, described with an introduction by John Hungerford Pollen, (London, 1874), p. 16.
'Box. Root of maple wood, mounted with brass clamps, hinges, and lock, on raised plinth carved with Gothic tracery.
French (?). About 1500.
H. 8 ¼ in., L. 9 in., W. 5 ¾ in.
Bought, 6 l.
The top forms a panel, there being a small moulded rim nailed on. It stands on a plinth with a bold, hollow moulding, shaped underneath into flat cusped arches. The surface is covered with architectonic tracery and foliated fillings, in low relief, in the intervals. The most noticeable ornaments are the small brass hinges and angle mounts. They run across the sides, and connect ends, sides and top with each other and with the bottom. This work is made of rods and brass, barely a quarter of an inch thick, beaten out into tiny fleurs-de-lis at the ends, or wherever a nail is wanted. The lid is lined with fine old hanging paper of the early sixteenth century, with gilt decorations on it in block printing, and of the same period. We seldom find any example of the common objects of domestic use so unchanged, or giving a better insight into the decorative work of its kind and of its period.' |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 4244:2-1857 |
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| Record created | December 22, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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