Embossed and polychromed leather casket, French, 14th century

Embossed and polychromed leather mariage casket,
French, late 14th century

Dimensions : h. 9,5 cm, w. 16,5 cm, d. 11 cm

Rare rectangular box with a domed lid in embossed, chiseled, and polychrome leather decorated with figures and coats of arms. The lid features four embossed leather figures facing each other, a man and a woman at the ends, while two central figures hold the coats of arms. The front features two coats of arms in engraved and polychrome leather. The sides are decorated with engraved and painted leather with floral motifs. The box is adorned with brass ironwork with multiple decorations: frets and hasps cut with a flower motif, and the strapping, corners, and keyhole engraved with a frieze of leaves and pearls.

Related works:
• Embossed leather box with figures and coats of arms, France, late 14th century, Metropolitan Museum of New York, inv. 23.229.1 (12.5 cm x 27.4 cm x 13.4 cm)
• Embossed leather box with scenes of courtly love, France, second half of the 14th century, (10.5 x 25 x 19 cm), Cleveland Museum of Art, United States, inv. 1999.211
• Embossed leather box with scenes of courtly love, Flanders, 14th century, (9.5 x 20 x 14.3 cm), Piasa auction, Paris, 07/06/2013, lot n 38
Our box evokes medieval secular art, and the tradition of gifts encouraged by courtly love (engagement or wedding gift). It belongs to the very small corpus of 14th-century embossed leather caskets, which are divided into religious and secular subjects. Caskets made on the theme of courtly love were very popular with the nobility. They occasionally feature inscriptions in Old French with amorous themes (such as the one at the Cleveland Museum and the Piasa sale).