A small bone wedding coffer A small ivory wedding coffer

The small coffer dates back to about 1370, it has a rectangular plan and it has a wooden core. The lid has a shape of a pyramidal trunk and on it the handle is attached. Both the rectangular container and the lid are completely covered with carved bone parts: the lid has garnished segments that develop horizontally, while the box is covered with figured bone plates, which develop vertically. These tiny and detailed inlays are a typical Italian production that begins after the mid-14th Century, with a workshop that will be defined as "nailed figures" because of the showy copper nails that fix the bone plates. This kind of production will continue until reaching a wide diffusion between the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th Century throughout northern Italy thanks to Embriachi's workshops. Our coffer is part of that first production called the “nailed figure workshop”, mostly located in central Italy, which represents the precedent and the model for the Embriachi, from both a structural and technical point of view.

At a certain point in the courtship, the future bride received the small coffer as a gift by the future husband and, to strengthen the imminent family union, two shields were carved on the lid, which were used to house the noble insignia of the spouses, probably painted or applied in metal foil. In this lateral part of the body of the container we find two couples of characters, in gallant or amorous attitudes according to the theory of human couples in courteous clothes, with attitudes that can vary from meeting and greeting, to frontal or walking posture, as pure representation of courtly love, through the very rich medieval symbolism which cannot be ignored when talking about the society and culture of those centuries. On the corners we find carved depictions of different towers, a clear symbol of the lady to be conquered with patience and perseverance, like an impregnable tower with tightly closed shutters and doors defended by soldiers with large shields, but now destined to open and surrender to courtship of the man who, in order to conquer his beloved, must know how to dominate and serve the lady with devotion, in exchange for greater concessions.