Lot 260
  • 260

A fine French Renaissance carved walnut coffer, School of Fontainebleau second half 16th century

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Description

  • 84cm. high, 144cm. wide, 63cm. deep; 2ft. 8in., 4ft. 8½in., 2ft. ¾in.
with a rectangular top above a guilloche frieze enclosing flowerheads, above two architectural panels with a niche, one depicting Justice and other with Spring, flanked by lion masks suspending ribbon-tied fruiting swags, the broken pediment surmounted by military trophies, with male and female figures surmounted by Doric capitols, on lunette carved flattened bun feet, the sides carved with a geometric panel enclosing a patera, with an iron handle on each side

Catalogue Note

Comparative Literature:
Nicholas Penny, Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, 1540 to the Present Day, Oxford, 1992, Vol. II, p. 88, for a very similar coffer, reproduced here in fig.1.
Jacques Thirion, Le Mobilier du Moyen Age et de la Renaissance en France, Dijon, 1998, P. 228.

In the middle of the 16th century, the  coffer was transformed and instead of having arcades and small panels alternating with pilasters, there developed a long frontal panel sculpted in solid wood with a single subject matter and on the stiles, terms in the manner of architectural niches. Often the corners were carved with caryatids or terms and the front panel depicted a mythological or biblical scene which were perfectly adapted to marriage coffers or for ladies could store away their clothes. 

Often the carved panels were based upon engravings by artists such as the Flemish Jacob Matham, (1571-1631) and the Dutchman, Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617),  see for example the engraving by J.Matham, after Golzius, representing Justice, carved on the left side panel, illustrated by Thirion op, cit. p. 228, and reproduced here in fig. 2. 

The School of Fontainebleau refers to two periods of artistic production in France during the late Renaissance centred around the royal Château of Fontainebleau. Several great Italian artists are known to have been the protagonist of this first school, namely Francesco Primaticcio (c.1505-1570), and Niccolò dell'Abbate (c.1509-1571).
The works of this "first school of Fontainebleau," from which this coffer is derived,  are characterized by elaborate use of allegories and mythological iconography, as well detailed and profuse mouldings. Renaissance decorative motifs such as grotesques, strapwork and putti are also a common feature.