![CUIR-BOUILLI BOX – An icon or document carrying-case with cuir-bouilli decoration. [Tirol?: probably mid-15th century].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2014/CKS/2014_CKS_01568_0014_001(cuir-bouilli_box_an_icon_or_document_carrying-case_with_cuir-bouilli_d101543).jpg?w=1){kind=icon}
![CUIR-BOUILLI BOX – An icon or document carrying-case with cuir-bouilli decoration. [Tirol?: probably mid-15th century].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2014/CKS/2014_CKS_01568_0014_000(cuir-bouilli_box_an_icon_or_document_carrying-case_with_cuir-bouilli_d091236).jpg?w=1){kind=icon}
Details
CUIR-BOUILLI BOX – An icon or document carrying-case with cuir-bouilli decoration. [Tirol?: probably mid-15th century].
(105mm high x 270mm wide x 220mm deep). Decorated boiled leather over wooden boards, worked with cut decoration and punched pointillé lid and sides with a pattern of scrolling leaves, sides of lid with undulating border, bottom undecorated, 3 iron bands, the central band ending in front-mounted lock, the other two with hook-and-eye closure, 4 (of 5) metal strap holders, interior lined with red-dyed goatskin. (Some wear, minor cracking, some nails renewed.) Provenance: Helena von Hohensax (ascription on inner label by:) – Otto Nessner (art and book collector, early 20th-century, bought at Soglio, Bergell; coloured woodcut of a tower cut out from Speculum humanae salvationis, in German, Basel: 1476 [Goff S-664] mounted on inner lid as bookplate; stamp of a cross within a circle at back of inner lid).
A fine example of a late medieval/early Renaissance box. Its side strap holders and the absence of a top handle show it was a carrying case. These were used for transportable shrines, icons and books and documents. Its very good condition could result from the stability of ownership; Nessner indicates it was once the property of Helena von Hohensax, second wife of the diplomat and military man, Ulrich VII von Hohensax (1463-1538), then passing by descent presumably to his acquisition of it at Soglio.
(105mm high x 270mm wide x 220mm deep). Decorated boiled leather over wooden boards, worked with cut decoration and punched pointillé lid and sides with a pattern of scrolling leaves, sides of lid with undulating border, bottom undecorated, 3 iron bands, the central band ending in front-mounted lock, the other two with hook-and-eye closure, 4 (of 5) metal strap holders, interior lined with red-dyed goatskin. (Some wear, minor cracking, some nails renewed.) Provenance: Helena von Hohensax (ascription on inner label by:) – Otto Nessner (art and book collector, early 20th-century, bought at Soglio, Bergell; coloured woodcut of a tower cut out from Speculum humanae salvationis, in German, Basel: 1476 [Goff S-664] mounted on inner lid as bookplate; stamp of a cross within a circle at back of inner lid).
A fine example of a late medieval/early Renaissance box. Its side strap holders and the absence of a top handle show it was a carrying case. These were used for transportable shrines, icons and books and documents. Its very good condition could result from the stability of ownership; Nessner indicates it was once the property of Helena von Hohensax, second wife of the diplomat and military man, Ulrich VII von Hohensax (1463-1538), then passing by descent presumably to his acquisition of it at Soglio.
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Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
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