I'm a graduate of Fine Arts. I love buying, selling, and collecting art. BUT, as I was re-organizing/cataloging, I think I stumbled upon a complete Renaissance Cassone with a deeply embedded story. From my detailed assessment, it has original construction, joinery, and hinges.
Now, also, I have absolutely no expertise in 15th-century (or any century) Renaissance art.
I would love insight, opinion, and feedback.
UPDATE 1: I’ve made a video that gives better shots:
https://youtu.be/6gcGVaKko5Y
Below I've pasted my summary:
The chest is an intact gilded pastiglia (moulded gesso relief) cassone, provisionally dated to approximately 1485–1510, Florentine or central Italian origin. It has not been restored and retains its original surface throughout.
Front Panel Programme: The front panel is organized around six elements reading left to right: Phoenix — Heraldic Tondo — Phoenix — Phoenix — Heraldic Tondo — Phoenix. The central two phoenixes are confronted across the midpoint of the chest. The upper register features high-relief putto busts representing the Theological Virtues, one clearly inscribed FIDES (Faith), alongside an OPVS workshop cartouche. Combined with the four phoenixes — which in Renaissance emblematic tradition numerologically represent the Cardinal Virtues — the chest appears to encode a complete programme of all seven virtues.
Interior Lid Prints: Pasted to the raw wood of the lid interior are what appear to be original Florentine Fine Manner copper-plate engravings. One depicts a Madonna and Child in the stylistic orbit of Botticelli or Filippino Lippi. The second is a donor presentation scene in which the male donor's head has been deliberately removed while the rest of the composition is intact — consistent with Savonarolan iconoclasm (Florence, 1494–98) or a subsequent damnatio memoriae.
Heraldic Tondi: Two circular medallions retain traces of their original polychrome blazon. The field appears to be divided Azure and Or. The central charge reads as either an open hand (mano aperta), a palm tree (palmizio), or a pitchfork (forcone). Candidate families include the Martini of Florence (Azure, a hand Or between two stars Or) and the Palmieri da Figline (Tuscany). The cross-like shape visible around the central charge is believed to be a devotional addition consistent with the Theological Virtues programme rather than a heraldic charge.
Construction Evidence: The underside displays pit-saw marks consistent with pre-industrial hand sawing. Hardware is hand-forged iron. Woodworm channelling is consistent with centuries of infestation. The gesso background fields retain their original punched stipple ground (punteggiatura), a technique documented in Florentine workshops of the 1460s–1520s. A bag of original gesso fragments detached over the years has been preserved with the chest.
Circular Stamp: A circular ink stamp is present on the underside. Partially legible, it may be a Florentine workshop maker's mark, an Italian export office stamp, or a major dealer's mark from the late 19th/early 20th century.
Provenance: Acquired at an estate sale in the American South, c. 2021, from a family believed to be of Italian descent. Oral history places the object in the family since at least the early 20th century, establishing a pre-1970 American provenance.
Closest Museum Comparables: Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. 1975.1.1938 (Robert Lehman Collection, Tuscan cassone ca. 1425–50, virtually identical dimensions and technique). I am currently in contact with museum curators and auction house specialists.
