Chest

This chest is made from walnut planks assembled using dovetail joints that are clearly visible on the front, with five metal medallions worked in openwork with ornamental plant-inspired motifs, fitted with five heart-shaped handles. The lock, on the other hand, comprises a metal plate from the corners of which extended four circular finials, now lost. These metal finials are placed above recesses cut into the wooden base then filled with jute. Attached to the sides of the chest, on the other hand, are two circular open metal elements that serve as attachments to the handles used to move the cabinet. The lid is closed at the ends by two joists ending in lion protomes, the same that probably originally stood at the base of the cabinet, as with a specimen now in Berlin (Bode 1902, p. 61). The interior of the lid has two elongated book hinges terminating in open metal discs and in the central part an equally worked larger open disc. The bottom of the lid has an inlaid decoration made with dyed woods consisting of a geometric-like ornamentation. The corners of the chest are, as per usual, secured by metal brackets, only two of which are original. This chest, cited by Federico Hermanin as a work from northern Italy (Hermanin 1931, p. 21; Hermanin 1948, pp. 364, 367), is probably part of a group of furnishings with common characteristics that scholars have variously attributed to Spain (Aguiló Alonso 1993) or regions in northern Italy (Alberici 1969, p. 34; Miotti 1970, p. 9; Raffaelli 1996; Windisch-Graetz 1982, pp. 99–103). This set, which also includes chests with small drawers, is characterized by the presence of wooden inlays and conspicuous open-worked metal finials. There has been some debate regarding the provenance of the inlays, which in most cases were obtained from the combination of dyed woods but which in some fine examples also include ivory, bone, tortoiseshell, or mother-of-pearl. Indeed, the characteristic ornamental motifs of interlaced ribbons and zigzag lines were commonly attributed to fifteenth-century southern Spain (Aguiló Alonso 1993), while their production is now held to be fifteenth- to sixteenth-century Lombardy, where the showy open-worked metal finials can be traced to a well-circumscribed context. Locks, handles, and studs of the same type, in fact, are typical of late medieval rural construction in Lombardy; specifically, metal workshops in Milan and Brescia between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries specialized in the production of harnesses of this type, perhaps directly influenced by similar German workshops (Faenson 1983, cat. 135–136). The closest similar artifacts to the Palazzo di Venezia example are the three chests from the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, which have fewer external metal applications (Colle 1996, pp. 157–158, nos. 213–215). The three Milan chests, however, are most likely nineteenth-century pastiches where older elements were mounted on newly built structures. In the Rome example, however, even though restorations have added quite a number of elements to the overall chest, the various sections appear to be original.

Giampaolo Distefano

Entry published on 12 February 2025

Good.

Bode Wilhelm, Die Italienischen Hausmöbel der Renaissance, Leipzig 1902;
Hermanin Federico, Il palazzo di Venezia in Roma, Roma 1931, fig. 21;
Hermanin Federico, Il Palazzo di Venezia, Roma 1948, pp. 364, 367;
Alberici Clelia, Il mobile lombardo, Milano 1969;
Miotti Tito, Il mobile friulano, Milano 1970;
Windisch-Graetz Franz, Möbel Europas. Von der Romanik bis zur Spätgotik mit einem Rückblick auf Antike und Spätantike, München 1982;
Faenson Liubov, Italian Cassoni from the Art Collections of Soviet Museums, Leningrad 1983;
Aguiló Alonso María Paz, El mueble en España. Siglos XVI-XVII, Madrid 1993;
Colle Enrico, Museo d’Arti Applicate. Mobili e intagli lignei, con la collaborazione di Zanuso Susanna, Milano 1996;
Raffaelli Umberto, in Raffaelli Umberto (a cura di), Oltre la porta. Serratura, chiavi e forzieri dalla preistoria all’età moderna nelle Alpi orientali, catalogo della mostra (Trento, Castello del Buonconsiglio, 13 luglio-31 ottobre 1996), Trento 1996, p. 192, n. IX.