Finished (the painting, anyway)

More than seven years ago, I began working on my "7th Century Box" project. At the time, I had no idea that it would be this long in the making, but this past week, it finally got "finished". Actually, it really is not finished yet, because it still wants hinges, a handle, a lock and some textile lining.

 

 

The finished front (minus a lock)

 

 

The main reason for making this box, besides that I wanted to, was to demonstrate the potential decorative qualities of  objects from a time when so few are available; and to show that the world was not as drab bleak and crude as what people are want to portray it, through their own cultural ignorance and biases. 

To be sure, this was no "ordinary" man's chest, but it is something that could have existed, and if it did, it would look, when new, just as this does; every aspect of it was crafted with tools and techniques available in the 7th century. In this post, I shall tell a bit of how I came to decorate it as I did and the thought process behind those choices.

 

I already revealed my sources of inspiration for the design in previous posts on the topic, like this first one, from September of 2018 (When I had already been working on it for nearly a year) so there is no point to repeat myself here.

 

 

 

Mosaic of Saint'Apollonair in Classe, Ravenna

 

 

The mosaic shown above was created in the sixth century, so would have been roughly one hundred years old by the time of our box, yet it shows the beginnings of the stylisation of the trees, as they appear on our box. This artwork would doubtlessly have influenced later generations, as it was on view throughout the entire span of the "Middle Ages".

In decorating this box, the overall colour theme was inspired by a couple frescoes and an "illuminated manuscript" page, all from our target period of "the 7th century". The colours, or "pallet" I chose mostly came from this manuscript. Different colours were available in different regions and according to one's budget. The type of painting that one was doing could also affect the colours that one had to work with. Some colours were available for books, but not for walls or furnishings, whilst other colours were available for any type of surface. It was those sorts of colours that I chose for this box. All of them, save the blue and black, which comes from woad and charcoal, respectively, began as ground up minerals (stones),

 

 

From the Codex Amiatinus comes several inspirations, including colours

A good source of information on horse trappings came from this fresco

Two wall paintings that lent a lot of information to this project came from 7th century fragments preserved in Santa Maria, Antiqua, in Rome. Seeing this equestrian painting, in particular, helped a great deal in better understanding where the original carver was coming from with his design, which I mostly followed, for the front panel.The harness and the saddle are the same, and the pose of the horse seems to be similar to my left-most horse. It even gave inspiration for the decoration of the rider's hose and shoes.

 

View of the front of the lid with birds

The back, with small birds and a "textile, design on the lid

 

 

Birds were a very common early mediaeval theme in the arts; since I love them as well, it was natural to incorporate them into my box.  The method of colouring them was informed by several illuminated manuscripts, of which I have included a couple pages, below. 

Birds in 7th century art

More birds and ornamental details, Note their multi-coloured nature

Details showing multi-coloured strap-work and banding

 

Speaking of colour, a series of surviving pages from the so-called "Stockholm Codex Aureus" (Early 8th century) was my main inspiration for how to go about colouring the main back panel. The above picture is a compressed view of part of two sides of an arch used as a "Eusebian Cannon Table" in the manuscript. The colours, as well as the black background where what I took away from this. 

 

 

7th century linen and wool textile with roundel motif

Since we are discussing the back, I might as well end that topic by mentioning that from the moments I saw the original carved marble slab that inspired the back of the lid, I always understood that to represent textile. There are many preserved fragments of 7th century textiles, from Egypt as well as sources along the "Silk Road" which show this basic repeat "roundel" pattern, so it was to imitate this type of fabric that I coloured it. I had a 9th century illuminated manuscript page in mind, which gave me the idea of the purple and gold, but purple was, since the Roman times, a sign of wealth, so there is no reason to think that one would not have used such a colour for this purpose. In fact, there are several surviving 7th century Sogdian silk fragments in Museums around the world, done with purple. 

Back and right-hand end

Right lid end with lions; an ever present theme as well

7th century buckle with "Daniel Among the Lions"

Right end detail

Another painting from Santa Maria Antigua in Rome

 

In 9th century illuminated manuscripts, there are many versions of overlapping circles with gradient colours, and I had seen several 7th and early 8th as well as a 6th century examples of other shapes showing the same gradient theme, (See the above manuscript from which I drew inspiration for the colours) but I was not able to find a 7th century one specifically with overlapping circles. I really expected that they would have used such a motif because it seemed to be such a popular mode of ornamentation, but I searched for a long time to find something to support my hunch. I did eventually find evidence in the fresco, shown above; some of the paint has worn off, so the gradient effect has been partially lost, but it definitely shows the concept.  Of all of the carved elements on this box, this is the one that I am the most confident in how it would have been painted in the target century. 

 

 

Left end

In the unfinished carving, it was the left end I liked best, thus I put it together this way, because I like to "read" a piece of furniture from the left corner, but after the painting, I really loved the right end, and wished I had put the thing together differently. This end panel works well with the lions above, though, and it all works well as a complete piece. I really had nothing much to go on, for the painting of this animal, other than a couple illustrations of lions and imaginary creatures, which this is. All are mostly painted in single colours, with outlines accents, as I have done here.
 

 

Gilded arcade detail on the front of the box

Gold-plated 7th century bronze medallion

Detail of a 7th century gold-foil votive cross

 

Another thing that was very clear to me, when starting on this project, was how similar the surviving carvings of the period were to metalwork, which the semi-nomadic Germanic tribes had been famous for for centuries. As this was their preferred manner of ornamentation, it is no wonder that other types of decoration would resemble and imitate that form. I also suspect that originally, a lot of the carved interior stonework would have been gilded much as I have done with this box. Once the gilding is on, it really does looks just like metalwork. In the 7th century writings, concerning St Eligius, we are informed of the practice of gilding stone altars, specifically.

 

Some people might think that this box is too elaborate and sophisticated for the 7th century, but I again repeat that that is only because we have been brainwashed into supposing the people of that time to be simple rustics living in squalor and gloom. Below, I share a couple of actual 7th century caskets that have survived to our present age; by these, you can see that my box is less involved than they are. More "man-hours" would have been spent to make these than what I spent on my box.

 

7th century Reliquary; missing many of its jewels

Another 7th century reliquary

 

Should you still be skeptical, because these are metal, not wood, I will say that actually, the first one, above is wood, and has been carved out to accommodate the metal inlay, (no mean feat, for sure) but there are other examples of fine wood carving from the 7th century as well. Here is a door from a painted cupboard Someone has sawn the eagles off, perhaps to apply as decoration to something else? Were they gilded? It is hard to say. The book cover is leather, but someone had to carve the form into which it was pressed, to create the design, so that counts, as well.

 

 

 

Cover of St Cuthbert's personal gospel book

cupboard door from the "6th or 7th century"

Some readers might note the mixture of Roman influences with that of the "migration" art of this box. This is no accident. First of all, the original carvings from which I drew inspiration also had this mixture, such as the classical columns on the ends of migration-style sarcophagi. This blending of styles was the beginning of "European art", and is exhibited in many branches of the arts, such as this 7th century illuminated manuscript page, below.

 

 

A blending of Roman and Germanic art styles

Note, also the gradient colours (red and blue), that I mentioned earlier. It would take several hundred more years for European art to fully homoginise into itself, but it never stopped looking back to Roman models, contrary to the commonly held notion of "rediscovering" it in the renaissance.

 

Videre Scire