Lebanese Cedar Marriage Chest, 1500s

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Description

Precious 16th-century chest in fragrant Lebanese wood, typical of the Venetian area, but also of the upper Veneto and Friuli … Read more Precious 16th-century chest in fragrant Lebanese wood, typical of the Venetian area, but also of the upper Veneto and Friuli regions. The rich front is punctuated by three carved and pyrograph decorated panels with landscapes and genre and family commemorative scenes, each framed by ebonized guilloché frames. The entire and delicate decoration, exceptionally preserved over time, has been almost entirely executed in pyrography and ink, especially in the elaboration of the complex shading. Each panel is punctuated by 4 figures, probably personifications of the 4 continents placed within rich trompe-l'oeil apsidal tabernacles, all surmounted by games of winged putti and candle holders. The same motifs are reproduced on the top, which has two large allegorical panels, while the central part is finely decorated with pyrography with apotropaic masks, family crests (to be studied), grotesque decorations, plant spirals and phytomorphic elements. Furthermore, this piece of furniture preserves a rich decoration under the top with a representation of two swordsmen facing each other with an elegant circular decoration with heraldic elements in the center. The sides are decorated in the same way, probably with profane scenes since they are equipped with ancient wrought iron handles with a representation of Memento Mori.

The dimensions of this chest are 57 cm x 52 cm x 155 cm. Similar examples of this rare Renaissance artifact are preserved in important public collections such as the Civic Collections of Applied Art at the Sforza Castle in Milan or the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. See less