Elizabeth I Elm Carved Box, West Country

A rare and highly distinctive Elizabethan boarded elm box, the front and sides entirely carved with bold gadrooned ornament terminating in leafy cusps, an unusual and exceptionally fine use of Renaissance ornament at this scale. Retaining its original iron lockplate and hasp.
The gadrooned motif — a sequence of swelling convex flutes derived from classical sarcophagi and Roman silverware — became one of the most important decorative elements of the English Renaissance, as Victor Chinnery observed, “the work of the carver was probably the most important element in furniture decoration during the first century of the English Renaissance, 1530–1630.” This piece represents an extremely rare survival of that language transposed into a small, personal casket form.
Boxes of this type were likely used to store documents, valuables, or devotional items. Its elaboration suggests an owner of considerable means, perhaps a member of the gentry or mercantile elite in the West Country.

Provenance: Crispin Antiques, Hertfordshire, Illustrated in Bible boxes -A Box-Maker, English oak table boxes, slopes, desks and cabinets of the 16th and 17th centuries, 1978 BADA 60.