Will's Cassone Notes

Update: 10/5/2001

Whew.  A whole lot of my links were defunct.  I've updated the page to remove or annotate missing links and will shortly return to snapshot the remaining pages to prevent losing them.  I have also locked down my snapshot of Dr. Hugh Lester's course material at Tulane.  He didn't seem pleased that folks outside of the Tulane community were using the material.

Update: 8/2/2001

Well, I've just about completed the fruit of my labors.  My Cassone Paper is almost ready to submit to Meridian Kingdom Arts and Science.  I want to try to integrate the remaining hardcopy resources, but other than that, it's complete.  If you choose to read my paper, please let me know what you think.

-- Lord Will 

Right now this is just a research repository.  It contains my links, notes, and images in preparation for composing classes and formal papers on the subject of 15th & 16th century marriage chests in Italy.

Links

I have had a lot of poor luck with web resources. I'll find a great page with lots of information which I would like to preserve, only to have it be gone with the wind the next time I wanted to use it.  So I am placing snapshots of a number of web pages here for my own reference.  I will not be mirroring the sites here, just making a static copy.  Please visit the original sites for more up-to-date information.

-- Will

My Reference:  Master Dafydd ap Gwystl and Terafan Greydragon 
Original Site: - www.greydragon.org/cassone
This web site is by a pair of SCA artisans who created an original work based on a 15th century cassone.

My Reference: Dr. Hugh Lester's Palzzo Reale, Turin.
Original Site: Closed
My Reference: cassone and spallaera
Original Site: Closed
Regretfully, Dr. Hugh Lester has chosen to close his course materials for Period and Style for Designers I and II class to everyone but student registered student at  Tulane University. Out of respect for Dr. Lester's decision, I have locked my reference behind a user ID and password.  Sorry.

My Reference: Cassone Example in Spanish
Original Site: Defunct The original page is gone, but you can still check out Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain.
This one is a little strange.  My Spanish is very weak. I'm not sure exactly what this web site is about, but it does have an illustration of the same cassone and spallaera the Dr. Lester references above, with additional information:  a date, 1472. 

My Reference: The Nerli Cassone
Orignal Site: http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/j/jacopo/sellaio/cassone.html
This is yet a third reference to the cassone and spallaera in Dr. Lester's lecture notes above.  It is from the Web Gallery of Art.

My Reference: To Have and to Hold
Original Site: Defunct.  Artnet has taken the article off-line.  They've sharply re-organized, and I find it difficult to do research there anymore.  Thy did used to have a lot of good information, though.  You may still want to check them out.
This reference is to an on-line magazine called Artnet.  They are a very eclectic site with many different articles and features on many different subjects.  This article presents a brief survey of cassone development from the 14th - the 16th centuries, with some cultural background to support the reasons for the direction that cassone developed.  Included is a quote from a primary source.

My Reference: Glossary
Original Site: 
http://www.noteaccess.com/APPROACHES/DecorativeAA/FGlossary2.htm
The provenance of this site is difficult to decipher, but it is hosted by the University of Chicago, and appears to be an on line version of [L. G. G. Ramsey, F.S.A., ed. The Complete Color Encyclopedia of Antiques. Preface by Bevis Hillier, Editor of The Connoisseur. Compiled by The Connoisseur, London. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc. 1962. Revised and Expanded Edition.]   Breaks the decorative styles down to regions.

My Reference: Doralice
Original Site: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510b.html
A tale in which a cassone plays a critical role.  Tebaldo, Prince of Salerno, wishes to have his only daughter Doralice to wife, but she, through her father's persecution, flees to England, where she marries Genese the king, and has by him two children. These, having been slain by Tebaldo, are avenged by their father King Genese.  It is in her cassone that Doralice escapes her father's manor house.

My Reference: The Frick Collection
Original Site: The Frick Collection - This page has images of a pair of walnut cassone, together with their provenance.  Henry Clay Frick was an american rail and steel baron at the turn of the 19th century who built a mansion in New York City to house his family and his art collection.  Upon his death his will created a foundation to preserve the mansion as a museum for the collection.  There are a number of medieval pieces here in various media.

http://www.artsmia.org/mythology/slide9.html#top - This is a walnut cassone re-tells Phaeton's story.  The page is from a photo essay on mythology at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  There are a number of artificats in the essay in various media, and all are fairly well documented.

http://www.xrefer.com/entry/143247 - This link goes to the cassone entry in Xrefer, a meta-dictionary/encyclopedia on the web.  A good summary of the definition of a cassone.

http://www.northampton.gov.uk/Museums/MuseumShop/Art_Postcards.htm - This page is a series of postcards available from the Northampton Borough Council Museum gift shop.  One is of a Carved Gilt Cassone c.1470

http://www.huntington-antiques.com/antique_coffers.html  - Huntington Antiques, Ltd. is an antique store in England with a wonderful on-line catalog.  They have a wide variety of medieval and renaissance furniture on display and for sale.  It is well photographed and documented, and both the photographs and the documentation are on-line.  Note:  This is a commercial establishment, and when they sell a piece, it is removed from the catalog.

The image below is a 16th Century cassone example that I located on an on line web site.  This one is for sale.  Because when it sells the image is likely to disappear, I have reproduced it here.  The text with it stated:

Item No. 159

From Tuscany in solid carved walnut having the characteristic caryatids on either side and the family crest in the center of the front panel.

Dimensions: 64½" long by 21" deep by 26" high

To inquire about this item, please use the form at the bottom of this page or call us at 410-467-8957 (or toll-free at 866-467-8957).

http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_3_2_5d.html - The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, has an excellent collection of medieval and renaissance furniture.  Very little of the collection is on-line but the documentation for those pieces that are is excellent.

http://uk.cambridge.org/art/catalogue/0521583934/default.htm - This is an order form for a book on cassone painting.  I don't know much else about it.

The British Museum - An example of a painted cassone front.