Gazette Drouot logo print

Large leather and iron travel trunk, very rare...

Price Tax incl.:
28000 EUR

Large leather and iron travel trunk, very rare for its size Late 15th century, Northern France Dimensions: h. 103 cm, w. 178 cm, d. 77 cm Our rectangular trunk opens with a domed lid. It is entirely covered with veneered leather on a wood core, and adorned with wrought-iron fittings and hinges. It is trimmed on all sides with iron hinges cut into the ends of Gothic trefoils. On the front are two lock plates with cloverleaf-cut edges and a hasp (one missing) attached to the lid. The reinforcing iron bands on all sides, as well as the central bands, are decorated with plant and floral friezes and geometric motifs. These bands are fastened to the wood with daisy-head nails, typical of the French Renaissance. Given its size and heavy weight, our trunk has four carrying handles: two wrought-iron side handles and two front handles. The interior features a stretched fabric dating back at least to the 17th century, with the original raspberry-colored vellum on the inside of the lid. This is a rare, very large leather and iron model. Expensive materials, which were only used on small Gothic chests (20 cm to 50 cm in length) like those in public collections in many museums. For the sake of economy and simplicity, large chests exceeding 1 meter in length were generally made of wood, sometimes covered with iron cladding. A large chest can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, but its dimensions are smaller than ours (inv .47.144, dim. 57.1 x 128.3 x 53.3 cm). There are also two similar large chests (with flat or slightly domed lids) in the collections of the Barcelona Leather Museum. The chest we're presenting here, a veritable object of Gothic luxury, stands out from all its models for its monumental appearance, as well as its exceptional wrought-iron ornamentation. Its extreme rarity and impressive allure make it a unique object, capable of enriching a discerning connoisseur's collection or embellishing an interior with its medieval majesty.

Galerie Nicolas Lenté
2, rue des Saints-Pères
75007 Paris