1570-1600

Coffer

This coffer, which features elaborately carved decorative details and elegant patterns in wood and paste inlays, is an exceptional piece of French Renaissance cabinetry. The motifs show great variety, including interlaced strapwork designs carved on the rounded body, sphinx supporters at each corner, and gilded paste decoration that follows a type of Islamic-inspired ornament that more frequently appears on lavish bookbindings produced in this period. The variety of ornament sources on the object reflects the sophisticated nature of French furniture makers and their patrons in the late 1500s. The now empty oval on the top would have been filled with an enamel plaque or another suitable decoration, while the inside lid retains a mirror. This feature and the overall elaborateness of the coffer suggests it perhaps held jewelry, among other precious possessions.