Cassone
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1500 - 1700
Materials
Pine, walnut, cedar, fruitwood, ebony, ivory and bone
Measurements
123.5 x 48 x 63.5 cm
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Polesden Lacey, Surrey
NT 1245974
Summary
A marquetry cassone or chest, in walnut and cedar, possibly Italian, decorated "alla certosina" with marquetry of bone, ivory, ebony and fruitwood creating geometrical patterns deriving from Arabic models. This technique was practised in Venice and Lombardy in the sixteenth -seventeenth century. A comparable chest previously the Jules Soulages collection was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in the nineteenth century (7224-1860).
Provenance
Previous history and date of acquisition not recorded; bequeathed by Margaret McEwan, The Hon. Mrs Ronald Greville (1863-1942) with Polesden Lacey, to the National Trust, in memory of her father, William McEwan (1827-1913).