Back view of my 10th century box; ready to begin... what? |
The same held true for the medieval furniture maker, there was an almost infinite range of possible ways he could ornament a box, trunk, or chest and we cannot always appreciate that from the few remains that we might encounter in museums, or from the limited details in the iconographic depictions found in illuminated manuscripts or paintings. (this blog is generally referring to the pre-13th century medieval world)
A modern person would be completely satisfied with some paint, varnish, or perhaps some veneer or at best some marquetry to this box, but in this blog I will show, from actual surviving examples, some of those endless possibilities just mentioned.
Some of the pictures are my own, some came from the websites of the museums where the objects are found, and others from image searches on the web. I have tried to list the source of all the photos for this post.
A painted box, in the MET (own photo) |
It would be nice to list the types of potential finish organised by the cost of work which went into the making of them, but there are not enough records to know how much workers were paid for the various types of work done, also there are so many degrees of quality and skill level, so that a very finely painted casket might cost more than a quickly done bone laminated one or a finely wrought repoussé chest might cost more than an ivory one. Because of the huge amount of grey area, after a few obviously less expensive examples, I will just try to group them by type.
(Incidentally, this casket which I photographed at the Cloisters is labeled as being early 13th century, and supposedly depicts scenes from "the capture of Orange" a specific incident in 9th century French history. However, I see nothing of particular on this box to identify it as such. To me it looks like a generic box with stock period decorations, done purely for the sake of ornament. I have sent a message to the museum to inquire about any supporting evidence for their theory, but as yet have not received a reply. In addition, I take issue with the dating, because, based on the style of artwork and the costumes, it could come from any time between circa 1100 and the early 13th century. [See another chest below, from the late 11th century which has a very similar style of artwork in a different medium.] I much prefer when Museums give the whole range of possible dating unless they have specific evidence to point to a particular date, in which case they should state that evidence.)
I am only making a guess that a chest covered in silk embroidery would be more expensive than a painted one, but it is only a guess. Silk is, and always has been, expensive, but the work of covering the box in linen and then applying and scraping the gesso smooth also consumes a lot of time before the painting actually even gets started; it is probably impossible to say which one would have actually cost more?
I have not encountered any box with the form such as those we are discussing, covered in bead-work, but the fact that there are a few surviving small boxes finished in that manner, and the fact that bead work was a means of ornamenting numerous objects, I find it highly probable that this was a viable option.
Early 13th century casket covered in embroidery |
I am only making a guess that a chest covered in silk embroidery would be more expensive than a painted one, but it is only a guess. Silk is, and always has been, expensive, but the work of covering the box in linen and then applying and scraping the gesso smooth also consumes a lot of time before the painting actually even gets started; it is probably impossible to say which one would have actually cost more?
13th century bead-covered pyx in the Schnütgen Museum, Köln (own photo) |
I have not encountered any box with the form such as those we are discussing, covered in bead-work, but the fact that there are a few surviving small boxes finished in that manner, and the fact that bead work was a means of ornamenting numerous objects, I find it highly probable that this was a viable option.
Leather covered coffret in the Germanischen Nationalmuseum Nürnberg |
Another similar type of covering to cloth would be leather. This was a very popular medium for finishing boxes, cases, and satchels. It could be flat and punched, or, as this example, highly embossed and worked. In addition the leather would have been painted and gold or silver leaf could, and was, used to further enhance the more expensive examples. (Yet another form of ornament known only from writing, would be mosaic made of crushed eggshells. Perhaps the finished result would look something like the bead-work pictured on the pyx, above.)
12th century casket covered in silver leafed gesso St-Servatiusbasilika Maastricht (Wikipedia) |
Speaking of metal leaf, here is a chest which has been coated in thick gesso and then ornamented with a punch to trace out a leaf and vine motif, it was then covered with silver leaf. Similar work was done in gold leaf as well, another variation on this idea was moulded gesso, referred to as pastiglia.
