Casket - Polychrome wood - Decorated box, Marche

17th century, Marche
Decorated box
Lacquered wood, 25.5 x 52 x 28.5 cm
Original lock

The box represents a refined example of lacquered wood furnishing, belonging to the tradition of 17th-century Marche furniture. From the charm and beauty of the first lacquered pieces, seen or imported from the East, emerges the art of Italian lacquered furniture, to the extent that the earliest examples were very similar to the models – the so-called Chinese-style pieces – before diverging and developing an autonomous stylistic idiom. In Italy, to create lacquered furniture, pine (pino cembro or Cirmolo) is worked, a light wood suitable for lacquering, or walnut for more refined works, with layers of glue and plaster finished with fine sandpaper, to then decorate with vegetal and phytomorphic motifs.
Lacquered furniture is a privilege of the affluent classes and its decoration is often influenced by great works of art, so much so that sometimes the artisans employed to decorate the interiors of palaces are asked to produce cartoons for the ornamentation of the furniture.

For works purchased abroad: after payment, the procedure to obtain an export license (ALC) will be started. All antique pieces shipped abroad from Italy require this document, issued by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. The procedure could take 3 to 5 weeks from the request; therefore, as soon as we have the document, the work will be shipped.