MARRIAGE CHEST
carved, sculpted and partially gilt wood
The uniqueness of this precious chest lies in the two figurative panels on the front, which depict subjects from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”. The first panel on the left shows Phaeton and his mother Clymene before Helios, the god of the Sun, imploring his father Apollo to grant him to use his carriage for his inauspicious flight. The right panel, on the contrary, depicts the two lovers Daphne and Apollo – the latter on the right – before a classical building. Both reliefs are examples of a tradition of chests decoration style that was fashionable in Rome in the second half of the 16th century. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London preserves a pair of chests dating from 1570, originally made for the wedding of Paolo Lancellotti and Giulia Delfini (inv. 4416-1857, 4417-1857) which feature the same scenes illustrated in this piece – evidently based on the same drawings, along with others inspired by the same myth. As in the V&A chests, our piece features two panoplies on the sides.
The design clearly echoes classical sculpture and architecture: The sarcophagus shape with its lively high-relief carvings is punctuated at the front by herms, and is decorated with rosettes and festoons. In the centre, placed between two sphinxes, is the coat of arms of the family ordering the chest, perhaps originally painted. The urn-shaped lid is decorated with alternating leaf motifs, placed above rosettes and festoons centred by a mascaron with wide open jaws. Lion’s paw feet complete the chest, embellishing its base.
Rome, second half of the 16th century
cm 61x157x60