An Italian fruitwood inlaid walnut and parquetry cassone, Tuscan mid 16th century

with a raised rectangular top above a triple panelled front interposed by stop-fluted pilasters with similarly carved sides, the whole inlaid with geometric motifs on a stepped platform base

Inventory of L. Bernheimer, at Palais Bernheimer, Lenbachplatz, Munich 

Exhibited, Die Kunst- und Antiquitatenfirma Bernheimer, Judischen Museums, Munich, November 2007-March 2008, cat. nr. 6.

Illustrated Bernheimer Archive, circa 1930, Album 6, nr. 63. (see lot --)Emily D. Bilski, Die Kunst-und Antiquitatenfirma Bernheimer, exh. cat., Judischen Museums, Munich, Minerva, 2007, p.44, ill.

In overall good conserved condition. The colour is slightly uneven with the top more faded than the rest and would benefit from a repolish according to taste. Old marks, chips and scratches commensurate with age and normal usage. Evidence of old minor woodworm which appears to be no longer active. There have been some minor replacements e.g to sections of the moulding around the top. There are scattered age cracks and construction cracks generally as visible from the photograph especially in the top raised section and the front panels which would benefit from being filled. Some minor sections of inlay are missing and lifting. The base is a bit scuffed as visible from the catalogue photograph.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Comparative Literature:
Frida Schottmuller, Wohnungskultur und Möbel der Italienischen Renaissance, Stuttgart, 1921, p. 46, fig.  94.
Sylvano Colombo, L’Arte del Legno e del Mobile in Italia, Bramante, 1981, no. 194.
Carlo Steiner, Mobili e Ambienti Italiani dal gotico al floreale, Vol. I, Milan, 1963, no. 155.
Augosto Pedrini, Italian Furniture Interiors and Decoration of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, London, 1949, fig. 220.
Daniëlle O. Kisluk-Grosheide, Wolfram Koeppe, William Rieder, Europen Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Highlights of the Collection, New York, 2006, p. 8-9.

This cassone dating to around the mid 16th century is extremely rare not only due for its sarcophagus form but also its skilful inlay in parquetry known as`tarsia a toppo’. It was originally one of a pair with its pendant now in the Bavarian State Collections.  

In the Memorie (1470) of Benedetto Dei (1418-1492), the historian, it is recorded that he much admired the illusionistic effects of the Florentine artisans who specilaised in wood inlay or intarsia and he remarked that when he was in Florence at the time of their manufacture the craftsman began making `intarsia persepectives and figures in (such) a way that they seemed (to be ) painted’.  A `palette‘ of very small wood pieces of different colours and types of wood was utilised by the intarsia cutters inserting them into hollowed out sections , such as  the walnut carcass on the offered example.  According to the Kisluk-Grosheide et al., op.cit.,`The woods used for the intarsia were generally available from timber merchants or they might have been supplied by the patron.’ The type of inlay called `tarsia a toppo’  involved the assembling of hundreds of minute pieces of wood of different species and in various geometric shapes and gluing them together to form a solid block and then cutting them into slices and inserting them into geometric patterns into a solid carcass.

The most similar example in terms of form and inlay is in the Sala Rossa o delle Imprese of Francesco d’Este in Palazzina Marfisa d’Este in Ferrara reproduced here in fig. 1. A comparable example with similar inlay but not with a raised top, formerly belonging to the Rospigliosi in Rome, from their family villa in Pistoia, is illustrated by Schottmuller op. cit., p. 46, fig.  94, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inv. No. 5924-59.

Another related example of similar form dating to the 15^th century and Tuscan, with similar geometric motifs, panels divided by pilasters with an elaborately inlaid central panel depicting buildings flanked by a panel with a fountain is in the V & A Museum, London, illustrated by Colombo, op. cit., no. 194.

A more elaborate example although lacking the raised section on the top, is in Castello Sforzesco, Milan, illustrated by Steiner, op. cit., no. 155.