Oak core box decorated with openwork plates... - Lot 7 - Pierre Bergé & Associés

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  3. Oak core box decorated with openwork plates... - Lot 7 - Pierre Bergé & Associés
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Lot n° 7
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3000 - 4000 EUR
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Result : 4 550EUR
Oak core box decorated with openwork plates... - Lot 7 - Pierre Bergé & Associés
Oak core box decorated with openwork plates of lead and gilded pewter alloy, set on a pink silk background. On the perimeter, a frieze of quatrefoils with ivy leaves and fruits centred on a rosette, flanked by ribbed leaves; the lid decorated with two large geometric roses with fleurons and ivy leaves in a frame with medallions surrounding griffins, dragons, eagles and fabulous animals; Gilt bronze movable handle with dragon head ends, diamond-shaped bow and ivory beads; ivory beads also on the four corners of the lid; wrought iron hasp lock; lid and base edged with fringes; spherical gilt bronze feet. Veneto, first half of the 14th century Total height: 9,7 cm - Length: 24,8 cm - Depth: 14,2 cm (restorations including the wooden core probably replaced, additions of a silk taffeta and ivory beads on the corners) Provenance: Former Henry-René d'Allemagne collection, n°60. Bibliography: H.-R. d'Allemagne, La maison d'un vieux collectionneur, Tome second, Paris, 1948, plate LX, n° 60. Work consulted: E. Berger, Prunk-Kassetten - Europäische Meisterwerke aus acht Jahrhunderten, Ed. Arnoldsche, 1988, p 178-179, cat.5. Few boxes with the same decoration are preserved in public collections or have been published. Four other examples can be compared, however, and belong to two quite different typologies: one that is more like a shrine, probably reserved for liturgical use, is the box in the Musée de Cluny (inv. Cl. 1942, fig. a) and the one preserved in the treasure of the cathedral of Bressanone in Alto Adige (fig.b) and the other one, more destined to a domestic use like the one in the Hanns Schelle collection in Graz in Austria (fig. c) or the copy of the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. n° 222-1894, fig.d). The one presented here is particularly close to the latter: identical rosettes and themes for the medallions on the lid and a similar handle, except for the ivory beads. It is clear that both boxes were made in the same workshop and that the same dies were used for the tin and lead alloy plates. Sometimes the ornamentation of the quatrefoils and ivy leaves can be enriched with stone cabochons, adding to the preciousness of the object, as in the case of the Graz box. It does not seem that on all these other boxes or chases the metal decoration was placed on a silk but, on the other hand, one finds on most of them the fringes retained by studded gilded metal bands and the presence of gilded bronze spheres. The location and the periods vary a little according to the museums and publications: Spain, 14th century for the one in Cluny, probably France, end of the 13th century for the relics chest of Bressanone, whose core would be in ebony and which would have been offered as a gift in 1659 by a doge of Venice, Venice also, end of the 13th century for the one of the collection of Graz and France, around 1320 for the one in the London museum. Book consulted: E. Berger, Prunk-Kassetten - Europäische Meisterwerke aus acht Jahrhunderten, Ed. Arnoldsche, 1988, p 178-179, cat.5.
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