Stunning Renaissance Revival Nuptial Casket / Box, Great Patina, Lock and Key

Great quality and superb condition antique box for presenting your finest cigars. This beautifully designed and perfectly handcrafted cigar box is another one of our recent finds and this antique will make a great gift for yourself or for a cigar smoking friend or loved one. All handcrafted in the late 1800s this box is much better than anything you will be able to buy in today's stores. The design, its age and its practicality are one thing, but what makes this antique work of beauty really stand out is the honey colored, light nutwood exterior and interior. It is in superb condition and an absolute joy to look at. If you like it in our photos then you will love it in real life, because the patina is much better looking and warmer than in any of our photos. You can, again, take our word for it. This work of beauty will look great no matter where you decide to have it on display and it turns smoking a fine cigar into an even better experience, because who would not want to be offered a cigar like this. This finest of cigar boxes also comes with a perfect working lock...

Top quality and excellent condition antique box for the collectors of rare and beautiful. Over the years we have had the pleasure of owning and selling some truly beautiful antique ...

A beautiful and top condition antique black forest jewelry box, carved on all sides. This rare and large jewelry box makes a beautiful accessory for a lady with an eye for fine arts. It is a very well fine carved gem and highly practical with a good working lock and key. The detailed leafs, branches and flowers on top and the marvelous blue...

Beautiful and rare Gothic Revival treasure box with bronze handle. If you are a collector of antique boxes and/or if you are looking for an extraordinary jewelry box to grace your credenza or side table then this unique and top quality made specimen in the Gothic style could be perfect. Gothic Revival boxes are very hard to find and we have never seen one with such prodigious carvings on all sides. The unique and cat-like dragon gargoyles (with fangs) that look like they are carrying this casket, are just some of the stunningly carved and detailed sculptures that make this antique rarity even more artistic and impressive. Another great feature are the peacock sculptures. In Christianity the peacock is the symbol of purity. Christians believe that once someone has passed their soul rises and goes to heaven. This is why in earlier times Christians would spread the feathers of a peacock over the deceased since it symbolized a pure soul that was immune to corruption. The peacock also represents immortality, resurrection, and the spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ and the Christian church. Have you also noticed the top quality details on both ends of the bronze handle on top? The quality of that ornamental work is of the absolute highest standard also. There are many more incredibly beautiful, hand carved details and together they show that no expense was spared to create one of the most amazing Gothic caskets...

Antique hand-carved box with roses on top. This rare Black Forest box from circa 1870-1880 has the most beautiful design and details and it can be used for all kinds of purposes. The oval shaped ratan...

Marvelous antique French jester sculpture. This large and amazing sculpture of a sitting court jester in the Renaissance Style truly is a rare find. ...

With a domed hinged lid and bail handle over a conforming case decorated overall with figures in Renaissance dress. Bun feet. Provenance; David and P...

A fine antique 19th Century brass casket or table box. In the Renaissance Revival style. With embossed brass sheet side panels, a domed lid, bail handle, and scroll & leaf work fee...

Our gold damascened Renaissance Revival jewelry chest by Antonio Cortelazzo (1819-1903) was commissioned by the English lawyer and antiquarian, Sir William Drake (1817-1890) and exhibited by the artist at the 1872 International Exhibition in London. It features a pair of dragons supporting the arms of Drake plus repoussé trophies and gold-ground scrollwork, raised on scroll and mask feet.  The lid is signed CORTELAZZO VICENZA FECIT 1870. With original descriptions written in ink on paper. The first reads "Steel Casket damascened gold and ornamented with 4 plaques of repousse work by Cortelazzo of Vincenza. Coll: Sir W R Drake S.L.A." where the initials refer to the Society of Antiquaries of London. The second similarly reads "Casket of Steel damascened with gold and ornamented with four plaques of silver repousse work. By Cortelazzo of Vincenza. Lent by Sir William Drake." Exhibition: International Exhibition of 1872, London. Provenance: The Collection of Sir William Drake, F.S.A., Christie's, London, June 30, 1891, lot 602, 33 GBP. The Collection of M.F. Adie Esq., purchased circa 1950 from H.W. Keil Ltd, Broadway, Worcestershire, England. Literature: The Official Catalogue, Fine Arts Department London, International Exhibition of 1872, London, J.M. Johnson & Sons, Victoria and Albert Museum. (See images here in our listing.) The Art Journal, London, 1872, p 2. Nineteenth Century Silver, J. Culme, London, 1977, p 17. The Layards, Cortelazzo and Castellani: New Information from the Diaries of Lady Layard, Jewellery Studies I, J. Rudoe, 1983, p 86. A Renaissance-Revival Masterpiece by Antonio Cortelazzo, B. Shifman, Cleveland Studies in the History of Art, vol 8, p 103. In 1872 The Art Journal Catalogue wrote "Among the art gems of the present exhibition are to be found the productions from the hand of Antonio Cortelazzo of Vicenza, now as well known in England for his skill as a metalworker as he is appreciated among his fellow workers in his native italy by whom he is recognized as Facile Princeps in the art. In the mechanical skill with which he inlays metal upon metal he has his rivals; but in the combination of that process with purity of design and artistic fancy of ornament which distinguishes all his works, he stands unrivalled. The 'Coffre' is in intarsia of gold and silver (partly flat and in other parts relief) on steel. It is one of numerous specimens of Cortelazzo's work which are to be found in the collection of Sir William Drake, one of the principal English patrons of the artist whose genius is now fully appreciated. Drake was a wealthy lawyer and collector of contemporary as well as renaissance and baroque works of art. A client of the connoisseur and dealer William Blundell Spence, Sir William acquired works by leading artists of the period including the Florentine sculptor and wood carver, Luigi Frullini (1839-1897), English art potters, the Martin brothers, and the celebrated goldsmith and damascener, Placido Zuloaga...

This is a Renaissance style gilt bronze rectangular casket lidded box. It depicts embossed decoration of scrolls of acanthus leaves, birds flowers and hearts around the whole box. In the center of the lid, there is a “cameo” or relief of the profile of a gentleman with a beard. Inside, the box is covered with purple velvet fabric in the lid. It is divided in different sizes and shapes of compartments with glass tray and two inkwell bottles...

A Renaissance Revival gilt-brass and agate mounted dressing table box. French, circa 1870. This fine box is applied with foliate engraved strap-work and side handles and finely po...

A superb antique English Regency style rosewood sarcophagus casket box with lock and key, circa 1850. This fine antique box has a lovely sarcophagus form accented with contrasting in...