Instrument case
about 1550
Object PlaceItaly
Medium/TechniqueLeather; Cuir bouilli
Dimensions33.34 cm (13 1/8 in.)
Credit LineH. E. Bolles Fund
Accession number1971.214
On View
On viewClassificationsBoxes
Collections
This case, which displays figures representing Virtues, may have held shaving tools, knives, or other implements. To make the box, leather was wrapped around a form. The soft leather was tooled and stamped, and then covered with hot water; the leather dried to a hard surface that was then enlivened with gilding. This complex technique is called cuir bouilli-literally "boiled leather."
ProvenanceFrédéric Spitzer (b. 1815 - d. 1890), Paris; April 17 - June 16, 1893, posthumous Spitzer sale, Chevallier and Mannheim, Paris, lot 826, sold for fr. 1150, possibly to Frederick Davis (dealer; b. about 1825 - d. 1899), London [see note 1]. Joseph Henry Fitzhenry (b. 1835 - d. 1913), London; November 18-26, 1913, posthumous Fitzhenry sale, Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, lot 168. March 19, 1971, sale ("Property from a Western Museum"), Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, lot 142, probably to Blumka Gallery, New York; 1971, sold by Blumka Gallery to the MFA. (Accession Date: May 12, 1971)
NOTES:
[1] Davis lent this to the exhibition of Early Italian Art from 1300 to 1550 (The New Gallery, London, 1893 - 1894), cat. no. 611.
NOTES:
[1] Davis lent this to the exhibition of Early Italian Art from 1300 to 1550 (The New Gallery, London, 1893 - 1894), cat. no. 611.
Unidentified artist
late 19th century
20th century
about 1400
15th century
17th century
18th century