Lot n° 99
Estimation :
20000 - 30000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 28 600EUR
Rare walnut cassone with bone inlay. Very rich alla certosin - Lot 99
Rare walnut cassone with bone inlay. Very rich alla certosina decoration of geometrical figures in rosettes, foliage and large side vases containing a shrub with long branches ending in a star-shaped flower. The sides are decorated with intarsia in light-colored and stained woods; the inside of the lid features a checkerboard pattern and two large rosettes.
Venice, circa 1500
H.: 63 cm - W.: 126.5 cm - D.: 50.6 cm
(Accidents and restorations, some modifications)
It is very rare for a piece of furniture of this quality to come down to us. Its decoration expresses all the richness of Venetian Renaissance decorative arts. The opulence of the oriental-inspired scrolls and geometrical figures, as well as the alla certosina inlay technique (found in chests from the Embriachi workshop, for example), are characteristic of Venetian production from the 1450's onwards. This type of marquetry has long been compared to Mudejar decorations, particularly those produced in the Granada region of Spain. But what makes the difference here is the presence of these large palm trees in side vases, a Venetian specificity not found in works produced by Spanish workshops.
The presence of the checkerboard, now inside the lid, indicates that it was simply placed on top of the chest and could be moved to serve as a game board.
Some twenty chests of this type, with similar proportions and almost identical decorative schemes, have now been referenced. Major international museums include Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London owns three of this type. Two are slightly different (inv n° 7223-1860 and 128-1892) and a third (inv n° 7224-1860) (fig) is perhaps the closest to the one on offer today. It comes from the collection of Jules Soulages (d. 1856), whose Toulouse collection, begun in 1825, was remarkable for its Renaissance works. Like the piece on display, the one in the Soulages collection was given a sloping base in the 19th century. The dovetail construction and marquetry decoration are apparently very similar: the front of the chest has three square panels that form an integral part of the front; the motifs are very dense, formed by pointed stars and urns from which scrolled stems emerge, with geometric figures forming a kind of palm tree. The chessboard is also present on the lid. Last but not least, the dimensions are almost identical, with the London model measuring 127 cm in length and 53.5 cm in depth.
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