Carved, painted and partially gilt wooden casket from the 12th century (Victoria and Albert Museum) |
Probably the single most common form of ornamentation for boxes, chests and caskets would have been carving, which would have almost always been painted or gilded before the 14th century. (The only exceptions would have been something carved from a "precious [i.e. figured or box] wood" There are a handful of surviving carved boxes in various states of preservation going back to the 9th century and they exhibit a wide range of carving quality which has nothing to do with the time period in which they were made, and everything to do with the amount of money someone was willing to pay for them,
German casket with inset carving 12th century (from a book) |
As with every other art form, there was an endless variety to the style and quality of carving. Some carving was done in the solid body of the box, but more expensive pieces had carved filigree work. This allowed for cleaner details on the sides of the carving and facilitated quicker and neater work in the painting or gilding of the background. The oldest chests of this type that I know of are from the 12th century, but there exist many ivory examples of this type of work going back to the 7th century and there are wooden examples from Egypt going back at least to the 4th century which suggests that such caskets probably also existed throughout the entire medieval period in Europe as well. (The dry climate of Egypt allowed many more artifacts to have been preserved there.)
Painted Italian ivory casket, 11th century in Sankt Maria im Kapitol, Köln (own photo) |
Because it is a more durable material, as well as being more valuable, there are many more ivory caskets which survive, than wooden ones; except that most "ivory caskets" are actually wooden, with ivory or bone plates laminated to them. Because there are more of them which have survived, we can see a much wider range of technique and quality to this type of box. The simplest are made up with thin smooth plates which have been painted, partially gilded, or both, as is the case with the one pictured above. Other examples used simple geometric incisions to form decorative schemes, and could also be enhanced with colour and gilding. Moving up the cost scale, there were carved bone and carved ivory, and then ivory carved and enhanced with gold and gems. As I said, the potential is nearly infinite.
Early 12th century bone casket with colour and gilded copper foil, its original lock-plate would have been gilded (Heilbronn) |
Carved ivory plates overlay another gilded foil backing on this 12th century reliquary shrine, now housed in the Cloisters. (own photo) |
The red and green colour has been infused into a resin (probably glue) which originally filled the incisions left by the tool used to make the circular geometric ornaments to this piece.
9th century ivory casket from Metz. The metal hardware is a later addition. The ornament of this casket has traces of gilding to parts of the carving (web) |
This brings us to the next type of decorated casket, which is variations on a metal covering. As we see with the last example, there is not always a clear line of distinction between various mediums and metal coverings were often further enhanced by other techniques.
Embossed silver foil casket ca 1150 (Chicago Art Institute) |
This type of decoration is based on gilt cast metal ornaments, applied over gilded metal foil, on a wooden core. This one is from the 13th century and is in the Cluny Museum (own photo) |
These last three examples are probably of the most expensive type of work done, but since I love wood, I will finish with a couple of the most precious of wooden treasures that I know of, both German work of the 12th century. (Theophilus mentions Germany as specifically being a place producing noteworthy wood-work.)
Marquetry chest, 12th century, with bone accent (Hildesheim Cathedral Museum) |
12th century casket from the treasury of Essen Cathedral with 13th century metal mounts (Flicker) |
Even more amazing than the last piece is this, my absolute favourite; not only does it have more of the fine intarsia work, it also incorporates carved and painted decorations. In my humble opinion, one could not have a finer medieval wooden casket than this.
So with all of this information to work from, what will I be doing with my box?
covered in linen (if it was still 1960 I would be finished, it looks just like several books and my radio from when I was a kid) |
eight coats of gesso |
lots of scraping |
These photos which show the current status of the box will give a hint. I first made some size from parchment, as directed by Cennini, and then applied the size and linen as directed by him (and also Theophilus) I then made some gesso with the size and applied it to build up a good thick layer and then scraped it down very smooth and even... After all that, - I am still facing a blank canvas.
I would go for an ivory/bone cover or an enamel-Limoges cover of the box.
ReplyDeleteHowever with the gesso, it will be paintings i guess.
Good guess
ReplyDeleteشركة الامانة كلين
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تقوم بتنظيف السجاد والموكيت وتعقيمه وحيث يتم التخلص من الاتربة و الحشرات لاننا الارخص
الماهر
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