Casket
ca. 1450 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Lidded box, carved on front, back, sides and lid with blind tracery, with carved gothic lettering: xxx maria (PR end) and ADONAI XX UBI(PL end) [checking]. Of nailed construction, with stopped-lap joints, with supplementary angle brackets at each corner. The lid held on twin, hand-made iron strap hinges (held by nails and modern screws), with a heart-shaped escutcheon, and a 19th century lock to meet a fitting on the underside of the lid. The inside of the front and back with two vertical grooves, for dividers (missing), and a horizontal groove along the back (now filled). The bottom formed by a single board that is fitted into a rebate all round.
The general straightness of the boards, lack of movement and wear, lack of evidence of earlier lid fixings suggest that this was a 19th century exercise in carving in a 15th century style.
The general straightness of the boards, lack of movement and wear, lack of evidence of earlier lid fixings suggest that this was a 19th century exercise in carving in a 15th century style.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Walnut, carved |
| Brief description | Walnut casket, carved. France c1450 but possibly 19th century |
| Physical description | Lidded box, carved on front, back, sides and lid with blind tracery, with carved gothic lettering: xxx maria (PR end) and ADONAI XX UBI(PL end) [checking]. Of nailed construction, with stopped-lap joints, with supplementary angle brackets at each corner. The lid held on twin, hand-made iron strap hinges (held by nails and modern screws), with a heart-shaped escutcheon, and a 19th century lock to meet a fitting on the underside of the lid. The inside of the front and back with two vertical grooves, for dividers (missing), and a horizontal groove along the back (now filled). The bottom formed by a single board that is fitted into a rebate all round. The general straightness of the boards, lack of movement and wear, lack of evidence of earlier lid fixings suggest that this was a 19th century exercise in carving in a 15th century style. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Marks and inscriptions | Pho to (ink inscription on base
the 'to' in superscript) |
| Object history | Bought for £12 from M Mannheim, Paris Mr C R Robinson report, registry no. 9130, 26 May 1864 |
| Production | or 19th century |
| Bibliographic reference | Ancient and Modern Furniture & Woodwork in the South Kensington Museum, described with an introduction by John Hungerford Pollen, (London, 1874), p. 22.
'Box or Coffer. Walnut wood, carved all over in Gothic tracer. German. About 1460. H. 9 ½ in., L. 19 in., W. 12 in. Bought, 12l.
The tracery is cut in three bands on the front and back, and in circles on the ends. The work is sunk some 3/16ths of and inch. It represents elaborate flamboyant tracery. On the ends we have in German black letter Jesus Maria, and Adonai do. d. b. t. from the antiphon O Adonai et dux domus Israel &c., sung before the Magnificat on the days immediately preceding the Feast of the Nativity. The box has been made for holding the linen required for the altar service in some domestic chapel.' |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 598:1, 2-1864 |
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| Record created | June 19, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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