A Florentine giltwood and painted cassone, possibly early 16th century and incorporating later...

Note: The present panels strongly recall the works of Niccolò Giolfino (Italian, 1476-1555) and his circle, who, through the incorporation of lifelike, muscular figures and naturalistic, expansive landscapes, modernised the 15th-century tradition of painted cassone panels for a 16th-century audience.  Giolfino received his training in the Veronese workshop of the renowned painter and miniaturist Liberale da Verona (1445-1526), and stayed in that city throughout his career, receiving commissions for religious works from the local churches.

While Giolfino’s meticulous and refined compositions echo those of his master, the artist also appears to have been heavily inspired by the works of other North Italian painters including Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506) and the Venetian Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556).  The impact of Mantegna’s works in particular can be discerned in the present cassone panels, particularly in the stocky and muscular figures of the soldiers populating the battle scene, and the statuesque amorini flanking the armorials on either side of the chest.  The boar hunting scene, with its strongly delineated architectural background, is reminiscent of Giolfino’s panel depicting St Roch, which sold at Christie’s London, 6 July 2018, lot 187 (£12,500).

Cassone or wedding chests first appeared in the late fourteenth century in the republics of Florence and Siena and were used to store the bride's dowry received on her marriage.  They were considered luxury goods and made in specialist workshops, often in pairs, to be paraded through the streets to celebrate the weddings of wealthy families.  The present lot with a curved front profile and flat angled end brackets can be compared to an example in the Museo del Prado (O000460) dated circa 1520 and another in the Rijksmusem (BK-16873) dated to 1500-1600.