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In the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh a colored large chest is conserved, with taken narrative scenes of the novel of Ginevra.
Decorated large chests of this type they are usually taken charge, for a marriage and they are typical objects of the trousseau of a couple of young husbands.
Giovanni Toscani, Zinevra. Edimburgh, National Gallery of Scotland (n.53).
The election of the represented topic, the love between husband and woman, is in the center of the first paintings inspired by Boccaccio (1370-1430/40); it is evident that, after the novels of the Decameron, the history of Ginevra represents an exemplary case of matrimonial fidelity and of feminine virtue.
The order of those
represented scenes are from left to right:
First scene: In the Hotel of Paris the merchants discuss, gathered around a table. The expression of those speakers are indications of the vivacious exchange of opinions. Of the left a servant appears with paper and inkwell, so that this way the bet among Bernaḅ (to the right, dress of black) and Ambruogiuolo (dress of red and sat down in the seat) it can be registered in writing.
Second scene: To the left and the center of the representation Ambruogiuolo it is informed about the virtue of Ginevra and he comes to an agreement with the poor woman that it frequents the house of Ginevra. To the right a man transports the large chest to the room of Ginevra while the poor woman makes that they open her the door.
Third scene: In the bedroom of Ginevra, Ambruogiuolo first gets out of the large chest in which had hidden (below to the left), he discovers Ginevra sleeper (in the top at the center) and, finally, it returns to his hiding place (below to the right).
The large chest of Giovanni Toscani should have a twin in which they would have been represented the continuation of the previous scenes that in this way, evidently, they are incomplete (Callman 1995, pp. 19-22; 49).
July 1999
It was find the twin
chest:
Important "Missing"
Cassone discovered in attic and sold by Phillips of London
for £139,000 ($230,000)
An important painted cassone, dating from around 1420, the companion of which is in the National Gallery of Scotland, was sold at Phillips New Bond Street as part of the Fine Old Master and Early British Painting auction for £139,000 on 6th July 1999.
A valuer from one of Phillips' regional UK salerooms, in Knowle, spotted the chest during a routine valuation.
It had been stored in the attic for many years having been used as a toy box for the family's children.
Following consultation with the Phillips' Old Master specialist in London, experts from the Metropolitan Museum in New York identified the piece as the missing pair of the Scottish cassone, which was believed to have been destroyed many years ago.
It is a rare example of a wedding chest - the only significant art form from that period specifically commissioned for women.
Its painted front panel by Giovanni Toscani is a contiuation of the moralistic "story" depicted on the Scottish cassone taken from Boccaccio's Decameron, the Italian equivalent of the Canterbury Tales
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