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Lot Essay
This finely inlaid Renaissance cassone is a striking example of the intricate inlay employing small pieces of bone and ivory in intricate patterns known as 'a la certosina' marquetry, so-called because in Certosa di Pavia there are a number of pieces of this type. The distinctive geometric designs of the marquetry betray an evident Moorish influence, and it is therefore unsurprising that this technique was also practised in Spain, particularly in Granada which was still under Muslim rule until the end of the 15th Century, and where the so-called Hispano-Moresqe style was largely created.
However, Venice, through its extensive trading contacts with the East, also had close artistic ties with the Islamic world, particularly the Ottoman court of Turkey, and it is just as likely that this distinctive style of marquetry, a harmonious blend of East and West, originated there.
A closely related 'a la certosina' marquetry cassone in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, attributed to Venice and dated early 16th Century, is illustrated, A. González-Palacios, Il Tempio Del Gusto: La Toscana e l'Italia Settentrionale, Milan, 1986, vol. I, p.331, fig. 702. González-Palacios points out that the distinctive elongated flowers issuing from urns on the front of these two cassoni (which also appear on a related cassone in the Schlossmuseum, Berlin), also feature on Turkish carpets and Iznik pottery of the period (op. cit., vol. I, p. 309).
However, Venice, through its extensive trading contacts with the East, also had close artistic ties with the Islamic world, particularly the Ottoman court of Turkey, and it is just as likely that this distinctive style of marquetry, a harmonious blend of East and West, originated there.
A closely related 'a la certosina' marquetry cassone in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, attributed to Venice and dated early 16th Century, is illustrated, A. González-Palacios, Il Tempio Del Gusto: La Toscana e l'Italia Settentrionale, Milan, 1986, vol. I, p.331, fig. 702. González-Palacios points out that the distinctive elongated flowers issuing from urns on the front of these two cassoni (which also appear on a related cassone in the Schlossmuseum, Berlin), also feature on Turkish carpets and Iznik pottery of the period (op. cit., vol. I, p. 309).