Chest for Laces (Cofano)
furniture maker
Unknown
Date18th century
Place MadeVenice, Veneto, Italy, Europe
MediumChest: wood, silk velvet, silk with tuffs, bronze fittings; Base: gilded cirmolo
Dimensions28 7/8 x 26 1/8 x 19 5/16 in. (73.3 x 66.4 x 49 cm)
ClassificationsFurniture
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberF26s6
eMuseum ID726972
EmbARK ObjectID12382
Alt. No. 1 (Siple)043
Previous NumberF26s6.x.1
TMS Source ID1508
Last Updated8/14/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryThis chest has a fall front and a hinged top that close with a pin and lock. These two sections open to reveal a tray with two sliding shelves below. These sections and the inside cover are lined with white silk and small blue tufts. The front of the tray is painted with blue vines. This box seems designed to store delicate textiles, perhaps laces or silks. The exterior of the piece is covered with a red cut-velvet made of silk which was probably made in Iran in the late seventeenth century or eighteenth century.
The chest fits into a gilded wood base carved with foliage and scrolls, edged with rocaille motifs, and punched in the flat surfaces.
The chest fits into a gilded wood base carved with foliage and scrolls, edged with rocaille motifs, and punched in the flat surfaces.
BibliographyNotesIsabella Stewart Gardner. Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 20. ("Venetian écrin for lace")
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston: 1935), p. 216.
Adolph S. Cavallo. Textiles: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1986), p. 106, no. 24. (the velvet as possibly Persian, 17th century or later)
Fausto Calderai and Alan Chong. Furnishing a Museum: Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Collection of Italian Furniture (Boston: 2011), p. 260, no. 121. (as Venice, base: 18th or early 19th century)
Daniela Cecutto. Una miniera inesauribile: Collezionisti e antiquairi di arte islamica L'Italia e il contesto internazionale tra Ottocento e Novecento. Exh. cat. (Florence: Museo Stefano Bardini, 2012). pp. 205, 212, n43, p. 269, no. 110. (the velvet as Persia, 17th century)
Ev Page, "Secrets of the Gardner Museum Collection's Furniture," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 26 June 2023, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/secrets-gardner-museum-collections-furniture
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston: 1935), p. 216.
Adolph S. Cavallo. Textiles: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1986), p. 106, no. 24. (the velvet as possibly Persian, 17th century or later)
Fausto Calderai and Alan Chong. Furnishing a Museum: Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Collection of Italian Furniture (Boston: 2011), p. 260, no. 121. (as Venice, base: 18th or early 19th century)
Daniela Cecutto. Una miniera inesauribile: Collezionisti e antiquairi di arte islamica L'Italia e il contesto internazionale tra Ottocento e Novecento. Exh. cat. (Florence: Museo Stefano Bardini, 2012). pp. 205, 212, n43, p. 269, no. 110. (the velvet as Persia, 17th century)
Ev Page, "Secrets of the Gardner Museum Collection's Furniture," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 26 June 2023, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/secrets-gardner-museum-collections-furniture
MarksNotesInscribed on the inner side of the frame is written in an 18th or 19th-century script, "Parte Davanti" (Italian for "front part").
ProvenanceNotesPurchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the antique dealer Michelangelo Guggenheim (1837–1914), Venice on 27 September 1897 for 1500 lire.
Object/Provenance
