Cassone (Chest)

CultureItalian

Dateca. 1565

MediumWalnut with gilding and traces of paint or gesso

DimensionsOverall: 25 1/2 × 65 1/2 × 21 1/2 inches (64.77 × 166.37 × 54.61 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number33-459

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionSarcophagus shaped with moulded and carved hinged top; front finely carved in low and high relief with an escutcheon in the center. Decorated with Episodes from Myth of Apollo and Daphne.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

This cassone, or chest, is decorated with intricately carved scenes of the Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo, who are depicted in the left panel. Thanks to Cupid and his arrow, shown in the next panel, Apollo falls in love with Daphne. Undaunted by her disinterest in romance, Apollo doggedly pursues Daphne, who calls to her father, Peneus, a river god, for help. The next panel illustrates her salvation as Peneus turns her into a laurel tree from which Apollo fashioned a crown as a symbol of his eternal love for her. This tale of love is appropriate for a cassone as they were often bridal chests. The high-relief figures adorning the cassone's corners reflect the Renaissance taste for bold, sculptural ornamentation.

Provenance

With Frank Partridge, New York, no. P.O. 4616, by December 1931;

Purchased from Partridge by French & Co., New York, stock no. 38611, December 18, 1931-1933 [1];

Purchased from French & Co. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.

NOTES:

[1] Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, French & Co. Stock Sheets, box 44, folder 4, copy in NAMA curatorial files.

Published References

“Museum Exhibitions- Autumn 1933,” Parnassus Art Journal, no. 5 (December 1933):15 (repro.).

“Nelson Gallery of Art Special Number,” The Art Digest 8, no. 5 (December 1, 1933): 66-67 (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 155 (repro.).

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