Chest (cassone)

The cassone, or storage chest, remained an essential piece of furniture until the end of the Renaissance, when it was gradually superseded by the chest of drawers. Often made for an impending marriage, a cassone might contain the bride’s trousseau: sometimes, they were made in pairs bearing the armorial devices of the families to be united.

The pictorial elements of this piece were delineated by fine lines engraved in the wood in flat relief on a punched background, which was filled in with a coloured paste. The Fountain of Life, an appropriate subject for a marriage chest, is depicted here in a courtly style, whose details, compressed space and composition reflect the influence of Veronese artist Pisanello and Venetian artists working in the first half of the fifteenth century.