Painted Wood Casket

This large and unusually well preserved Italian wood and tempera polychrome nuptial coffer is decorated of rondels framed in red. The central rondel (of larger size) on the front of the coffer frames a fruit tree, a symbol of the earth’s bounty. The flanking smaller rondels include heraldic eagles in a decoratively painted background. The sliding lid covers an interior with a compartment and depicts a large black hare with a precious jeweled necklace. The hare is a symbol of fertility due to its well-known ability to multiply and, like the tree, is appropriate to a nuptial coffer.
The box is thought to be from the Urbino area, which was then, as now, a region of limited agriculture and pasturage and a minor mercantile center. The region had been notorious for armed defiance against the Papacy, which claimed lordship over it. The Montefeltro, then became loyal papal clients after Antonio Montefeltro returned from exile to rule Urbino from 1377 to 1404.