16th Century Boxes

RARE CENTER CHAPEL COUNTER 16th Century Lusíada - Portuguese in teak, Partial sissoo coating with ivory inlays, with 9 drawers simulating 10. Micromosaic in different materials, bac...

Rectangular body casket with semicircular lid made of carved wood and covered with a worked leather that has been reinforced with a series of forged iron fittings, material in which ...

Spanish Renaissance casket, 16th century In carved, polychrome and gilded wood decorated with a vase with horns of plenty, heads of cherubs and fruits. In the lock a shield with two ...

Superb late 16th century signed colonial Japanese Namban export lacquer coffer Momoyama period, late 16th/early 17th century, inscribed 'Arisato' on the bottom H. 30.5 x W. 43...

Florentine leather casket Italy, Tuscany 16th century leather, iron and wood. Very rare boiled leather box incised on a wooden core; iron lock. The central shield is divide...

An exceptional Indo-Portuguese colonial mother-of-pearl veneered casket with silver mounts India, Gujarat, 2nd half of the 16th century, the silver mounts Goa or probably Lisbon Measures: H. 16 x W. 24.6 x D. 16.1 cm An exceptional Gujarati casket with a rectangular box and truncated pyramidal lid (with slopes on each side and a flat top) made from exotic wood, probably teak (Tectona grandis), covered with a mother-of-pearl mosaic. The tesserae, cut from the shell of the green turban sea snail (Turbo marmoratus, a marine gastropod) in the shape of fish scales, are pinned to the wooden structure with silver ball-headed nails. The casket is set on bracket feet on the corners. The masterfully engraved decoration of the silver mounts follows the most refined and erudite Mannerist repertoire of rinceaux and ferroneries dating from the mid-16th century. The high quality and refinement of the silver mounts and, likewise, the silver nails that replaced the original brass pins used to hold the mother-of-pearl tesserae in place indicate the work of a silversmith probably working in Lisbon in the second half of the 16th century. The Indian origin of this production, namely from Cambay (Khambhat) and Surat in the present state of Gujarat in north India, is, as for the last three decades, consensual and fully demonstrated, not only by documentary and literary evidence - such as descriptions, travelogues and contemporary archival documentation - but also by the survival in situ of 16th-century wooden structures covered in mother-of-pearl tesserae. A fine example is a canopy decorating the tomb (dargah) of the Sufi saint, Sheik Salim Chisti (1478-1572) in Fatehpur Sikri in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, north India. This is an artistic production, geometric in character and Islamic in nature, where usually the mother-of-pearl tesserae form complex designs of fish scales or, similar to the dishes also made using the same technique, with the thin brass sheets and pins, stylized lotus flowers. The truncated pyramidal shape corresponds, like their contemporary tortoiseshell counterparts also made in Gujarat, to a piece of furniture used in the Indian subcontinent within the Islamic world prior to the arrival of the first Portuguese. This shape, in fact, is very old and peculiar to East-Asian caskets, chests or boxes used to contain and protect Buddhist texts, the sutras. A similar chest is the famous and large reliquary chest from Lisbon cathedral that once contained the relics of the city's patron saint, Saint Vincent. Both match in shape, having the same kind of socle or pedestal and bracket feet, and in their engraved silver mountings, featuring the same type of refined, erudite decoration. Their differences lie in the silver borders that frame the entire length of the edges of the chest (both the box and the lid), pinned with silver nails, and on the lock plate, shaped like a coat of arms in the Lisbon example. Given the exceptional dimensions of the reliquary casket...

Bronze and gilded copper box, Central Europe, 16th century Dimensions: 13 x 17.2 x 12.2 cm Resting on the ground by means of four spherical feet in...

Mudejar-style chest. Spain, circa 1500. Wood and leather. A chest with a wooden core and leather lining. The leather has been embossed with stylised vegetal motifs on both sides, i...

Pyx. Carved and polychrome wood. Spanish school, 16th century. Box with a circular base and a frustoconical body that has a vaulted lid topped with a knob with a molding, it is made of carved wood and preserves traces of gilding on its outer surface and also on the interior (lid and base). In this area it is decorated with some vegetable-themed carvings on the lid and winged angel heads joined by curved textiles reminiscent of garlands on the front of the body. Typologically, the shape of the piece is reminiscent of silver pyxes...

Rare 16th century Nuremberg box In iron, measurements: 13 x 18 x 12 cm Good condition.

Important Renaissance Medical Box. Spanish Or Italian Workshop, Around 1550 Renaissance Medical Casket with stepped lid and vaulted flanked dome. Polychro...

Provenance : Jean Gismondi collection, before 1973. This important walnut jewelry chest is outlined with a gilt motif and presents a decor imitating basketry. The lid is topped by...

Small box with opening top, slightly convex urn front with shaped shelf support, decorated on the front with carved tablet, while the rest of the object is simply painted. The front started with four pilasters that create three reserves, the two lateral pilasters have two twisted columns on a blue background, the central pilasters are instead painted with gold candelabra...

A large Japanese Namban lacquer arqueta coffer for the Portuguese market Kyoto, Momoyama-period, late 16th century In Hinoki cypress lacquered in ...

A fine and unusual Japanese black lacquer and mother of pearl inlaid box, Momoyama Period, 16th century, Japan. The large box and cover featu...

Rare and Beautiful 16th century Siena box 13cm x 15.5cm x 27cm Paper mache box gilt and lacquered in blue and red. Good condition for the age.

Northern Italy box set with 16th century Floral Motifs 18.5x30x16cm Casket in carved and gilded wood with floral motifs. Sealing wax stamp inside. Vintag...