Wedding Box, Embriachi workshop, 15th century Venice

Our wedding box from the Embriachi workshops is a masterpiece of late medieval and early Renaissance craftsmanship that reflects the refinement of the period. Made at the beginning of the 15th century, this box is the work of this important workshop. The body of the box is decorated with complex inlays made from tesserae of coloured or natural bone and different types of wood (ebony). Later wood core (19th century). The Embriachi workshop was founded in Florence by Baldassarre degli Ubriachi at the end of the 14th century, before moving to Venice in 1395, where it remained until the mid-15th century. The workshop produced mirror frames, inlaid combs, secular caskets, small triptychs and large altarpieces, which were exported throughout Europe. These objects were created from rectangular convex plates made from the bones of large mammals such as oxen and horses, even when the workshop moved to Venice, a major port for importing elephant ivory to the West. These plates are then fixed side by side on a wooden core. Initially, Baldassarre was credited with the entire production of these items, but other, less important workshops in northern Italy have been discovered. Although Baldassarre was an important figure in the workshop, he was not in charge of production. The man from a noble family in Florence, ennobled by Emperor Charles IV, a protégé of Richard II and Martin I of Aragon, and linked to Jean Galéas Visconti, was above all a merchant and entrepreneur. Indeed, the artistic figure of the workshop was Giovanni di Jacopo, a Florentine named in a testamentary document of 1395 as ‘maestro de' miei lavori dell'osso’ (= master of my works in bone). It would appear that he also ran the workshop in Florence before moving to Venice. During his career, he teamed up with a number of collaborators to meet demand, and continued his work with Baldassarre's descendants after the latter's death. Wedding Boxes First appearing on the artistic scene in northern Italy in the 3rd quarter of the 14th century, they were designed to contain precious items such as jewellery or silks, but were above all symbolic gifts. They sealed the commitment of marriage, as indicated by the smooth insignia on which the coats of arms of the engaged families were painted or applied. They were produced in place of French Gothic caskets, even though they were aesthetically quite different. Here, bone is used, which was not the case and Gothic caskets mainly depicted courtly and gallant subjects, whereas here the iconography refers to the myths of classical antiquity reworked through medieval novels or Italian stories. Artistically, these caskets are more closely related to a late Hellenistic and Byzantine tradition, with structural and iconographic similarities. While the formal structure was not an original ‘invention’ of the Embriachi workshop, it did boost their appeal. Despite a certain recurrence in the iconography, it evolved into a repetitive representation of female and male figures facing each other. This was accompanied by a simplification of the costumes and backgrounds. At the same time, symbolic figures armed with clubs and shields were placed in the corners to represent the virtues of women. This type of production is less expensive. These boxes are also where the so-called ‘Certosina’ technique is used. This consists of using small pieces of light and dark wood, natural or green-painted bone and horns to create small designs: Greek keys, chequerboards, chevrons, etc. Some concerts are entirely decorated with this technique. Some concerts are entirely decorated without any figurative plates Finally, in the third quarter of the 15th century, this type of box stopped evolving and was no longer used as a wedding gift but to satisfy a taste for antiquity.